Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University Includes bibliographical references (leaf 62).

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University Includes bibliographical references (leaves [115]-117).

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

This diploma thesis deals with our present day society which is being increasingly subjected to the "mcdonaldization" phenomenon. The main goal of this work is the analysis of the public's perception of the McDonald's corporation in Velké Meziříčí. The theoretical part of this work is aimed at defining the basic perceptions related to the McDonald's corporation and it is relationship with the public as well as it is marketing communication. In the practical part of the thesis, sociological research in the form of a poll was undertaken with the results based on the opinions of polled citizens of Velké Meziříčí. The summary of the data is presented in a graphic form along with vebal proposals and measures to the improvement of the company's brand name in public relations.

The master thesis focuses on effective ways of fundraising for non-profit organizations. Its aim is to design the aforementioned methods, because fundraising has become a critical discipline for non-profit organizations in the pursuit of sustainable funding. Mastering appropriate fundraising methods and establishing relationships with donors, organizations ensure not only peace but also the freedom to make decisions and can fulfill its mission. With an effective attracting funding also related communication outwards With an effective attracting funding also related communication outwards because with no promotion is difficult to obtain an individual or corporate donors. The research is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative part is based on a survey, which deals with non-profit organizations and their fundraising. Further investigation is focused on the money that is spent on fundraising and the success of fund-raising projects. The qualitative part consists of semi-structured interviews that help to understand the deeper areas detected. From the survey results and interviews is compiled vivid picture of contemporary fundraising in the Czech environment and proposing effective methods of funding. Fundraising is seen as a vital discipline for the sustainability of organizations, but a minimum of them makes it to the professional level. It was also found that the Czech non-profit environment due to their delayed development offers great scope for practicing new fundraising methods, which are commonly used abroad.

This dissertation investigated the influence of legitimacy and social media on organizational image management (IM) in North American professional sport. The author used a social theory approach to public relations in which legitimization is a core function, stakeholders influence the organization’s identity, and communicating identity is a legitimacy-seeking action that co-creationally drives organizational IM. This study examined the Ottawa Sport and Entertainment Group (OSEG), a conglomerate sport organization, using a qualitative embedded exploratory case study, which allowed analysis at different organizational levels, online and offline, using thematic and content analysis. The first two research questions explored the relationships between identity, image, and legitimacy in a social media world. The second two explored the explicit effects of social media on identity, legitimacy, image, and how these constructs manifest through social media. The first phase of the study used interview (N-52) and document (N-4) analyses to explore how identity, image, and legitimacy interact. Results showed that organizations’ legitimacy-seeking behaviour drives IM. The impetuous to change image comes from the outward facing legitimacy-seeking negotiation of image with external stakeholders. In phase two, using the legitimacy framework developed by Lock, Filo, Kunkel, and Skinner (2015), 5,668 tweets and retweets were coded, revealing 10 communicated image themes that sought technical, managerial, personal, and linkage legitimacy. These types of legitimacy were present in 99.5% of tweets and retweets. They sought to build trust, reinforce an image and identity of community involvement, and create conformity pressure. Such activities indirectly encouraged or legitimized expressions of fan support while inhibiting dissenting opinions. Previous research noted that identity and its expression through image are no longer defined solely by organizations. This study sought to extend image and identity research by suggesting legitimacy judgments drive co-creational identity and image change. The research extended Gioia, Hamilton, and Patvardhan’s (2014) process model of identity-image interdependence, creating a new framework for Twitter IM. The research explored how social media technology develops organizational identity, image, and legitimacy to provide insights necessary for fostering the effective use of IM and sport PR’s role within it.

This study examines the relevance of an established public relations theory, relationship management, to investor relations. Having emerged during the 1950s, investor relations is a relatively new field that integrates the disciplines of communication, marketing, finance, and securities laws compliance. Through qualitative interviews focused on six publicly traded companies on the West Coast, the study provides insight into the relationship management function of investor relations from the perspectives of those whom investors ultimately hold accountable for a public company's performance - CEOs. The dominant theme emerging from the study is the constant challenge CEOs of public companies face as they engage in relationships with investors, primarily due to the constraining effects of regulatory requirements. While the study confirmed that the interviewees value L. C. Hon and J. E. Grunig's qualities of trust, satisfaction, control mutuality and commitment in relationships with investors, CEOs' most frequently discussed relationship quality that they work to achieve is trust.

This study examines how LGBT activists and LGBT youth make meaning of a strategic advocacy campaign. By examining activist and advocacy efforts aimed at youth, this research brings to light how LGBT organizations use campaigns to articulate identity and, conversely, how LGBT youth articulate notions of identity. Through the lens of the It Gets Better Project, a nonprofit activist organization, this dissertation uses in-depth interviews with organizational members and chat-based interviews with LGBT youth to study the meanings participants brought to the campaign. Strategic communication has been instrumental in construction of LGBT as a cohesive collective identity and has played a vital role in the early stages of the gay rights movement. This research demonstrates how contemporary LGBT advocacy, through strategic communication, works to shape understandings of LGBT youth. Instead of focusing on the Internet as a democratic space that equalizes power differentials between an organization and its publics, this study shows that the construction of identity is the result of a dynamic process between producers and consumers in which power is localized and does not simply belong to an organization or its public. This research challenges the Internet as a democratic space and demonstrates that identity is a discursive struggle over meaning that is bound up in the intimate dance between producers and consumers of a campaign. In contrast to functionalist understandings of public relations that privileges the organization, this dissertation contends that a cultural-economic approach focuses on the processes of communication. A cultural-economic approach gives voice to the diverse audiences of a communication campaign and addresses the role communication plays as a discursive force that influences the construction of identities.