Background:

Tom Kelleher, Chair of the School of Communications at the University of Hawaii, started at UH in 1999 after earning his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He also served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2004 to 2006.

He has taught courses in public relations, online communication, communication campaigns, media effects, organizational communication, and communication theory.

Kelleher has published in ten different scholarly journals including Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, and Teaching Public Relations, as well as two of the three highest rated among 72 communication journals listed in the ISI Web of Knowledge’s 2011 Journal Citation Reports: Journal of Communication and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. He served as guest editor for Journal of Public Relations Research for a 2010 special issue on social media. His book, Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media, released by SAGE in 2006, was the first scholarly textbook in public relations to focus on the implications of social media and “Web 2.0” technologies for theory and practice. His research interests are online public relations, social media, public relations theory, campaigns, ethics, and teaching and learning with online media.

Teaching:

COM 201, Introduction to Communication COM 421, Public Relations Strategies COM 422, Public Relations Tactics COM 452, Building Communication Theories COM 478, Capstone in Communication in Communities COM 611, Communication Theories COM 623, Strategic Organizational Communication COM 691, Communication Topics Seminar

Course Syllabi:

Summer 2013com,jour 422 - Special Topics: Public Relations Tactics View Syllabus
Course Web Site http://www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/459/syllabus.htm

Spring 2013com,jour 478 (001) - Capstone in Communication in Communities View Syllabus

Fall 2012com,jour 201 (001) - Introduction to Communication View Syllabus
Course Web Site http://www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/201/fall12/syllabus.htm

Spring 2011com,jour 421 (001) - Public Relations Strategies View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/421/syllabus.htm

Fall 2010com,jour COM 623 (001) - Strategic Organizational Communication View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/623/syllabus10.htm

Spring 2010com,jour 454 (001) - Communication Campaigns View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/454/syllabus.htm

Spring 2009com,jour 691 (001) - Communication Topics - Public Relations Theory and Planning View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/691/syllabus.htm

Spring 2008com,jour 452 (001) - Building Communication Theory View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/452/452syllabus.htm

Spring 2007com,jour 691 - Communication Topics - Online Communication View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/691/691syllabus.htm

Fall 2006com,jour 611 (01) - Communication Theories View Syllabus
Course Web Site www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/611/

Advising:

COM students (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.), students interested in public relations and related careers

Research:

online public relations, social media, public relations theory, campaigns, ethics, and teaching and learning with online media

Interest(s):

family, surfing, running, social media

Publications:

Title: Special issue: Social media. Journal of Public Relations Research, 22 (3). Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. (2010)
ISBN: 1062-726X
Publication Information: Social media are giving public relations theory a workout. Likewise, contributors to this issue of Journal of Public Relations Research lead us through a brisk circuit of scholarship that strengthens the body of knowledge in public relations, training it to handle the challenges and rewards of social media. Definitions of social media vary, but most focus on terms like engagement, participation, two-way communication and interactivity – much like the field of public relations itself. The mix of methods, theoretical foci and media examined in this issue represent well the range of inquiry that social media elicit. These studies illustrate how the fundamental communicative nature of social media and the fundamental communicative nature of public relations are deeply intertwined in both theory and practice.

Title: Social media use, perceptions of decision-making power, and public relations roles. Public Relations Review, 34 (3), 440-442. (2009)
Co Authors: Marichris Diga
Publication Information: Public relations practitioners in this study who were more frequent users of social network sites and social media tools reported greater perceptions of their own structural, expert and prestige power. Forty of 115 members of a PRSA chapter responded to the survey request. In terms of day-to-day practice, the sample matched national samples of practitioners, with manager and technician questionnaire items loading on the exact same factors as in prior studies. However, those enacting predominantly manager roles did not differ significantly from those enacting predominately technician roles in social media use. This study points to the need for future research to examine more closely the use of social media in the daily roles of public relations practitioners.

Title: Measuring ecoshock and affective learning: A comparison of student responses to online and face-to-face learning ecologies. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 5 (3), 469-476. (2009)
Co Authors: David San Jose
Publication Information: A 12-item ecoshock index was developed and tested to measure differences in university students’ responses to online and face-to-face learning ecologies. The index yielded promising internal reliability scores in pilot testing and experimental conditions. Construct validity was supported with evidence from within-subjects experimental comparisons (N = 49) showing that ecoshock was significantly higher in online conditions than face-to-face conditions as predicted. Also as predicted, ecoshock correlated negatively with an 8-item index of affective learning, which was found to be greater in face-to-face conditions than online conditions. Implications for instruction and student learning outcomes are discussed.

Title: Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. (2007)
ISBN: 1412914175
Publication Information: Rich in scholarly foundations combined with actual practice, Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media connects the social and technological forces that are changing public relations. Using plain-talk discussion of theory and research, this book helps readers identify how lasting concepts for effective public relations can be applied in a changing media environment, and how a changing media environment affects the practice of effective public relations.

Title: Conversational voice, communicated commitment, and public relations outcomes in interactive online communication. Journal of Communication, 59 (1), 172-188. (2009)
Publication Information: Organizations face unique challenges in communicating interactively online with publics that comprise dauntingly large numbers of individuals. This online survey examined the perceptions of people who had experienced interactive communication with a large consumer-tech-industry company via organizational blogs. Those reporting the greatest exposure to the blogs in this study were more likely to perceive the organization as communicating with a conversational voice. Conversational human voice and communicated relational commitment (relational maintenance strategies) correlated positively with trust, satisfaction, commitment, and control mutuality (relational outcomes). Building on prior research, this survey supports a model of distributed public relations—one in which key outcomes of public relations are fostered by a wide range of people communicating interactively while representing an organization.

Title: Organizational contingencies, organizational blogs and public relations practitioner stance toward publics. Public Relations Review, 34(3), 300-302. (2008)
Publication Information: Public relations practitioners in this study who perceived social media (e.g., blogs) to be a normal part of their organization’s day-to-day communication were less likely to choose an accommodating stance toward a key public than practitioners in “low-tech” conditions. Forty-three practitioners with a mean of 14.5 years professional experience participated in a 2×2 (contingencies for dialogue×technological orientation of organization) experiment. The data reveal a disconnect between the potential relational benefits of social media and the stance public relations practitioners in this study chose when social media were introduced as a regular part of their working environment.

Title: Social media adoption among university communicators. Journal of Public Relations Research, 24 (2), 105-122. (2012)
Co Authors: Kaye Sweetser
ISBN: 1062-726x
Publication Information: Long interviews were conducted with university communicators at two distant universities with distinct social systems. Participants were drawn to adopt social media mainly by relative advantage, compatibility and trialability attributes of the innovation. Inductive themes that emerged from the interviews included an emphasis on publics, information sharing, cost, and convenience. A believer-nonbeliever distinction among adopters is introduced. Believers are driven by the same characteristics of social media that public relations researchers have found to be essential to the practice of public relations itself: two-way communication, interactivity, dialogue and engagement.

Title: A survey of social media use, motivation and leadership among public relations practitioners (2011)
Co Authors: Kaye Sweetser
Publication Information: This study investigates the relationship between motivation, leadership and social media use among a sample of public relations practitioners who recently had begun using Twitter to follow Universal Accreditation Board (UAB)-affiliated organizations. A majority of the survey respondents were classified as “everyday users.” A series of Twitter leadership indicators correlated positively with internal motivation and correlated negatively with amotivation. Several word-of-mouth variables also were investigated with regard to motivation.

Honors / Awards:

The College of Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Hawaii at Manoa (2009)
Description: The College of Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes outstanding performances by faculty as teachers. The purpose of the award is to highlight the importance of high quality teaching in the College of Social Sciences.

PRSA Hawaii Award of Excellence for UH Bone Marrow Drive campaign (2009)

Flagler College Alumni Professional Achievement Award (2011)
Description: Presented to Flagler College alumni who have demonstrated significant accomplishments in their fields and have achieved national and/or regional recognition.

Arthur W. Page Legacy Educator (2012)
Description: Awarded by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State University for contribution to knowledge, practice, and public understanding of ethics and responsibility in public communication.