Does (Linking with) Practice Make Perfect?: A Survey of Public Relations Scholars

Abstract

Although it has been commented that public relations academics should link their work to the needs of the industry, the general views of public relations scholars on various aspects of the academic-industry interface are unknown. To address this, we conducted a survey of 966 public relations academics. Findings showed that the respondents, overall, were in favor of building closer ties with the industry to advance the field, but certain opinions varied by education level and extent of professional experience. In addition, major conceptual dimensions in this academia-industry relationship were identified. Implications, recommendations, and directions for future research are discussed.