ABSTRACT

Relationships between an organization and its key strategic publics form a central construct of study in strategic communication and public relations literature. The present study draws upon strategic communication, consumer psychology, and political science literature to explore a relatively understudied phenomenon, i.e., publics’ relationship dissolution intentions, specifically in the context of political party-voter relationships. This study examined the roles of party identification and political cynicism in predicting individuals’ relationship dissolution intentions with their political party upon learning of misconduct allegations against their political party. An online survey was conducted in February 2019 among Australians to examine the linkages between their political cynicism, party identification, distrust and perceived moral inequity, and attendant relationship dissolution intentions. The results revealed that individuals’ strength of party identification mitigated their negative evaluation of the alleged misconduct, whereas political cynicism increased it. Perceived moral inequity was found to positively impact voters’ distrust of the political party, which increased their relationship dissolution intentions. Implications for strategic communication and political communication are discussed.

摘要

组织与其关键战略公众之间的关系构成了战略传播和公共关系文献研究的核心结构。本研究利用战略传播、消费者心理学和政治学文献来探索一个相对未被充分研究的现象，即公众的关系解散意图，特别是在政党-选民关系的背景下。本研究检验了政党认同和政治愤世嫉俗在预测个人在得知对其政党的不当行为指控后与其政党的关系解除意图中的作用。2019 年 2 月在澳大利亚人中进行了一项在线调查，以检查他们的政治愤世嫉俗、政党认同、不信任和感知到的道德不平等，以及随之而来的关系解散意图。结果显示，个人的政党认同强度减轻了他们对被指控的不当行为的负面评价，而政治愤世嫉俗则增加了负面评价。发现感知到的道德不平等对选民对政党的不信任产生积极影响，这增加了他们解除关系的意愿。讨论了对战略沟通和政治沟通的影响。这增加了他们解除关系的意图。讨论了对战略沟通和政治沟通的影响。这增加了他们解除关系的意愿。讨论了对战略沟通和政治沟通的影响。