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Item type: Item , Breaking Societal Bars: Research on the effect of intergroup contact on attitudes towards formerly incarcerated men and women in a Dutch context(2024) van der Want, AmberIn the Netherlands, discrimination based on gender or past incarceration is prevalent. This study tested the causality of whether exposure to a PR podcast featuring intergroup contact between Dutch Generation Z and formerly incarcerated individuals (FIIs) affects prejudiced attitudes towards FIIs. Also, it aimed to examine whether the gender of the FIIs influences prejudiced attitudes and if there was an interaction effect. The study, found, by using a quantitative method, that Dutch Generation Z (N=94) generally exhibits a neutral attitude towards FIIs and that exposure to intergroup contact makes this prejudiced attitude significantly positive. Also, it found that the most negative attitudes are directed towards formerly incarcerated women compared to the non-gender-specific group. No interaction effect was found. Limitations were the small convenience sample, the cross-sectional design, and the forced exposure. Future research could use a different research design and research FIIs’ gender and the confounder's relation with prejudiced attitudes.Item type: Item , Examining the success of digital anonymous communication: the case of the Catalan democratic tsunami(2024) Rovira Munté, JúliaThe tensions between Catalonia and Spain reached their climax in October 2019, as the verdict on the illegally conducted 2017 Catalan independence referendum was made public. During those weeks, a new online movement emerged: the Democratic Tsunami. Using Telegram and a bespoke mobile app, this mysterious formation was successful in the mobilisation of thousands in various urban protests. No one knew who was the source of the information, yet trust was put in them as leaders. This research paper aims to explore the use of anonymous communication by the Democratic Tsunami during the 2019 Barcelona airport occupation. Providing a theoretical framework based on constructivism, it will review the existing literature on anonymity and the recent changes in social movements due to technological advancements. It will then, following the proposed methodology, conduct 10 semi-structured interviews with protest participants in order to submit the collected data to a six-phase thematic analysis to answer the study’s research inquiries: (1) To what extent do Democratic Tsunami’s protesters think that anonymous communication was a successful tool for their recruitment in 2019, (2) To what degree do protesters think that communication strategies used by Catalan Secessionist traditional organisations are less effective than the ones used by newer digital networks like the Democratic Tsunami, and (3) Do protesters feel that anonymous communication can be a viable option for establishing long-term activist movement networks. This project explores two important topics, on a local level, it examines an anomaly in the Catalan secessionist collective action by taking the Democratic Tsunami as its case study. On the other hand, in a general manner, it continues the study of digital anonymous communication as a means used for activism, protesting, and social movements’ organisation.Item type: Item , Representation of the triple bottom line. A mixed method approach to CSR communication of renewable energy companies(2020) van Weeren, KarsCompanies in the renewable energy industry communicate on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to comply to reporting legislation and to try and gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The triple bottom line model distinguishes three different dimensions to which CSR activities can be assigned; the economic, environmental and social dimension. This dissertation takes a mixed method approach to find out on which dimension the emphasis lays on in the CSR reports of renewable energy companies. Furthermore, it aims to find out what topics and narratives are used by renewable energy companies to communicate about CSR activities. The CSR reports of Vestas (Denmark), Suzlon (India) and NextEra Energy (United States) were thoroughly analysed. It was found that in all three analysed reports, the social dimension was represented most heavily. Additionally, it can be concluded that the social and environmental dimensions form very apparent thematic areas across the analysed CSR reports.Item type: Item , Communication of the COVID-19 Pandemic by the WHO Analysing the Flow of Information from Organisational Communication to Media Reporting(2020) Pries, SophieAt the end of 2019, a new virus was discovered in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) began communicating the new virus, known as COVID-19 and on March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. This aim of this study is to find out how the WHO communicated the pandemic and how the online media used WHO's communication to inform those affected. This study focuses on the areas of health and crisis communication and the communication of emerging infectious diseases. In addition, it presents relevant literature on media studies and journalism in the health sector. Qualitative studies were carried out to analyse public relations material and compare it with reporting of online media. The findings show that the media do not always fully represent the WHO's communication and are therefore presented differently.Item type: Item , Sexual Violation, Weinstein and Speaking Out: The role of public relations and media in legitimising accounts of sexual violation(2020) López Wild, IrisIn 2017, powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was exposed as having committed countless acts of sexual violation. Following this, #MeToo gained a new visibility. PR was used by Weinstein to defend himself and by victim/survivors to speak out. This study examines how perpetrators and victim/survivors use PR to legitimise or delegitimise accounts of sexual violation, and how this discourse is mediated through the press. Critical discourse analysis is used to examine discourses emerging from Harvey Weinstein, Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, exploring how the Guardian mediates these discourses. Analysis reveals that Weinstein’s discourse relied on reinforcing rape myths, himpathy and gendered power relations. McGowan and Judd challenged systemised sexual violation and promoted collective activism. #MeToo’s increasing visibility impacted reporting, as articles promoted the need for a cultural shift. The study concludes that PR can reinforce or challenge dominant discourses surrounding sexual violation, therefore facilitating or disrupting the culture of complicity.Item type: Item , Engaging in Corporate Philanthropy during the COVID-19 Crisis and Corporate Reputation: a Case Study on Inditex(2020) Barreda Pérez, AnaThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether engaging in corporate philanthropy disaster relief efforts has a significant positive impact on corporate reputation. This case study focuses on the Spanish brand Inditex during the COVID-19 crisis. During the climax of the pandemic, Inditex engaged in several philanthropic contributions such as providing sanitary material to hospitals that lacked resources while the Spanish government struggled to obtain them. Drawing from attribution theory, we analyzed the relationship between Inditex’s philanthropic contributions and the impact they have had on its corporate reputation as well as the mediating role of causal attributions. Using a mixed-method approach, we collected data by means of an online survey and textual analysis of social media regarding the impact of said contributions on individuals’ corporate perception; as well as the attributions inferred to its motives. Findings show that Inditex’s reputation has not been significantly impacted by its philanthropy.Item type: Item , The effects of paracrisis origin and response strategy on audience’s perceived organisational reputation and behavioural intentions(2018) Honisch, Sophia ViktoriaThis project focuses on paracrisis management on Facebook. Recently, research has examined paracrisis response strategies to find adequate ways of handling these reputation threats. The objective of this study is to test different selected paracrisis response strategies and identify the most recommendable strategy. Four organisational response strategies were examined: reform, humour, refuse, and refute. Two within-subjects experiments were conducted. Using fictional paracrises of fictional international IT suppliers, differences and effects in respondents’ perceptions of organisational reputation and paracrisis behavioural intentions were analysed. This was investigated in quasi-experiments with self-imposed and external paracrisis origins. In both experiments the results show that a reform strategy is the most recommendable, and a humorous strategy is the least recommendable, for this paracrisis situation. This component of Public Relations can prevent potential real-world crises and protect organisations’ reputations. Paracrises are an increasing concern for organisations as social media provide a platform for critical user comments.Item type: Item , Exploring YouTuber considerations on public relations-sponsored content on their channels(2018) Müller, AnnabelWith the increasing popularity of the online video-sharing platform YouTube, some of its most-followed users have attained vast amounts of subscribers to their channels, enabling them to reach and influence large online audiences. This development has transformed YouTubers into non-traditional social media gatekeepers making them relevant figures to consider for the practice of media relations in public relations. This study investigates YouTubers’ motivations for creating content on YouTube, their considerations regarding PRsponsored content on their channels, and what influences them in building relationships with PR practitioners. For this purpose, a qualitative research design comprised of semi-structured interviews with 5 YouTubers from different content backgrounds was conducted. The findings of this study provide interesting insights into YouTubers’ perceptions of sponsored content on their channels, and help to understand what contributes to positive relationships between YouTubers and PR practitioners.