Assessment of the Competency Development of Public Relations Executives, through Programs Offered by The Institute of Public Relations

Abstract

 This research aimed to study 1) the process, 2) efficiency, and 3) competency development approaches of public relations executives through the Public Relations Executive Program, offered by The Institute of Public Relations. This paper utilized mixed-method research. As for the quantitative part, purposive sampling in a survey, using a questionnaire to gather data. The sample was 93 people, who graduated from the programs between 2017 – 2019, and 37 executives; the descriptive statistics, frequency, percentage, average, and standard deviation (SD) were adopted. As for the qualitative part, in-depth interviews were conducted to gather data from 6 people, including the Director of the Institute of Public Relations, the programs’ managers, and instructors; the data was analyzed by Inductive Reasoning. The result showed three key findings. Firstly, the process of competency development for public relations executives found that all aspects of the process were at the highest level: the training curriculum had an average of 4.48, while staff had an average of 4.41, and speakers had an average of 4.28. Secondly, the efficiency of the competency development, gained after the programs. The participants evaluated that knowledge and skills they gained were at the highest level: strategic corporate management received an average of 4.46, the public relations management was on an average of 4.46, and the management skills was at an average of 4.39, the executives also saw that the post-program efficiency was at the highest level. Last but not least, the approaches for competency development should involve examining the public relations trends before opening the program, adding more public relations classes, recruiting well-known instructors and experts, and attaching great importance to networking activities.