Communicating for good in a globalized world: How MNO practitioners in Bangladesh, Botswana, Indonesia, and Kenya conceptualize and practice prosocial public relations

Multinational organizations (MNOs) operate in multiple countries across the globe and how they communicate in one context can affect their operation and communication in another. This need is even more pressing when organizations engage in prosocial communication about contentious issues that may be interpreted differently in distinct national contexts. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how public relations practitioners working for MNOs operating in Bangladesh, Botswana, Indonesia, and Kenya conceptualized prosocial communication and how they understood the benefits and drawbacks in their national context. Based on our analysis of in-depth interviews with 17 public relations practitioners, we suggest an integrative approach to globalized prosocial communication and call for a recentering of publics across organizational prosocial initiatives and communication. • Examined prosocial public relations in Bangladesh, Botswana, Indonesia, and Kenya • Conducted in-depth interviews with 17 practitioners. • MNOs must consider business operations, community, and socio-political systems, when engaging in prosocial communication. • Propose an integrative approach to globalized prosocial communication.