Museum-Public Relationships: Exploring the Relationship Management Theory of Public Relations

• Main Author: Schoen, Mary Presley
• Other Authors: Laura Lindsay
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2005
• Subjects: Mass Communication
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-10252005-094017/

This study employs the organization-public relationship (OPR) scale to measure member perceptions of an art museum affiliated with a Southern university. The scale is a 15-item, multi-dimension tool developed by Bruning and Ledingham to measure a publics relationship with an organization (Ledingham, 2001). The three dimensions are personal relationship, community relationship, and professional relationship. The study found that member perceptions of the museum-public relationship differentiated members who voted to continue their membership from those who voted to discontinue their membership with the museum. Further, this study supports the relationship management theory of public relations as a viable framework for practicing museum public relations and quantifying museum public relations outcomes.