Public Relations and Relationship Management: A Systematic Literature Review of Organisation-Public Relationships, 2000–2025

Abstract

Public relations literature has shifted from evaluating communication outputs to analysing relationships between organisations and their publics. This review synthesises peer-reviewed research from 2000 to 2025 on organisation-public relationships (OPRs). The review explored how relationships are theorised, measured, and applied. It identifies key factors that improve relationship quality, outcomes of strong relationships, and areas with limited evidence. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, searches were conducted from January 3rd to July 18th, 2026, across SciSpace, Google Scholar, and publisher platforms, with citation tracking. The period covered was 2000-2025. From an initial 106 records, 69 unique studies were screened, 38 assessed, and 30 included after verification. The review shows that relationship management has matured, supported by validated scales, cross-cultural and digital studies, public sector applications, and meta-analyses. Trust, satisfaction, commitment, and mutual control are core indicators, while openness, engagement, transparency, authenticity, dialogue, access, and communication are predictors of relationship quality. Reputations, advocacy, loyalty, supportive intentions, legitimacy, and information seeking are key outcomes. Evidence is mainly corporate, cross-sectional, and from North America, Europe, and parts of Asia; less is available for public institutions, development organisations, humanitarian work, and Africa. The review proposes an integrated relational pathway relating context, communication, relationships, quality, and outcomes, and sets a research agenda for broader, longitudinal, and comparative studies.