Rules Theory

Rules theory addresses the cultural and societal prescriptions and proscriptions for communicating in specific cultural contexts, with the idea that following and surpassing expectations for communication rules will lead to more favorable communication outcomes. Applied to public relations, rules theory can be used to examine the communicator's message strategy, the audience's evaluation of the communicator, and use of rules for relationship management. In the practice of public relations, rules theory from the communicator's perspective addresses the ways organizations must, must not, should, or should not communicate with their publics in order to achieve their goals. Specific communication goals are often specified as compliance gaining; relationship formation, maintenance, or dissolution; persuasion; and consensus building. Although research on rules theory has accumulated in the disciplines of organizational communication, social psychology, and sociology, the application of rules theory to the area of public relations is relatively recent.

The origin of rules theory has been credited to the 1953 publication of Austrian-born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's book Philosophical Investigations (Shimanoff, 1980). The introduction of rules theory for communication is often credited to Donald P. Cushman and Gordon C. Whiting (1972). Their approach was influenced by the symbolic interactionist perspective developed by George H. Mead and focused on how communication is used to accomplish goals and construct meaning.

The first communication scholar to thoroughly synthesize previous definitions of rules to differentiate rules from other concepts and to offer methods for measuring rules and developing theory was Susan B. Shimanoff in her book Communication Rules: Theory and Research published in 1980.

Although scholars may have different views on rules, most agree communication rules are invoked in situations of human communication—whether it is interpersonal, group, organizational, or mass communication. Rules are socially constructed and are distinguished by their strength, the perceived consequences of noncompliance, and their contextual range. Shimanoff wrote, “A rule is a followable prescription that indicates what behavior is obligated, preferred, or prohibited in certain contexts” (1980, p. 57). In her work, Shimanoff noted that another characteristic of a rule is that it must be tangibly or otherwise followable.

Cushman (1977) has pointed out that for rules to be present, parties in communication must agree upon what constitutes the rules for communication. This suggests that communication conflict may occur if rules are not shared. In addition, Cushman has noted that part of what makes [Page 811]rules contextual is that not only are they tied to specific situations, but that they are also determined by the communicator's role (i.e., a public relations officer may address a group of activists differently that an employee group). Rules are not the same as descriptive norms, laws, habits, heuristics, and principles (see Shimanoff [1980] and Cushman [1977] for concept explications). Rules are quite similar to the psychological concept of injunctive norms, which examine how people respond to messages about what is considered correct social behavior (Jacobson, Mortensen, & Cialdini, 2011).