Testing the structuralist perspective: An analysis of the relationships among gender, power, and influence in corporate public relations

Although women represent the majority of the public relations industry, concern has been voiced regarding their ability to influence decisions of the dominant coalition due to a lack of organizational power. This study used feminist theory and a structural framework for examining the relationships among female and male public relations practitioners' organizational power and influence. This study quantitatively tested whether potential differences in the perceived organizational influence and usage in upward influence tactics of public relations practitioners were due to measures of formal structural power, relationship power, gender, or a combination of power and gender.;One thousand five hundred four survey questionnaires were mailed to senior-level public relations practitioners employed at corporations across the United States. Three hundred and nine practitioners responded, yielding a 20% response rate.;Results of this study indicate that female corporate public relations practitioners have a lower amount of formal structural power than male public relations practitioners working in corporations. Formal structural power stems from the size of the public relations department, the role tasks of the public relations practitioner, her or his place within the organizational hierarchy, and the gender ratio of the dominant coalition. Contrary to past qualitative research and feminist hypothesizing, there was no significant difference in the amount of relationship power of men and women. Relationship power stems from participation in the networks of the dominant coalition, the quantity and quality of mentor relationships, and the amount of value and support secured based upon the perceptions of the dominant coalition.;This study also found that there were no gender differences m upward influence tactic usage or in perceived organizational influence. The finding that female public relations practitioners did not perceive that they have less organizational influence than male public relations practitioners contradicts prior feminist hypothesizing.;Formal structural power and relationship power were moderately related to participants' organizational influence and weakly related to their use of “stronger” upward influence tactics. These findings lend credence to the structuralist claim of feminist public relations scholars that this study was partially designed to test: The organizational structure is related to female public relations practitioners' amount of influence.