The purpose of public relations: from persuasion to mutual influence

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to examine the overall purpose of public relations, linking it to the degree of passivity or activity attributed to the respective publics in this field. Based on an extensive review of the main academic literature on public relations, the results reveal that “mutual influence” is the purpose most often used to determine the general objective of communication management between an organization and its publics. In addition, the results indicate that “mutual influence” as a purpose involves the consideration of the publics as active groups that create their own strategies based on their interests, with the intention of influencing organizations (and with the ability to influence them).

Keywords: public relations, mutual influence, persuasion, publics, activity, passivity.