Cultural Relativism In Global PR Ethics: A Thematic Analysis of PR Ethics Codes and Development of a Cultural Assessment Tool

As public relations becomes increasingly more global, it is valuable to learn whether the regulations and codes proposed by international organizations address cultural differences. Presently, there is a division within international public relations research on whether ethical codes can be universal or require a relativist framework. This study contributes to the conversation in two phases. Phase One consists of a thematic analysis of a leading global public relations network, the International Public Relations Association, to study its ability to balance collectivist and individualistic values within the code of ethics it provides to its global members. Additionally, codes from four associations within collectivist cultures, including Japan, China (Hong Kong), Singapore, and Southern Africa, were comparatively analyzed to determine the differences between how each balance collective and individualistic cultural values. With the IPRA's failure to balance individualistic and collectivist coded items (10 to 5), a lack of inclusion of collectivist linguistic patterns in its code of conduct (i.e., its code of ethics), and each collectivist culture having a unique balance of coded items, the cultural relativist position that cultural context influences ethics was reinforced. The public relations field and its practitioners should be aware of culture's influence on norms and ethics rather than attempting a universal approach. Based on these findings, Phase Two includes the development of the PR Ethics Cultural Assessment Tool (PRECAT) to help global PR practitioners and organizations analyze their ethical codes’ cultural leaning and discover the cultural leaning of organizations within international areas they hope to work within.