Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - Public relations and multinational corporations

This study investigates the internal ideational foundation underlying the host country public relations of multinational corporations by explicating the thinking of various public relations actors about what counts as good public relations work. It uses an abductive approach that combines theoretical deduction and qualitative induction. Data were collected through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the subsidiary of an American multinational in China. Interpretation of the data reveals a global localism-informed orientation reflected in the views of expatriate managers, and a local pragmatism-rooted orientation in the perceptions of other public relations actors hired from the host country.