The role of public relations in addressing societal discord
A new report suggests that public relations practitioners are supporting organisations in addressing activist concerns and social discord. It’s an idealistic viewpoint.
Societal discord has become a significant risk factor for business, posing a threat to corporate reputation, employee recruitment, and organisational morale. The public relations function has an opportunity to help navigate these issues with activist groups and other internal and external stakeholders.
These are the headlines from The Future of Corporate Activism report published by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
The Annenberg report presents an idealised view of the current levels of public engagement by organisations around social discord and polarization in society. This encompasses a broad range of issues including racial equality, gender equality, income inequality, climate change, LGBTQ+, and vaccination.
Actual levels of corporate engagement related to activism and social issues by organisations simply don’t match up with the reality of the report.
For every organisation such as Iceland or Patagonia that has embraced a broad vision of stakeholder capitalism rooted in society, there are countless that remain focused on the economic model of capitalism. The energy crisis in the UK has shown the failure of government and oil and gas companies to address societal issues such as the climate crisis and fuel living.
The Annenberg research team acknowledges this weakness and suggests that the data offers numerous directional insights into the attitudes of the public relations community.
The report states that 93% of public relations practitioners report that they are spending more time navigating a growing list of complex societal topics. More than three-quarters (77%) believe polarisation is a challenge to their organisations.
Practitioners believe that the media plays the lead role in creating the current high level of polarisation, especially partisan outlets, who manipulate public opinion for their own benefit. They also blame the politicians who share the same biased information on their social media channels to gain attention and votes.
Organisations are engaging directly in social issues according the Annenberg report. 73% predict they will increase their engagement with social issues this year. Three times as many are partnering with activist groups than three years ago.
There is also a need for a strong internal communication. Most companies are looking to their employees to help them determine their positions on societal issues.
Organisational leaders are making challenging daily decisions that have serious, long-term impact on their companies and their communities. Therein lies a significant opportunity for communication professionals.
Four in five professional communicators believe that business has a platform to address important problems and three-quarters say they possess the resources to help solve them. 82% believe business is responsible for the well-being of millions of employees and customers and has a vested interest in maintaining a cohesive, harmonious society.
The Future of Corporate Activism dataset
The Future of Corporate Activism report is based on a survey of 1,600 communication professionals, journalists, educators, and students, and was live between January 4, 2022, and February 4, 2022.
The sample included in the analyses encompasses 687 responses from PR professionals, of which 413 said they were PR professionals working in agency/consultancy establishments and 274 work as in-house PR professionals. 75% of the PR professionals were from the United States.
