Public Relations for Improving Public Perception of the Marketing Executives in the Banking Industry in Nigeria

Abstract

This study was undertaken to examine how public relations enhances mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics to improve the overall public perception of the marketing executives in the banking industry in Nigeria. The open systems model of public relations guided study analysis. The marketing executives of the consolidated banks in the commercial city of Lagos, Nigeria formed the population of the study. A sample of 180 marketing executives was determined using a percentage formula. The Friedman non-parametric test statistics was used for the hypothesis testing. A calculated Friedman Chi-square result of 246.410 was obtained from the tested hypothesis. This value is greater than the critical Chi-square value of 5.991, which is significant as P-value of 0.000<0.05. This indicates that effective public relations can project the image of an organization to improve the overall public perception of the marketing executives in the banking industry in Nigeria.

Keywords:Public Relations, Public Perception, Marketing Executives, Banking Industry in Nigeria, Public Opinion, Media Relations, Open Systems Model of Public Relation.