Public relations roles empirically verified among public relations practitioners in Africa

Abstract

There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the practice of public relations (PR)in Africa, which prohibits the continent to fulfil its responsibility towards the global PRsociety as well as other developing countries. Based on the findings of a master’sdissertation on the practice of PR in Africa, this article focuses on one of the conceptsthat were measured, namely PR roles.The article discusses current literature in the field of roles research and describes theempirical verification of two PR roles in Africa. Although the three roles of the PRstrategist, manager and technician were measured, only two roles emerged during thefactor analysis: the role of the strategist (Factor 1), and the combined roles of thetechnician/manager (Factor 2).The data was collected by means of a self-administered electronic questionnaire. Dataanalysis consisted of both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Common Factor Analysis(CFA) where the underlying dimensions were extracted, indicating the items used to definethe PR roles.