Corroborating and Extending a Typology of Public Relations Professionals’ Ethical Dilemmas: Unveiling Three Types of Unethical Behaviors

Public relations professionals face several ethical dilemmas. Extant research has primarily addressed such dilemmas through a quantitative approach. While the insights gained thus far are valuable, relying solely on a quantitative approach may not yield a comprehensive understanding because ethical dilemmas are rooted in social experiences that are dynamic and continuously evolving. To address this lacuna, we employ an abductive approach to validate and extend an existing conceptual typology encompassing three types of public relations professionals’
ethical dilemmas: the public, the relations, and the professional dilemma. We conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with forty-six public relations and communications professionals with various experience levels and from diverse geographic regions and industries. We contribute to extant scholarship by validating and extending an existing conceptual typology, clarifying the interactions between its three proposed types, and clarifying its conceptual
boundaries. Moreover, we demonstrate that the three types of ethical dilemmas can lead to three public relations-specific forms of unethical behavior: pivoting publics, relegating relations, and posturing professionalism, ultimately resulting in reputational damage