Corporate Communications An International Journal

Purpose This paper explores how public health authorities' vaccine communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic interacted with pre-existing levels of institutional trust, and how these trust levels shaped perceived opportunities and constraints for communicating trustworthiness in high- and low-trust national environments. Design/methodology/approach The study employs an exploratory qua…

Purpose This article aims to be an original contribution to identify the external factors that influence greenwashing practices in Brazilian companies. Design/methodology/approach We used both symmetric (data panel regression) and asymmetric (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) approaches to assess which institutional factors influence greenwashing reporting. We analyzed 71 listed Brazili…

Purpose Public relations practitioners serve as ethical advisors, guiding organizations through digital challenges such as disinformation and transparency issues. Despite the profession's history of credibility issues, digital transformation has introduced new moral dilemmas that demand critical evaluation. This study examines how public relations professionals in the US navigate ethical challeng…

Purpose Within social media networks, a new form of influencers is emerging in the form of employee influencers. The development of social media platform creator tools allows companies to identify potential employee influencers for campaigns. It is not understood, though if employee influencers use personal branding to their advantage, like mainstream influencers. Design/methodology/approach The …

Purpose The Allied armies engaged in numerous activities promoting tourism during Second World War. Following its liberation in June 1944 through the end of the war, Rome was a popular place for soldiers to visit. Internal communication units in the Allied armies helped support tourism promotion. One unique set of tactics was the development of tourist guidebooks for soldiers. The accuracy and ef…

Purpose The aim of this paper is to shed light on the role of communication of the Greek NGOs in a certain historical period, that is the 1980s – a decade, which is marked by the transformation of the Greek society, but also of the Greek economy and culture, following the changes in the political scenery of the country at the same time. The Greek NGOs study is a fairly new field. It has only been…

Purpose To analyse the representation of Thainess in the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)'s public relations campaigns targeting international audiences throughout four-decade history (1979–2022) and to examine changes in the representation throughout the period. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a narrative historical study using a qualitative content analysis to examine Thainess…

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) impacts both internal communication and employee engagement from a more global perspective by interviewing professionals who live in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and work for multinational companies. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted to capture the experiences of communication pr…

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping communication industries worldwide, yet its adoption in South Africa remains cautious and uneven. The South African communication environment is marked by complex challenges that influence how AI is understood and applied. Communication students need to be prepared not only for technological change, but also for a professional environme…

Purpose The study aims to examine historical evolution of public relations in Yugoslavia. The purpose of the study is to understand if Yugoslavia, with a specific socialist model different from other communist countries, had a specific model and understanding of public relations that was differentiated from other countries that were part of both the Western and communist blocs. Design/methodology…

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the development of internal communication in Norway between 1960 and 1990. It also seeks to provide a plausible explanation for why internal communication became important during this period. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data have been collected from archival sources and media outlets. These data are interpreted through the lens of Peter Wa…

Corporate responsibility communication nowadays unfolds under conditions of intensified evaluation. Stakeholders rarely encounter responsibility claims as neutral statements of intent; instead, they interpret such claims as propositions that must be assessed for plausibility, evidentiary strength, and alignment with wider expectations. In this environment, corporate responsibility communication b…

Purpose This study examines Ticketmaster’s crisis communication strategies during the high-profile collapse of its ticketing platform for the Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale. The research evaluates whether the company’s response strategies aligned with stakeholder attributions of responsibility and best practices for managing preventable service crises in digital platform contexts. Additionally, t…

Purpose This study explores the strategic use of social media by Israeli higher education institutions (HEIs) during the Israel–Hamas War. Specifically, it examines how universities utilized digital platforms for crisis management, reputation building and community engagement during a prolonged security crisis. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a quantitative content analysis of 1,010 post…

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how different types of price discounts influence consumers’ purchase intentions within a simulated supermarket environment. By integrating eye tracking (ET) and electroencephalography (EEG) technologies, the research aims to capture real-time visual attention and neural responses, offering insights beyond traditional self-report methods. Specificall…

Purpose This study investigates the challenges and professional culture of flexible workers in the United Kingdom (UK) media and communication industries, addressing a gap in existing research and the interplay between demographics, culture and adaptation. While previous studies have focused on freelance journalists and others on public relations practitioners, this research examines the broader …

Purpose When organizations find their strategic communication efforts unsuccessful, two options seem to dominate: more communication or different communication. This paper challenges these widely accepted assumptions. It contends that the most fundamental alternative to strategic communication is neither to communicate more, nor differently, but rather to abstain from communication altogether. De…

Purpose This study examines how sustainability message frames and consumers' sustainability attitudes influence brand relationships and purchase intentions in the electric vehicle (EV) industry. Design/methodology/approach A 4 (message type: control, economic, social, environmental) × 3 (sustainability attitude: negative, neutral, positive) between-subjects experiment was conducted with a nationa…

Purpose This paper documents the inception and early developments of public relations (PR) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) between 1933 and 1980. The study focuses on the pivotal role of the American oil company, Aramco, and the influence of Western perspectives on the shaping of PR in the KSA. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts Bentele's Fact-and-Event-Oriented Type approach, anal…

Purpose This study examines how and when corporate news valence (positive vs. negative) influences individuals' intentions to share it. Drawing on expectancy violations theory and the cue-diagnosticity framework, it explores how corporate perceptions and news topics—specifically, morality and competence—moderate the effects of news valence on sharing intentions. Design/methodology/approach Two st…