The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication housed in the College of Communications at Penn State has awarded 10 grants worth $55,600 for research on ethics in the practice of public relations to 16 scholars from around the nation.
Eight of the 10 grants focus on ethical practice in the use of social media.
"We are excited about the potential of these projects," said Marie Hardin, associate professor of communications and director of the Page Center. "The highly interactive nature of social media raises new ethical concerns. Practitioners and scholars need to understand social media's impact."
The Page and Johnson Legacy Scholars for 2011-12 and their project titles are:
-- Thomas Bivins, Tiffany Gallicano and Yoon Cho (Oregon), "A Survey of Readers to Determine Ethical Guidelines Regarding Ghost Blogging";
-- Renita Coleman (Texas), "How many words is a picture worth? The Effects of Photos vs. Vivid Writing on Ethical Reasoning";
-- Homero Gil de Zuniga, Tom Johnson, and Renita Coleman (Texas), "The Dialogic Potential of Social Media: Assessing the Ethical Reasoning of Companies' Public Relations on Twitter and Facebook";
-- Marcia DiStaso and Denise Bortree (Penn State), "The Ethics of Social Media Measurement on Facebook and Twitter";
-- Tina McCorkindale (Appalachian State), "Clouded Transparency: An Analysis of the Perspectives and Policies of Social Media in Organizations";
-- Marcus Messner (Virginia Commonwealth), "To Tweet or Not to Tweet? An Analysis of Ethical Considerations in Social Media Campaigns of Non-Profit Organizations";
-- Kati Tusinski Berg (Marquette) and Kim Bartel Sheehan (Oregon), "Social Media as a CSR Communication Channel: Understanding Firms' Decision Processes";
-- Richard Waters (University of San Francisco), "The Impact of Organizational Disclosure in Social Media Success: Building the Framework of the Theory of Engaged Communication";
-- George Anghelchev (Penn State), "Implicit Ethics and Cultural Differences in Public Evaluation of Corporate Responsibility: The Case of Environmental Accidents"; and
-- Kirsten Johnson and Tamara Gillis (Elizabethtown College), "Markers of Credibility and Mainstream Media Representatives: Developing a Social Media Credibility Inventory."
"We hope that the contributions of the eight social media grants can be compiled into a book useful for public relations and communications practitioners," Hardin said. "Our two other grants look at equally important issues."
This marked the seventh year of grant proposals awarded by the Page Center. Since its founding, the Page Center has funded 87 scholars and awarded more than $370,000 in grants.
The deadline for the next round of grant proposals is Dec. 1, with a focus on teaching Specific dates, application guidelines and additional information may be found at www.thepagecenter.org online.
The Page Center is a research unit of the College of Communications created in 2004 through a leadership gift by Lawrence G. Foster, a distinguished Penn State alumnus and retired corporate vice president for public relations at Johnson & Johnson.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also supports the Center through a major grant it awarded in 2006 to establish and endow a research and education program in ethical leadership, including support for the Legacy Scholar program. The Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust, a private philanthropy of Johnson’s heirs, also has made a significant contribution to support the center's work in ethics in public communications and the role of public relations in advancing corporate responsibility.
Arthur W. Page, the longtime vice president for public relations at AT&T, is often regarded as the founder of the modern practice of corporate public relations. He also was a noted educator, publisher and adviser to several U.S. presidents. Page was the first person in a public relations position to serve as an officer and director of a major corporation and, in that capacity, was widely known for management according to the “Page Principles,” his guidelines for ethical and effective communication with the public and for responsible corporate behavior.
The center seeks to foster a modern understanding and application of those principles and Robert Wood Johnson’s business philosophy by supporting innovative research, educational or public service projects in a wide variety of academic disciplines and professional fields. For further information on the center and the Page or Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants, visit www.thepagecenter.org online or call 814-863-6307.