Public relations activities in local governments: An investigation on the puplic releations activites of Ardahan municipality

Nowadays, all organizations take part in an open system. Modern organizations have to inform the society about the services they carry out, learn about the expectations and demands of the people, make use of this in their works and thus establish harmony and cooperation with the society. Such harmony and cooperation between organizations and the public can only be achieved through public relations, which is one of the indispensable elements of the management process. Public relations, as in other public institutions, is of great importance for municipalities that carry out many activities that affect the lives of individuals. Municipalities whose main purpose is to provide services to people can only be successful by gaining public trust and support through effective public relations activities. In this regard, the aim of this study is to focus on the importance of public relations activities in public administration and to assess satisfaction levels of the citizens living in the border sof Ardahan municipality for the public relations activities. For this purpose, a research was undertaken with the participation of 631 citizens receiving service from the central municipality of Ardahan. Research data were collected by using a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 22.0 package program. As a result of the research, general satisfaction level of the citizens from the public relations activities of the municipality is "moderate". General satisfaction level differed according to gender, age, education, occupation and income significantly. In the light of the results obtained by the research, suggestions were put forward for practitioners and researchers.