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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The purpose of this article is to present an ongoing
study that seeks to know in what manner the affiliate
members of the Portuguese Association for Corporate
Communication (APCE) trust in the organization to
defend their interests and to stimulate a rigorous path
for the profession.
Because there is a poor associative tradition in Portugal
and many associations always struggled with lack
of human resources and financing support, people
normally did not take the associative work too serious.
The associations would survive mostly with the help of
a few strong headed volunteers that believed in their
mission.
But during the last decades both civic and professional
associations have made an effort to assure a more
formal structure with full-time and specialized
employees which allow them to have a more active role
in the society and with its affiliates. This is the case of
APCE.
So it would be great to find out what affiliate members
now think of APCE and its commitment in establishing
Corporate Communication and Public Relations as a
critical success factor for companies.
Despite being an autonomous non-profit driven entity,
independent and active for almost 30 years, APCE has
overcome a lot of obstacles and has undergone many
restructurings that resulted from the rethinking of its
mission. But one of its most difficult challenges over
the years has been the capacity of gaining trust from
practitioners and academics in the aptitude of APCE to represent them in their professional and research area.
APCE board of directors is now interested in promoting a
certification process for public relations, communication
managers and strategists in Portugal. For several years
it has struggled with a lack of recognition of both the
value and competences of these practitioners. The
ambition for an accreditation or certification of some
kind is a long time expectation of many professionals
and academics. So the main question is: Do affiliate
members trust APCE to lead a process of certification
or accreditation of PR in Portugal?
Description
Keywords
Associativism Trust Trustworthiness Public relations Certification
Citation
Pereira, S. & Diogo, C. (2019, jul 04-06). Public Relations Associations as Trustworthy Partners. The APCE case study. Paper presented at 26th International Public Relations Research Symposium – Trust and Reputation: highlights from BledCom. Rikli Balance Hotel, Lake Bled, Slovenia.