International Public Relations and Intercultural Communication

I strongly defend that International Public Relations (IPR) must make use of Intercultural Communication theories and frameworks in order to achieve the best results possible when dealing in a multicultural environment. I first presented this idea in my recent delivered MA dissertation entitled: "Cross-Cultural Media Relations: an investigation about the relevance of intercultural communication factors in the practice of media relations across different cultures", which was part of the graduation requirements at the Master in International Communication - Geert Hofstede Consortium, which was handed in to Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, NL) and Leeds Metropolitan University - with merit (Leeds/UK).

Intercultural Communication (IC) theories proposed by authors such Edward T. Hall, Trompenaars and Geert Hofstede may provide a robust set of tools to better understand how can national cultures influence the communication behaviour players provenients from the respective counter-culture. This can be crucial when crafting messages for target audiences not from the same culture as the writer(s)/creator(s) of the message.

Therefore, if one make use of those IC theories in conjunction with IPR and traditional public relations theories as also defended by Zaharna (2000, 2001) and Ihator (2000), it will bring a considerable upgrade to PR programmes executed across borders.

I am trying to diffuse this idea among scholars and practitioners as I recently did at Sietar's Nederland Symposium "Advancing Intercultural Competence Development: Initiating the dialogue between researchers and practitioners" that took place on 16th October 2013 in Tilburg, Netherlands.

I will continue to do so and I would be glad to hear the opinion from scholars and practitioners about this topic.

Thank you for your attention and have a lovely night :)


References:

Ihator, A. (2000) ‘Understanding the cultural patterns of the world – an imperative in implementing strategic international PR programs’. Public Relations Quarterly, 45(4): 38-44.

Zaharna, R. S. (2000) ‘Intercultural communication and international public relations: exploring parallels’, Communication Quarterly, 48(1): 85-100.