The nature of public relations in Vietnam

Abstract

Public relations is practiced around the world from Western to Asian countries. Public relations theory was initially defined and formalised in the United States of America, and continued to evolve in Europe and the United Kingdom, but had a slower uptake of theory and its application to practice in Asia and other parts of the world. Within varied social and cultural environments, this research explores public relations in Vietnam - what public relations performs in the context of Vietnam where the culture values personal relationships. The exploratory study uses a qualitative research approach with the primary method of semistructured interviews of twenty-nine consultants and in-house public relations practitioners, in both Vietnamese and international organisations. The research found that Vietnamese public relations uses a one-way communication model proposed by Grunig & Hunt (1984). It simultaneously uses a two-way shared perspective which appears similar to the symmetrical model by Grunig & Hunt (1984) but the Vietnamese model focuses on relationships for communication. The study concludes that the nature of public relations in Vietnam is changed by the impact of the cultural factors.