The communicative role of the Public Relations in highlighting the social reasonability and its impact on the mental image of the public

(A field study on the company's audience in Makkah Al-Mukarramah 2021)

Abstract

This study is intended to explain the communicative role of the Public Relations (PR) in the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) in highlighting the social reasonability of the company, and to explain how this role impacts the mental image of the public. In the theoretical framework of the study and the context of its issues, the study is based on defining the mental image of the company about its social responsibility perceived by the public based on the communicative role of the public relations of the company. This study is classified as a descriptive study. In order to collect the study data, the researcher used survey approach in its type which is known as public survey. The researcher studied the phenomenon, subject matter of this research, as in reality, then described and expressed it quantitatively and qualitatively. In selecting the sample, the researcher relied on a simple random public sampling method. The electronic questionnaire is adopted as a tool to collect data from the study population, which represents the company's customers resident in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. The researcher also relied on the structured interview tool in obtaining data on the subject of the study, through an organized interview with the PR Director in STC. The study concluded with several results which mainly include: the PR in the STC uses various communication activities, methods and means to highlight the company's social responsibility. It uses the (personal, collective and public) communication methods and social media equally. It also uses all possible social media except for (cinema and paper magazines), which are rarely used by the PR for communication with the public. The results also show that the PR in the company is concerned with providing information to highlight the company's social responsibility in certain areas, namely (society) in the first place, (environment) and finally (economics). The company's PR adopts researches which permanently measure the mental image of the company and also its social responsibility occasionally. The study also explained a positive impact of the communication role of PR in STC with regard to highlighting the company's social responsibility on the mental image of the public. Moreover, the cognitive dimension impact on the mental image with regard to the company's social responsibility, which targets the public through the communicative role of the PR, is the most public effect. It is followed by the emotional and behavioral dimension respectively. The results showed that the major percentage of the public in the study sample have positive impressions regarding the company through participation in social responsibility for society. The results of the study concluded that the most common social media which affect the population of the study sample as the source media are: (SMS), (social media), (bulletin boards) respectively. It also concluded that the majority of the study sample feels the credibility of communicative messages which are received from the PR and highlight the company's social responsibility, and they also consider them as high-quality messages. The results of the study also showed that the majority of the study sample are satisfied with the offers of the public relations in terms of communication activities, whether for the purpose of highlighting the company's social responsibility or for general purposes, at (53%) of public satisfaction.