Building relationships between organizations and publics: Examining the linkage between organization‐public relationships, evaluations of satisfaction, and behavioral intent

Many public relations practitioners have not incorporated relationship management theory into the practice of public relations because the quantitative and qualitative benefits derived from effective relationship management have been, more often than not, inferred rather than demonstrated. The current investigation was designed to measure respondents’ perceptions of their relationship with an organization and determine the ways in which organization‐public relationships were linked to evaluations of satisfaction and behavioral intent. The results showed that organization‐public relationships indeed were related to respondent satisfaction evaluations and behavioral intent, suggesting that organizations should attend carefully and strategically to the management of organization‐public relationships. Implications of these findings were presented, and limitations to the current investigation discussed.

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