Search results

The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge about organization‐public relationships by establishing a theoretical category for understanding them and by contributing to a foundation of knowledge in that category. Relationship stresses are presented as the factors that constrain organization‐public relationships. This study identifies stresses on the relationship between a grassroots advocacy organization and its former members, as well as stresses between the organization and members who have decreased their participation in it.

In‐person interviews were conducted with 24 people, phone interviews were conducted with 44 people, and e‐mail interviews were conducted with 13 people. Interviewees included staff members, former volunteers, and volunteers who had decreased their participation in the organization.

Several relationship stresses were identified: the silver curtain, the emotion tax, relationship speeding, invisible isms, weak leadership, disagreement with decisions, the revolving door, overworking volunteers, underworking volunteers, age, and health.

This study contributes a new category for relationship management scholarship, which can be productive for theory building. It also illuminates Dozier and Lauzen's questioning about the unique conditions of social movement organizations.

Established cultivation strategies can actually aggravate publics when a relationship has significantly deteriorated and the root problem is not addressed.

Recognizing problems in the relationship between an advocacy organization and members results in a deep understanding of a unique context for public relations practice. In addition, this study illuminates a context for cultivation strategies by codifying a foundation of relationship stresses. Identifying stresses to relationships can help scholars and practitioners ascertain problems and treat those problems at the root level.

This study seeks to investigate strategies for building personal relationships with an organization's members, and to examine the outcomes of personal relationships in an advocacy organization.

The case study includes interviews with 39 staff people at national, state, and affiliate levels of the organization; 58 members; and five former members, for a total of 102 participants. Document analysis and participant observation were supplemental methods.

The following strategies for cultivating personal relationships were identified: direct engagement, task sharing, constitutive rhetoric, peer linking, hat‐in‐your‐hand, investment in local relationships, and targeting of aware affiliates for diversity efforts. To contribute to the discussion about the value of personal relationships in organizations, the study also investigated the outcomes of personal relationships. The outcomes found in the study include affective commitment, political leverage, social capital, member recruitment, and member retention.

Although many of the cultivation strategies and outcomes are likely to apply to various contexts, some of them may be specific to the context of an advocacy organization that has a grass‐roots culture and layers of leadership, such as local, state, and national offices.

Organizations can read the study to identify potential strategies they can use to cultivate strong personal relationships with their stakeholders.

The study produces new cultivation strategies and outcomes for personal relationships and engages in a critical discussion of the existing literature.