Strategic use of dialogic tenets for building relationships with stakeholders by top-ranked universities in China and the United States

Abstract

Cultivating relationships with stakeholders is a key function of university public relations practitioners, yet there is limited understanding of how dialogic communication tenets are employed strategically to communicate with stakeholders on social media in different cultural contexts. This empirical study operationalized five dialogic tenets and contributed to the literature by examining how leading universities from different cultural backgrounds, specifically the U.S. and China, communicated with stakeholders. This was attempted by analyzing 1440 posts by the top fifteen universities in each country. Content analysis results indicated that the application of dialogic tenets by universities was influenced by dominant cultural orientations of each country. Specifically, Facebook posts exhibited higher levels of mutuality, propinquity, risk, and commitment, while Weibo posts showed higher levels of empathy and commitment to conversation. This study informs strategic communication scholars and practitioners about the importance of strategically tailoring posts to each country’s cultural values and focusing on specific dialogic tenets.