Public relations among Christian, multi-national, non-profit organizations in Europe

Abstract

Public relations as a profession has existed in Europe for more than a century, yet most current practice and teaching is based on the American model. To address this situation, in 1998 the European Association of Public Relations Education and Research (CERP) launched a task force to begin work on a European Public Relations Body of Knowledge (EBOK). The current research reviews literature related to European public relations, then investigates the public-relations efforts of European branches of three global Christian non-profit organizations, using a qualitative approach. Its purpose is to discern how the principles and practices of the organizations align with the EBOK findings, and draw conclusions that may guide future practice. It became apparent that the roles of public-relations practitioners in the Christian, non-profit world in Europe falls within the Managerial Dimension of the EBOK parameters. Management's expectations fell within the same dimension. Furthermore, respondents seemed to embrace a one-way communication model simultaneously with the two-way asymmetrical model. These findings are unexpected, since the EBOK study suggests that the Reflective or Educational dimensions should be most important, and Grunig holds that the two-way symmetrical model represents the pinnacle of excellence in public relations. Conclusions are drawn as to what these findings represent.