Students’ Perception of Public Relations Ethical Practice in Social Media: A Cross-national and Collaborative Approach

Abstract

Ethical practice has always been one of the core foundations and critical issues in public relations profession. Following ethical standards is more critical (difficult) than ever in a digital world where media reaches global, fragmented audiences. Despite the potential advantages offered by social media, public relations scholars have also emphasized the ethical dimension of these new communication tools and practices. In line with this prognosis, this study, through a cross-national and collaborative approach explored public relations students’ views on professional ethics, especially via social media platforms, in United Arab Emirates and Egypt. A cross-national online survey was used to collect data from 227 participants made up of 115 students from University of Sharjah and 162 students from Cairo University.  The results delineated that students’ perception was clear regarding the variables that influence ethical practice of public relations. The most notable variables were the culture of the society and the crises that organizations may face. Nonetheless, participants did not have a clear perception of the organizational content authenticity on social media compared to other dimensions of ethical practice. They strongly expressed the need for academic programs in public relations that will pay more attention to ethical professional practice, especially on digital platforms. These findings offer insight to public relations managers and curricula developers to come up with course content that will bring about ethical standards in the profession, especially in the domain of digital media practice.