Trust in Communication Management

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Notes on Contributors

Mine Yeniçeri Alemdar (PhD) is an associate professor in the department of Public Relations and Promotion at the Faculty of Communication at Ege University, Turkey. Her research has been published in the Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Marketing Management: From Theory to Implementation, International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society. Her researchis focused on new media, marketing communications, crisis communication and brand management.

Emre Ş. Aslan (PhD) is an assistant professor of Faculty of Communication at Gümüşhane University in Turkey. He is head of the Journalism Department. Additionally, Aslan is an assistant editor of the e-Journal of the Faculty of Communication (e-Gifder). He has published 5 articles and book chapters. His studies are related to the fields of public relations, brand, brand strategy, advertising, account planning, social media, and brand agenda setting on social media.

Çisil Sohodol Bir (PhD) is an associate professor at Bahçeşehir University, Faculty of Communication, Public Relations Department. She received her M.A. and PhD from Ege University, with a doctoral dissertation on corporate social responsibility. Her main research interests are crisis communication, corporate social responsibility, marketing communications and fair organizations.

Zuhal Gök Demir (PhD) works at the Faculty of Communication in Akdeniz University in Turkey. Her research interests include strategic public relations and segmentation of publics. Recently she published a book on strategic public relations and practices.

Oğuz Göksu (MA) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Istanbul University where he serves as a research assistant. His research interests include political communication, public diplomacy, political culture and image management. He has published 1 article and 5 book chapters. He is also the vice president of Başakşehir Youth Assembly.

Hasan Güllüpunar (PhD) is an associate professor in the Faculty of Communication at Gümüşhane University in Turkey. He is head of the Public Relations Department and coordinator of corporate communication at Gümüşhane University. Additionally, he is the editor of the e-Journal of Faculty of Communication ← 7 | 8 → (e-Gifder). He has published 2 books (including Political Communication and Public Relations in Municipalities) and over 30 articles and book chapters. His studies are related to the fields of public relations, strategic public relations, political campaign, voter behaviors, political message strategies, elections, political parties, political attitude and behavior.

Nahit Erdem Köker (PhD) is an associate professor at the Faculty of Communication in Ege University. His main research interests are reputation management, marketing communication, public relations, and organizational communication. He has published some papers in such journals as Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Global Media Journal, European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Educational and Social Research, Global Media Journal, Journal of Yasar University, International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.

Banu Kumbasar (PhD) is an assistant professor at Istanbul Medipol University. Her research interest is health communication. She studies physician-patient relationships, communication in patient-centered health care and designing health messages. She has publications and a book about health communication.

Aydemir Okay (PhD) is a full professor in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University, where he was previously dean and head of the public relations department. He has published six books and edited several others, along with numerous papers in national and international academic journals. He taught, as an invited professor, at Leipzig University, Gumilev Eurasian National University, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, and Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev. His areas of interest are public relations, public relations theory, corporate advertising, sponsorship and corporate communication. He is also a member of EUPRERA.

Fatih Özkoyuncu (MA) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Istanbul University. He spent 15 years as a practitioner in the public relations industry, with a particular focus on design of communication strategy, SME communication, copy-writing and crisis communication. He is currently a lecturer in public relations in the Faculty of Communication, Istanbul University. He regularly teaches strategic communications, social media, public relations practices and organizational structure in agencies at undergraduate level. His research interests focus on strategic communication, SME communication, digital public relations and campaign design. ← 8 | 9 →

Eda Öztürk, (PhD) graduated from Ankara University Communication Faculty in 2001. She has completed her PhD entitled “Internet Advertising and WOM Strategies” at Marmara University in 2012. Her research interests include digital advertising, gender and advertising strategy, and product placement. She is currently working as an instructor in Bahçeşehir University’s Advertisement Department.

İdil Karademirlidağ Suher (PhD) is an associate professor at Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Communication, head of Public Relations Department, and program coordinator of the MA and PhD programs in public relations. She received her MA and PhD at Anadolu University Communication Arts, completed her PhD dissertation on issue management in public relations. Her research interests include issue management, corporate communication, strategic management and campaign planning.

Hasan Kemal Suher, (PhD) graduated from Eskisehir Anadolu University Faculty of Communication Sciences, Advertising and Public Relations Department. He was appointed as assistant professor to the Advertising and Public Relations Department in the Communication Sciences Faculty in Anadolu University in 2003. He has been working as Vice Dean in Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Communication since 2005. He is currently the head of Bahçeşehir University Advertising Department.

Fulya Erendağ Sümer (PhD) is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations and Publicity, Faculty of Communication, Akdeniz University. She regularly teaches undergraduate and postgraduate units concerned with public relations. Her research interests include strategic public relations, quantitative research methods in public relations, and corporate reputation. Recently she published a book on strategic public relations and practices.

Çiğdem Karakaya Şatır (PhD) is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Communication in Akdeniz University in Turkey. She regularly teaches undergraduate and postgraduate units concerned with public relations. Her research interests include strategic public relations and corporate reputation. Recently she published a book on strategic public relations and practices.

Gül Şener, (PhD) received her degree from Koç University in 2000. She worked in various local and global advertising agencies as copywriter. She completed her master’s degree in 2008 and PhD in 2015 at Bahçeşehir University. Her areas of specialty include narrative persuasion, archetypal branding, and product placement. ← 9 | 10 → She is currently working as an instructor at Bahçeşehir University, Advertisement Department.

Ahmet Tarhan (PhD) is an associate professor of Public Relations and Publicity in the Faculty of Communication at Selçuk University. His research interests include public relations, publicity, political communication, new communication technology in public relations and social media. He has many published books and articles. His published books are Public Relations in Government and E-Government Applications, Media and Political Participation and Public Relations in Municipalities and Citizen Perceptions.

Esin Yalçıner (MSc) is a doctoral student in the Department of Advertising at Bahçeşehir University where she has been serving as a teaching and research assistant since 2012. Her research interests include advertising likeability, cross-cultural studies and communication, social marketing (public service information), and organizational communication.

Gonca Yıldırım (PhD) is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Communication and in the Anadolu Bil Vocational School of Higher Education at Istanbul Aydın University. Before working at the university as a lecturer, she worked in different companies. Her research interests include intercultural communication, international public relations, reputation management and organizational communication. She has a published book entitled Public Diplomacy through International Public Relations with Perspective of Cultural Diplomacy. She has also published book chapters and been featured in national journals.

Burcu Zeybek (PhD) is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising, Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University. She received her PhD in 2015 by writing a thesis on political advertising and rhetoric. Her research focuses on communication, advertising, persuasion and rhetoric and have been published in international academic journals. She has also worked as a marketing and public relations manager before her academic career.

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Preface

The notion of “trust” as an indispensable part of our day-to-day lives has been a perpetual issue in a variety of areas, including personal relationships, jobs, social relationships, mass media, political communication, marketing, and advertising. Consequently, various disciplines analyze this notion, addressing it from their own perspectives.

The importance of multilevel and cross-level perspectives is gaining increasing attention in communication management. This has led to a call for examining trust across levels of communication analysis. There is a need to understand trust both within and between the public because methodological difficulties can arise in the absence of a clear multilevel conceptual model.

Just as perceptions about an individual’s ability, benevolence, and integrity will have an impact on how much trust the individual can garner, these perceptions also affect the extent to which an organization will be trusted. We can define each of these trustworthiness dimensions so that they could be applied to interpersonal, intergroup, or inter-organizational levels of analysis. At the same time, trust is closely tied to norms, values, and beliefs. Therefore it is critical to understand the self-image and self-definitions of publics.

Trust consists of multiple factors at the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels, all of which affect an individual’s perception of trust. Affective responses influence how people evaluate their level of trust in another party. It can be said that all three factors of ability, benevolence, and integrity can contribute to trust in a group or organization. Acts of benevolence from a potential partner in a joint venture would help to build trust.

It should be remembered that trust is the outcome of communication behaviors, such as providing accurate information, giving explanations for decisions, and demonstrating sincere and appropriate openness. Recent research points out that trust should be examined at both the macro and micro levels within a corporation.

A number of reviews on trust have commented on the diversity of definitions and the component elements of trust. Scholars from communication disciplines have presented many insightful views and perspectives on trust but many of them seemed to talk past one another. Our basic interest was to pull together insights from the communication disciplines on how to approach trust.

Trust in the communication field was an area we felt was not adequately and methodically dealt with in the vast array of communication management ← 11 | 12 → literature. This book, as other authors would have noted, both satisfied our initial desires and opened up a world of new questions and lines of enquiry to pursue.

With this book, the idea, which I have incubated since the early 2000s, eventually became real. My idea involves bringing scholars of public relations together to create a fruitful environment in which genuine and innovative thoughts and standpoints can flourish under a particular theme with both corporate and research-oriented dimensions, and making them available to all parties with a certain interest in this area. I deeply believe this study significantly contributed to its authors, and will substantially contribute to its readers.

This book is more than just a single line of thought. The varied interests and insights of our contributors have created a synergy. I would like to thank all the contributors who have enthusiastically responded to my invitation and feedback, and graciously shared their views on the chosen subjects. This book would, of course, not be the same without them. Every member of this book has earned a special place in my heart.

I hope this book contributes to the thinking and aspirations of those people who believe in trust in communication management as part of the way that corporations and businesses operate in society.

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Part I

Trust Concept in Different Communication Fields

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Aydemir Okay

Trust and Theory of Trust

Abstract The concept of “trust” applies to all human relations. It is multifaceted and defined in a variety of ways. Some scholars define it as an expectancy held by an individual or a group that the word, promise, verbal or written statement of another individual or group can be relied upon, while others view trust as an affective (emotions) or a cognitive (rationality) attribute, or both. The instances in which trust was taken into consideration date back a long time. To exemplify, Confucius named trust as “the foundation and prior condition of social relations”. The fact that trust had been seriously considered by such thinkers as Hobbes, Locke and Hume, and political scientists as well as such sociologists as Durkheim and Simmel is the source of the interest that social scientists showed in the topic. This study involves components of trust and other concepts related to it. It also argues the theory of trust.

Trust Concept

Trust has always been important for human relations since ancient times. Möllering et al. (2004) demonstrated that the word “trust” dates back to 13^th century Middle English and has its etymological roots in older expressions indicating faithfulness and loyalty, however the phenomenon of trust is probably as old as the earliest forms of human society. For example, Confucius (551–479 BC) regarded trust to be a prerequisite and basis for all valuable social relations (Hassan and Semerciöz, 2010: 69). The fact that the concept has been discussed by philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke, and Hume caused it to be studied by political scientists whereas its mention by philosophers like Durkheim and Simmel piqued sociologists’ attention (Möllering et al., 2004: 557).