Some $14bn is spent on public relations agencies in the United States alone each year, but there remain doubts about whether that investment is soliciting sufficient returns, or even what those returns should be.  New research from North Carolina State University outlines the development of a new tool that the researchers believe will help organizations measure the relationships they have with key stakeholders more effectively.

“Traditionally, these relationships are measured using questionnaires, which provide only a static snapshot of how one party viewed an organization,” the researchers say. “But questionnaires don’t account for the organization’s role in shaping the relationship, nor do questionnaires account for the dynamic nature of relationships.”

The tool, which the researchers refer to as the Contingent Organization-Public Relationships (COPR) aims to take both of these factors into account to help the industry better understand how relationships change over time.

The tool is designed to help organizations evaluate relationships in both positive and cooperative environments, as well as in times of conflict and crisis.  It assesses each relationship based upon the stance of the organization on a particular topic, alongside the stance of the relevant stakeholders on the same topic.

Each stance is rated on a spectrum ranging from aggressive at one end, to accommodating at the other.  The tool then uses these stances to begin describing the relationship as one of six categories.

“We can determine each party’s stance by mining datasets such as public discourse on social media, organizational actions, such as news releases or blog posts, and so on,” the researchers say. “And COPR allows us to see how these relationships evolve in response to changing circumstances, such as during a concerted marketing push or after a crisis.”

The tool was put to the test with the Red Cross, and showed potential, but it’s not clear yet whether it’s a product that will be sold on the market or not.