An ethical comparison among public relations practitioners and students in the Indianapolis area
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Abstract
This study has presented insights into emotional perceptions surrounding ethical practices in the public relations field. The evidence resulting from the Q-sort process alluded to the grouping of practitioners as Truth Seers and students as Pragmatists. The Truth Seers revealed complete, balanced and consistent feelings identifying truth as the primary motivation for personal decision making. The Pragmatists were conversely found to believe that while truth was the basis of decision making, it was often necessary to make decisions or be confronted with moral choices that were not the most ethical out of necessity of circumstance. These groupings were general and did not apply toward all of the students or practitioners who participated. No definitive partition was established only a general theory.