Abstract This exploratory study examined the practice of public relations in Zimbabwe by surveying and understanding public relations roles typically practiced by Zimbabwean PR practitioners. Through the lens of systems theory, the research investigated whether the practiced public relations roles allow organizations to perform all three boundary spanning functions such as output, throughput, and input. The results confirmed prior theoretically and empirically derived typology of roles (technician, manager, strategist) from the African continent. However, the observed structures of public relations roles deviate from previous findings, indicating that Zimbabwean PR practitioners' professional roles may differ from those in neighboring countries.

中文翻译：

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津巴布韦公共关系角色的探索性研究

摘要 这项探索性研究通过调查和理解津巴布韦公关从业人员通常从事的公共关系角色，研究了津巴布韦的公共关系实践。通过系统理论的视角，该研究调查了实践中的公共关系角色是否允许组织执行所有三个跨越边界的功能，例如输出、吞吐量和输入。结果证实了先前从理论上和经验上推导出的非洲大陆角色类型（技术员、经理、战略家）。然而，观察到的公共关系角色结构与之前的发现有所不同，表明津巴布韦公关从业人员的专业角色可能与邻国的不同。