Exploring the Role of Strategic Relationship Management in the Formation of Publics

Abstract

This current article aims to fill the gap in research by examining the strategic importance of relationship management in the understanding of publics. It aims to explore how relationships can be managed strategically to influence the formation of important publics through influencing the perceptual variables in the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS, J. Kim & Grunig, 2011). In other words, how relationships can be managed strategically to bring value to an organization through potentially fostering or cultivating different types of publics that are critical to organizations. This article is a conceptual piece laying out the necessity of studying the formation of and potential change in publics using a quasi-cross-situational approach. Given the importance of understanding publics as well as the complexity in the process of how these publics are formed and how they might be changed, research should start to delve into exploring factors that will influence the perceptual variables of different publics facing the same situation.