"Digitalization is fundamentally changing media ecosystems and posing ethical challenges for media and communication practitioners. One of the professions affected is public relations (PR), which today can analyze target groups based on their digital data traces or spread messages via paid digital c ... hannels. Although these practices are effective, they raise ethical concerns. However, it remains unclear whether PR practitioners around the world perceive such practices as morally challenging and whether their perceptions are shaped by individual dispositions or national backgrounds. This study analyzed data collected in 4 cross-national surveys involving 5,970 communication practitioners from 52 countries. Results from multilevel modeling indicate that individual predispositions, that is, personal values and beliefs and age, influence ethical perceptions far more than national context. These findings are interpreted as an indicator of the ongoing globalization of PR ethics, which presumably leads to similar perceptions in different regions." (Abstract) more

"Comparative research has gained enormous popularity in communication and media studies in the last two decades and is increasingly conducted in international research teams. Collaboration with scholars from different countries brings many advantages, but it is also prone to conflict. ... Sophia Charlotte Volk presents the first systematic reflection on the conceptual, methodological, and social challenges of international collaborative and comparative studies in communication science. A systematic review of comparative studies and expert interviews with communication scholars shed light on how challenges manifest themselves empirically and what solutions have proven to be appropriate. The book proposes a phase model of collaborative and comparative research that can serve as a guide for scholars on what conditions should be created for productive collaboration in temporary research projects." (Publisher description) more