| The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of public relations strategies that influence social capital in publics and to explore how social capital is associated with the publics' participation intention for democratic engagement. To demonstrate this, a measure of social capital that was applied to a public-relations context was developed and validated.;Modern social media sites have created popular and effective communication channels for organizations. Social media can provide numerous benefits for organizations that try to establish relationships with key publics. Also, social capital has great potential for diverse organizations in that this leads to behavioral participation by individuals.;Results of an experiment in this study showed that the creation of bonding social capital in publics can be promoted when an organization employs an openness relationship maintenance strategy or a two-way communication strategy through its social media. In addition, it was found that bonding social capital affects the intention of publics to participate not only in online participation but also to participate offline to support the organization, when demographic factors, political ideology, and level of issue involvement were controlled.;This study provides academic implications in that it investigates how public relationship strategies can lead to behavioral outcomes via developing the model of social capital. Furthermore, by developing the social capital measurement in a public relations context, the study grants opportunities for public relations scholarship to expand to various areas. This study also has practical implications in that it helps organizations and public relations practitioners establish effective communication strategies to build communities with publics and to increase their participation. Finally, the underlying connection that this study examined, between perceptual outcomes of communication and actual intention for participatory behaviors, could provide a better understanding of citizens' engagement for a vibrant democratic society. |
