Abstract

Public relations scholars overlook one of the most misunderstood and least accessible specialties in the field---lobbying. Lobbying is an accepted, legal process that allows voices of citizen groups, associations, labor unions, corporations and other groups to be heard in the political arena. The purpose of this research is three-fold. First, it examines lobbying as advocacy public relations. Second, this study evaluates the roles lobbyists perform in their day-to-day professional work and compares such roles to traditional public relations research. Third, this research evaluates the ethical criteria lobbyists consider in their professional activities using Edgett's (2002) model for ethically desirable public relations advocacy.

Data were collected from self-administered surveys of 222 registered lobbyists in Oregon. Results indicate that lobbyists define their work as "the act of publicly representing an individual, organization, or idea with the object of persuading targeted audiences to look favorably on---or accept the point of view of---the individual, the organization, or the idea" (Edgett, 2002, p. 1). This research also found that despite performing four public relations roles (communication manager, senior adviser, media relations, and communication technician), both full-time and part-time lobbyists more frequently engage in communication management activities than traditional communication technician tasks. Strong correlations were found between three public relations roles and the definition of lobbying as advocacy. Factor analysis results reduced 18 ethical criteria to seven underlying factors: situation, strategy, argument, procedure, nature of lobbying, priority, and accuracy. Correlation results indicate that role perception does affect perception of ethical considerations: lobbyists who engage in management activities are likely to consider more ethical criteria in their day-to-day professional activities than lobbyists who perform communication technician tasks.

Findings fill three visible gaps in the current public relations body of knowledge. First, this study provides much-needed insight into a specialized group of public relations practitioners. Second, results supports previous research that maintains that advocacy is a legitimate function of public relations. Finally, these findings continue to develop public relations, particularly lobbying, as a profession by constructing an ethical framework for advocacy-oriented practices.