West Meets East: A Cross-cultural Look at American and Russian Public Relations Students’ Perceptions of Leadership Style and Ethics

• Main Authors: Elina Erzikova, Bruce Berger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Insitute for Public Relations 2008-06-01
• Series: Public Relations Journal
• Online Access: https://prjournal.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/West-Meets-East.pdf

This research study represents an attempt to examine ethical inclination, similarities and differences between public relations students in Russia and the United States. Scholars recognize that perception of an ethical issue is an important prerequisite for the ethical decision process, and this survey explored perceptions of 377 American and Russian public relations students regarding professional ethics and leadership styles. Results found Russian participants less likely to follow ethical codes than American respondents. The more respondents believed in the effectiveness of the transformational style, the more they appeared to follow professional ethics, or vice versa. There was a correlation between participants’ adherence to ethical conduct and their beliefs in the effectiveness of the transformational leadership style. The results of this study suggest there is a need for greater emphasis on ethics education in university public relations programs in both countries.