Editorial Record: Submitted May 16, 2022. Revised January 19 ,2023. Accepted May 17, 2023. Published January 2024.

Author

Abstract

This teaching brief describes lessons learned from a standalone public relations ethics course. It discusses how virtue ethics can be incorporated into public relations ethics courses through pedagogical approaches, and student responses to those approaches. Overall, results indicate the effectiveness of student-led discussions and moral exemplar engagements in teaching virtue ethics and ethics in general. Findings also suggest areas of improvement for future public relations ethics courses. 

Keywords: virtue ethics, public relations ethics education, pedagogical approaches

Over the years, an increasing importance has been placed on public relations ethics education (Bortree, 2019; Rosso et al., 2020). The 2017 Commission on Public Relations Education Report has recommended a required ethics course to all public relations curriculum (Commission, 2018). Standalone public relations ethics courses are also favored by most public relations educators (Neil, 2017). However, ethics and ethical awareness among new public relations graduates continued to be identified as a deficient area for public relations education among supervisors and professionals (Todd, 2014; Neill, 2021). 

In particular, public relations professionals identified personal ethics and value systems as the most essential and courage, confidence, and speaking up to be the most lacking for a successful public relations career (Neill, 2021). Educators have also articulated the importance of an ethics education to focus on the students’ analytical abilities, critical thinking, and moral reasoning skills (Gale & Bunton, 2005; Woon & Pang, 2020).

These recommendations pose a sharp contrast with the current state of public relations ethics education, which largely relied on deontological frameworks such as prescribed code of ethics (Neil, 2017). Yet this focus yields potential concerns. First, the reliance of deontological ethics on external sanctioning mechanisms may undermine student agency over the ethical values themselves (Schwartz, 2001). A secondary concern may be that this lack of a sense of ownership over personal ethics may undermine willingness for students or early-practitioners to assertively defend their personal ethics when challenged (Neill, 2021). 

These issues reflect a need to incorporate virtue ethics in public relations ethics education to complement traditional deontological approaches. Virtue ethics emphasize on the “cultivation of individual character to become models of virtue, rather than the rightness or wrongness of specific actions” (Plaisance, 2014, p. 24). Although virtue ethics requires time, hindsight, and experience to cultivate, once successfully practiced, it is powerful and intrinsic and can encourage long-term development of character extending beyond classroom education (Bowen, 2016; Craig & Yousuf, 2018). College education is a great time for students to form the habit of practicing virtuous behaviors and characters that will last a lifetime. The incorporation of virtue ethics into public relations education may increase students’ sense of ownership and agency, addressing issues occurring in traditional deontological approaches (Neill, 2021; Schwartz, 2001). Challenges with virtue ethics education may be overcome by appropriate pedagogical approaches (Baker, 2008). Therefore, the purpose of this teaching brief is to discuss relevant pedagogical approaches designed to cultivate virtue ethics vis-à-vis analysis of the design, implementation, and student responses to a standalone public relations ethics class. 

Literature Review

Virtue and Virtue Ethics

Rooted in the Aristotelian tradition, virtue has been defined as entrenched and deep-seated dispositions of character, habit or human quality (Schnitker et al., 2019). Virtue can be acquired, cultivated, and practiced (Craig & Yousuf, 2018; MacIntyre, 2007) through various approaches such as personal experience reflection (Lamb et al., 2021), engagement with virtuous exemplars (Baker, 2008), transcendent motivation (Schnitker et al., 2019), and reason-based approaches (Rawls, 2001). 

Following MacIntyre’s (2007) notion that virtue ethics is a form of social practice where individuals pursue standards of excellence, journalism scholars have applied this concept of practice to achieve not only individual flourishing, but also health and excellence in journalism practices (Borden, 2007; Craig, 2011). Similarly, public relations scholars have also advocated for the use of virtue ethics to achieve professionalism and values in public relations through various approaches such as the understanding of virtues and vices (Baker, 2008; Neill, 2021). For example, humility, honesty, integrity, moral courage, caring, empathy, and candor have been identified as virtues while arrogance, deception, moral relativism, fear, uncaring, unsympathetic, secrecy have been categorized as vices for public relations practitioners (Neill, 2021).

Pedagogical Approaches to Virtue Ethics

Reflections on personal experiences. Under an Aristotelian framework, reflections on one’s own experiences vis-à-vis discussions of one’s understanding of individual virtues is one of the ways to develop “practical wisdoms” or an ability to “discern morally salient features of situations and deliberate about how best to act” (Lamb et al., 2021, pp. 14-15). The use of personal reflections to develop virtue or practical wisdom has been supported by educators (Cooke & Carr, 2014; Glück & Bluck, 2013). For example, students may be asked to reflect on personal experiences where they have exercised or failed to exercise a specific virtue. Personal reflections allow students to draw on their own experiences in understanding abstract concepts such as virtues (Lamb et al., 2021), and in the process deepen understanding of their own personal identities and dispositions.

Engagement and dialogues with moral exemplars. Moral exemplars are ideal representations or embodiments of virtues. Watching, intimating, and engaging with moral exemplars as role models is another way to cultivate virtue ethics (Baker, 2008; Lamb et al., 2021). According to Lamb et al. (2021), having dialogues or one-on-one discussions with moral exemplars have several pedagogical benefits as they help contextualize abstract virtues, increase salience of certain virtues, and can serve as “‘counterfactual models’ that prompt us to imagine how an exemplary person would act in a similar situation, which can help us discern how we should act” (p. 17). The use of moral exemplars such as guest speakers, professional interviews, and industry professional mentorships have been suggested in both journalism (Craig & Yousuf, 2018) and public relations ethics cultivation (Baker, 2008; Neill, 2021). 

Student-Led Case Discussions. Case studies and case study discussions have been recognized as a valuable approach to teaching not only virtue ethics but ethics in general in public relations curriculum (Del Rosso et al., 2020; Neill, 2017). Encouraging      dialogues about how particular virtues can be practiced in concrete cases is one of the strategies to increase virtue literacy or the “capacity to know and understand the necessary language and virtue concepts required to evaluate morally salient situations” (Arthur et al., 2017, p. 94). Through discovering, discussing and analyzing concrete real-world ethical dilemmas and cases in class and in groups, students can work together and develop needed critical thinking and analytical skills (Del Rosso et al., 2020; Kim, 2020; Rozelle, 2020; Ward et al., 2020). 

Public Relations Ethics Course

About the Course

Public Relations and Society was developed as a stand-alone required public relations ethics course in the core undergraduate public relations curriculum at the author’s university in response to the 2017 Commission on Public Relations Education Report. The course was developed in partnership with the university’s Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing (ISHF), an on-campus institution dedicated to bolstering ethics education across campus. The instructor of the course received a grant from ISHF to incorporate intellectual virtue ethics as a part of the course, though the course covers a range of ethical principles and theories. The course was offered for the first time in Fall 2021 and second time in Fall 2022 as electives.

Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes

The course addressed a variety of ethical principles and virtues integral to public relations professionals (i.e., truth, integrity, accuracy, etc.), but also important intellectual virtues that enable a virtuous life and career, including open-mindedness, love of learning, intellectual humility, curiosity, honesty, self-regulation, civility, and compassion. Although only two of the intellectual virtues were explicitly stated in the course objectives, the course content covered all the above virtues. See Table 1. 

Table 1. Students’ Self-assessment on Course Objectives

	Course Objectives I am able to …	Self-assessment (n=11)(1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree)
1	identify basic moral reasoning and philosophical approaches	M=4.64, SD=.51
2	identify and discuss professional business and public relations ethical principles	M=4.82, SD=.41
3	apply ethical principles to ethical decision-making process and to address ethical challenges in public relations	M=4.91, SD=.30
4	analyze public relations situations with various ethical principles and decision-making approaches	M=4.91, SD=.30
5	understand legal issues and their implications for public relations practice	M=4.64, SD=51
6	demonstrate a willingness to think critically, creatively and independently and actively seek novel solutions to public relations situations (love of learning)	M=5.00, SD=.00
7	articulate one’s own perspective and the perspectives of diverse publics in evaluating public relations situations and challenges (open-mindedness)	M=4.82, SD=.41

Classroom Activities and Course Assignments

The course incorporates a range of pedagogical approaches, including lecture, in-class case discussions, in-class activities (e.g., debates, code of ethics critiques, etc.), guest speakers, as well as a range of course assignments, such as the personal and career goal reflection papers, a practitioner interview, case study discussion leaderships, and a case study project. 

Guest speakers. For example, the course invited four public relations practitioners in various industries to share with the students their personal stories about how ethics inform their careers and day-to-day work lives. The class sessions with the practitioners were kept informal to encourage student engagement and interactions with the practitioners. Questions such as “what motivates you ethically?” and “how has ethics or virtues guided your work/life?” were used to prompt discussions.

Personal and career goal reflection papers. Students were asked to select three virtues and reflect on the relevance of the virtues to their own goals and the public relations profession. The reflection papers, one during and one at the end of class, aim to help students construct their own narratives based on their own social and cultural identities and encourage students to think about how these virtues are intrinsically linked with their own goals. 

The rubric for assessing the reflection papers is based on two criteria for each of the virtues reflected: 1) demonstrate personal understanding of the meaning of this virtue beyond what was discussed in class and 2) demonstrate personal understanding of this virtue’s relevance to public relations, and personal/career goals (D. Craig, personal communication, July 13, 2021). 

Practitioner interview. Students were asked to interview public relations professionals to explore their ethical values and how they deal with ethical challenges and to present the stories in class with their own analysis relating to the virtues discussed in class. Engaging with exemplars and creating and presenting the ethics narratives through practitioners’ real experiences fully engages the students and helps students contextualize virtues, understanding what a virtuous life/career looks like rather than understanding virtues as abstract concepts (Craig, 2021; Eschenfelder, 2011). This in turn intends to help them think about virtues in their own life and career. Students were expected to share and present the interview results in class. 

The criteria for assessing this assignment include: 1) brief introduction of a practitioner; 2) the practitioner’s perceptions on ethics and virtue ethics (what motivates them ethically? How do they address specific ethical challenges in work/life? What are the virtues implied or stated?); and 3) What are the implications for your professional work/life? (D. Craig, personal communication, July 13, 2021)

In-class activities and class discussions. The course is discussion heavy. Several components of the class center on class or group discussion. For example, the beginning of every class was dedicated to a dilemma-of-the-day discussion (Craig, 2021), where the class discussed and analyzed most recent ethical dilemmas in the news with course principles. Other in-class activities involved group-based discussions/engagements such as debates, code of ethics critiques, and decision-making model case discussions. To encourage active participation, participation in class discussions was counted as a part of the course grade. 

Case study discussion leadership and case study project. Students were tasked with leading two class discussions on public relations ethics cases: the first on an assigned textbook case and the second on a case developed by themselves for the case study project. In both discussion leaderships, students were asked to briefly present the case, and to come up with their own questions about the case to simulate class discussion. In the case study project, students had full autonomy in selecting, analyzing, and presenting a recent public relations ethics case. 

The discussion leadership assignments were assessed based on two criteria, mastery of the case and flow of discussions. Mastery of the case was assessed by 1) students showcasing thorough understanding of the case through in-depth analyses of news/social coverage of the case; 2) students expanding on the case by discussing how relevant virtue ethics or other ethical principles can be applied. Flow of discussion was assessed by 1) prepare at least three questions in advance; and 2) discussion facilitation: adapt the questions depending on directions of the discussion and encourage all participants to discuss. The case study final paper was assessed through criteria including 1) case identification and introduction, 2) case analysis (a. in-depth analysis of news/social coverage, b. analyzes the case with course principles, c. manifests critical thinking and analysis of the case based on research and theory), 3) implications (a. impact of the case, b. case evaluations supported by ethical principles), and 4) quality of research and objectivity. 

Course Assessment and Student Responses

ISHF conducted pre- and post-course surveys to assess student learning outcomes on the two virtue ethics learning objectives (i.e., open-mindedness and love of learning) in the Fall 2021 class. All 11 enrolled students participated. Results of the surveys showed an increase in both virtue ethics learning objectives. However, as the surveys were not IRB approved, the detailed results of the surveys will not be disclosed here. 

The instructor conducted IRB-approved (IRB#14115) assessment surveys to the Fall 2021 and Fall 2022 class. For both classes, the surveys were distributed to the students by another instructor to avoid coercion. A total of n=11 students (n=6 in the Fall 2021 class and n=5 students in the Fall 2022 class) participated in the survey. Students were asked to provide their self-assessment of course objective learning outcomes as well as their evaluation of each of the course components. 

Overall students perceived that they acquired the learning objectives as self-assessment on the course objectives were high, ranging from M=4.64 (SD=.51) to M=5.00, (SD=.00) (see Table 1). While the students acknowledged that all components of the class were useful to understand abstract ethical concepts (see Table 2), they found the case study discussion leader (n=9, 81.8%) as the most helpful, followed by in-class activities (n=7, 63.6%), guest speakers (n=6, 54.5%), dilemma of the day discussion (n=6, 54.5%), readings/cases (n=6, 54.5%), practitioner interview (n=5, 45.5%), case study final paper (n=3, 27.3%), and reflection paper (n=2, 18.2%) (see Figure 1). 

Table 2. Student assessment of course material/assignments

	Course material/assignments	Assessment (n=11)(1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree)
1	The guest speakers added to my understanding of course concepts such as virtue ethics	M=4.55, SD=.93
2	The guest speakers added to my understanding of how to deal with ethical challenges in real life	M=4.91, SD=.30
3	The personal/career goals reflection papers helped me think about how to cultivate virtues in relation to my goals	M=4.55, SD=1.21
4	The practitioner interview assignment aided my understanding of what a virtuous work/life is like	M=4.64, SD=.67
5	The practitioner interview assignment aided my understanding of how to deal with ethical challenges in real life	M=4.73, SD=.47
6	The case study discussion leader assignment helped me think critically about ethical issues in public relations practices	M=5.00, SD=.00
7	The case study discussion leader assignment helped me better understand concepts and principles (e.g., ethical principles, decision models, framing, business ethics, etc.)	M=5.00, SD=.00
8	The case study final project helped me think critically about ethical issues in public relations practices	M=5.00, SD=.00
9	The case study final project helped me better understand concepts and principles (e.g., ethical principles, decision models, framing, business ethics, etc.)	M=4.64, SD=.51

Figure 1. Student-rated most helpful class content

The qualitative responses reflected similar themes. Overall students found that discussions in class, whether it’s the discussion leader, discussions/interactions with guest speakers or other in-class discussions such as the debate, to be the most beneficial in understanding abstract ethical concepts. For example, one student expressed that “The case      studies we look at are both entertaining and educational, providing a practical real-world example of what we are learning about. The focus on discussion is fantastic. I loved all the guest lecturers.” Others also shared similar sentiments toward discussions: “The discussion aspect was strong. It took me out [of] my comfort zone speaking up in class about ethical principles and real-world issues”; “The way it helped me apply critical thinking to ethical issues regarding public relations”; “Helped me think more critically about ethical dilemmas in PR”; “I really enjoyed the debate in this class. It brought creative thinking out of everyone!”       

Students’ qualitative responses to least helpful assignments also echoed that of the quantitative results. Overall students found the reflection papers to be the least helpful. Students have also pointed out issues with the assignments and have provided potential solutions. For example, one student noted that while engagement with moral exemplars helped with understanding abstract ethics practically, it was disconnected from some of the other ethical principles and ethical decision-making models learned in class:

The practitioner interviews and guest speakers were great for getting a practical understanding of how PR ethics actually play out, but don’t really tend to have anything to do with the models and philosophies we learn in class. I absolutely loved the focus on discussion and see it as the most effective way of teaching a lot of this material.

Others expressed concerns over an emphasis on speaking in front of the class: “I think it’s hard for some students to feel comfortable enough to stand in front of the class so much to present.” And some suggested a smaller class size for future public relations ethics classes: “I loved the debates and wish we could have done one or two more. I think having a smaller size class is great because it allows everyone to feel comfortable with sharing their opinions and thoughts.” 

Discussion and Conclusion

Overall, the students have showcased an understanding and ability to apply virtue ethics and other ethical principles in cases and scenarios as manifested in course discussions and the case study project. The course has also received positive feedback from the students. As a standalone public relations ethics course offered to students for the first time, the course provides a few key lessons for pedagogical approaches to teaching public relations ethics in general and for incorporating virtue ethics into public relations ethics education. 

First, high levels of student discussions help students conceptualize, understand, and apply abstract ethical concepts, including virtue ethics. Student-led class discussions help provide students the ownership over discussed ethical issues and real-world cases, thus in turn increases students’ intrinsic motivations for learning. However, as some students have mentioned, the free flow of discussion is contingent on a smaller class size and a welcoming and open discussion environment. 

Second, engagements with media exemplars, especially guest speakers, have proven to be an effective way to teach virtue ethics. For instance, students have commented in the course evaluation what struck them most was how the personal experiences of one of the guest speakers have taught them about moral courage and integrity, that it is important to speak up when observing unethical behaviors even when it might mean losing one’s job. The practitioner interview assignment, in turn, reflects issues as students expressed difficulties in finding good exemplars to interview. Future public relations ethics courses could consider partnering up with local PRSA chapters to explore practitioner interview options for students or ask students to write reflections over conversations with guest speakers. 

Third, there needs to be a balance within the course content and assignments between virtue ethics and other philosophical frameworks such as deontology and decision-making models. Students in general feel that there’s an over emphasis on virtue ethics: while guest speakers and practitioner interviews focus on virtue ethics, there’s a disconnect between how moral exemplars can help them understand other ethical principles learned in class. However, virtue ethics pedagogical approaches such as discussions and dialogues, and moral exemplars are shown to be effective methods to teach not just virtue ethics, but ethics in general. Future ethics courses could use moral exemplars as means to explore other philosophical approaches in addition to virtue ethics.  

Finally, more guidance may be needed in turning the reflection paper into more effective teaching tools. More prompts may be needed to help students reflect more deeply on the virtues or ethical principles. Reflection paper as a tool could also be more effectively used for students to reflect on a class discussion or an interaction with guest speakers in class. 

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To cite this article: Zhang, Xiaochen Angela. (2024). Incorporating Virtue Ethics in Public Relations Ethics Education: Lessons from a Standalone Public Relations Ethics Course. Journal of Public Relations Education, 9(2), 38-59. https://journalofpreducation.com/?p=4075