Measurability of ethical issues in public relations: A global communication approach

Tradition of ethics which is as old as the history of mankind constitutes the basis of a global communication approach to deliberate on the measurability of ethical issues in public relations. The question on whether ethical issues in communication can be measured or not is the original motive for this study. Around this origin, this study reviews ethics literature, a long philosophical tradition in ethics, the historical development of public relations with various definitions and the institutionalization of the profession, basic public relations ethics theories, measurement instruments for ethics in communication and research conducting these instruments. Employing in-depth interviewing method to qualitatively analyze how a sample of Turkish public relations professionals evaluate measurability of ethical issues in public relations, the semi-structured verbal data of this study were gathered and analyzed through a systematic categorization by the help of theoretical background in the philosophy of ethics and in public relations ethics. Results emphasized differences between public relations professionals from different job settings concerning their evaluations on the measurability of ethical issues in public relations. PRofessionals linked their practices with individual ethics, duty or consequence-based theories, professional codes of ethics, societal and global ethics for the good of the global community. The study has been a deliberation on the representational relationship between PRofessionals as individuals and individuals as PRofessionals, and between the profession and the global ethics. A global communication approach on the measurability of ethical issues in public relations is schematized by a representational model for ethics in public relations. Key words: Ethics, public relations ethics, global communication ethics, measurement of ethics