Study: Millennials unprepared to serve as ‘ethical conscience’ in PR
PR isn’t just about making a client look good. It’s about doing the right thing. But younger PR pros feel unprepared to offer counsel.
So a warning light is flashing in the form of a recent study showing that most millennial PR pros are shying away from roles as a conscience within their organization.
The study, “Silent & unprepared: Most millennial practitioners have notembraced role as ethical conscience,” found significant differences in preparedness to offer ethical counseling between generations. Only a third agreed or strongly agreed that they feel prepared to offer ethics counsel, the article states.
The good news is that the availability of a mentor makes a difference, as does ethics training in college, at work or through a professional association.
The joint scholar-practitioner project was written by Marlene S. Neill, assistant professor at Baylor University, and Nancy Weaver, internal communications manager for the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The two serve together on the Public Relations Society of America’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards. The Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State College of Communications funded the study.
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