17th Economics & Finance Conference, Istanbul

PRINCIPLES FOR EVALUATING COMMUNICATION: AN OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC RELATIONS STANDARDS AND PRACTICES

HRVOJE JAKOPOVIĆ

Abstract:

This paper examines past thirty years of public relations standards and practices concerning evaluation and measurement. Given that public relations research has been mainly focused on evaluation of the communication effects, the author is assessing what has been done in the past decades through key contributions and achievements made by scholars and practitioners. In this paper are discussed various models and perspectives such as Macnamara's (2002) Pyramid Model of PR research and Continuing Model of Evaluation (Noble & Watson, 1999). The efforts made by The Barcelona Principles (AMEC, 2010; 2015; 2020) have been also reviewed. Furthermore, with the aim to reveal what are the most significant steps towards better evaluation and measurement practices, the author is referring to the studies which include communication experts from different industries, such as the European Communication Monitor (2021; 2020; 2019). The objectives are to assess the role and the usage of big data in public relations research and evaluation therefore improvements within that field have also been recorded. Overall, this paper is providing a brief overview of key metrics and evaluation standards in past thirty years. With the summarization of key findings, concepts, practices and expectations, the author is providing guidelines which could enable more accurate and transparent research results in the field of measurement and evaluation of public relations effects.

Keywords: PR measurement; communication; evaluation model; PR practices; big data

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