Vice-Rector for Studies of VERN' University, Dr. Stana Odak Krasić, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on the topic "Contributions of Croatian experts to the development of the public relations profession"
- the role of communication and managerial style, knowledge, image and charisma" at the interdisciplinary doctoral study program at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Mostar.
Colleague Odak Krasić was thus promoted to the academic degree of Doctor of Science in the scientific field of social sciences, field of communication sciences, branch of public relations.
Congratulations to our colleague, Dr. Stana Odak Krasić!
SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION
As early as 1923, Edward L. Bernays wrote about the profession of public relations, stating that the meaning of the term could only be understood by a few experts closely involved in the subject. Then, and still today, the work of public relations professionals, in one way or another, affects the daily lives of the entire population. In this context, all research and studies of this phenomenon are of exceptional importance for social and professional relevance and the possibility of exploitation in terms of broader research projects.
Since there is no systematic analysis of the evaluation of individuals in the development of this young profession, the aim of this paper was to determine who the examples of good practice are that have contributed to the development of the profession and what specifically their contribution is based on and conditioned by – communication or managerial style, or knowledge, image or charisma.
The methodological framework followed the paradigm of scientific design, and its demonstration and evaluation were carried out through the triangulation method: case studies, in-depth interviews and content analysis according to the announced variables. A qualitative research approach was chosen for the research within the framework of this dissertation. First, the context and subject of the research were presented, which was supplemented by an overview of previous research on the development of public relations in Croatia. In the in-depth interview, 14 respondents/experts were interviewed, who were awarded the Grand PRix award for the development of the profession by the Croatian Public Relations Association, and thus data were obtained for the analysis of individual contributions and the meaning of the observed phenomenon. All of this contributed to the realization of the purpose of the work - the analysis of the development of the public relations profession in Croatia and the definition of the role of leading experts in this process in order to determine what their key contributions are based on and what they are conditioned by - communication or management style, i.e. knowledge, image and charisma, but also in order to find certain principles according to which a model was created that is applicable to other professions/professions.
