Public Segmentation and Government–Public Relationship Building: A Cluster Analysis of Publics in the United States and 19 European Countries

Abstract

The purposes of this study are (a) to suggest a model of public segmentation and (b) to examine each segment's level of trust in government. By using individuals’ cognitive perceptions of government and participation in social organizations, as well as media use and demographic characteristics, as public segmentation criteria, a cluster analysis of international survey datasets of the United States and 19 European countries generated 3 public segments in each country. The largest cluster, named the underserved inactive majority, and representing a low level of income and education, low interest in politics, low trust in others, low citizenship standards, and minimal social participation, contrasted with the smallest cluster, named the satisfied active public. The identified segments differed in trust in governmental institutions, which is a key indicator of the quality of government–public relationships. Overall, the underserved inactive majority reported the lowest trust in governmental institutions, whereas citizen trust among the satisfied active public was the highest. This study highlights the theoretical and practical values of broad-based public segmentation in government public relations from the relationship-building perspective of public relations, rather than from a problem-solving perspective. Additionally, some targeted strategies for government communicators to enhance each segment's public trust in government are proposed based on the findings of this study.

Notes

Note. SC = Social Cognition, SP = Social Participation, MU = Media Use, SC1 = trust in others, SC2 = standards in citizenship, SC3 = satisfaction with democracy work, SC4 = interest in politics, SP1 = sports club, SP2 = org. for cultural activities, SP3 = trade union, SP4 = professional org., SP5 = consumer org., SP6 = human rights, SP7 = environmental protection, SP8 = religious org., SP9 = political party, SP10 = education org., SP11 = social club, SP12 = other voluntary org., MU1 = TV watching, MU2 = political news watching, MU3 = Internet use.

Note. Means with same superscripted letters differed significantly at the .05 level by means of Tukey's HSD post hoc test.

An earlier version of this study won one of the top three papers at the Annual Competition of Advanced Public Relations Research by the Korea Public Relations Association.