| The purpose of this study was to determine how multinational and Taiwanese companies manage relationships with their publics in China. This study was conducted from the dialectical perspective in order to develop a normative theory of relationship management that encompasses the concepts of relationship antecedence, relationship cultivation strategies, and relationship outcomes.; Inspired by Broom, Casey, and Ritchey (2000) and J. Grunig and Huang (2000), the theory of relationship management developed in this dissertation incorporated the concepts of relationship antecedents, relationship objectives, relationship cultivation, relationship outcomes; and the external factors that influence relationships. This study explored culture and economic development as external factors that influence relationship cultivation behaviors. In addition, I applied Baxter and Montgomery's (1996) dialectical perspective to illustrate the dynamics in an organization-public relationship.; I conducted 40 interviews with CEOs, vice presidents, and public relations managers from 18 multinational and 18 Taiwanese companies in China in the summer of 2001. The interviews combined the characteristics of active, elite, long, and cross-cultural interviews. The interview locales included Beijing, Shanghai, Kunshan, Suzhou, Guanzhou, Dong Guan, Hong Kong, and Taipei.; Results confirmed all of the propositions, except for the influence of multiple publics around an organization. Both multinational and Taiwanese companies realized that organization-public relationships influence business profits and were willing to manage these relationships. However, they did not believe that relationships with different publics around their companies would influence overall relationships.; Participants confirmed that they developed five types of relationships previously identified in the literature: communal, exchange, covenantal, contractual, and exploitive relationships. In addition, the study identified manipulative relationships and symbiotic relationships as additional types of relationships. I also redefined a communal relationship and developed two categories in this type of relationships: a one-sided communal relationship and a mutual communal relationship. The research results also revealed that the more positive relationships multinational and Taiwanese companies intended to develop the more symmetrical cultivation strategies they used.; I then explained the relationship between cultivation strategies and relationship quality. Results showed that symmetrical strategies, such as positivity, sharing of tasks, and cooperation, most often produced quality relationships, although asymmetrical strategies sometimes were used to acquire the cooperation of publics or because of the Chinese cultural influence. Among all the relationship qualities, commitment was the most salient characteristic. Multinational and Taiwanese companies had to be committed to relationships in China because China is still developing, even though the potential market is huge. The study also showed that the Chinese government welcomes multinational companies to invest in China to enhance its economic development, local construction, and job opportunities. Therefore, the strategy of sharing of tasks was widely used by multinational and Taiwanese companies.; The implications of this study are useful to: (1) public relations scholars who can use the methods to evaluate organization-public relationships; (2) public relations scholars who are developing a theory of global public relations; (3) public relations practitioners who attempt to develop, maintain, and evaluate relationships with publics of their organizations; (4) multinational companies that intend to build long-term relationships in another country; and (5) scholars who are interested in Taiwan-China relationships. |
