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An Analysis of the Gap Between Official Public Relations Discourse and Citizens’ Public Perception of Urban Management:A Mixed-Methods Approach (Case Study: Hamedan Municipality)
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Abstract: (221 Views) |
This study investigates the discursive gap between the official public relations of the Municipality of Hamedan and citizens’ perceptions of urban management. Using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design, the research first applies critical discourse and framing analysis to texts, news items, slogans and campaigns produced by the municipal public relations office, complemented by semi-structured interviews with communication officials. In the second phase, a survey based on the qualitative findings and prior literature was administered to 400 adult residents of Hamedan to measure perceived transparency of official messages, perceived quality of urban services, congruence between messages and lived experience, trust in urban management and overall satisfaction.
Qualitative results show that the official discourse is largely technocratic, promotional and one-way, relying on selective highlighting of achievements, concealment of criticism and aestheticised representations of the city. In contrast, citizens engage in critical re-reading of these messages and report semantic, epistemic and identity gaps between the official narrative and their everyday experience. Quantitative analyses indicate that perceived transparency, service quality and message–experience congruence all have positive and significant effects on trust, with congruence emerging as the strongest predictor; trust, in turn, is a major determinant of overall satisfaction, and the communicative variables explain more than half of the variance in citizens’ trust.
The findings conceptualise the gap between “what is said” and “what is experienced” as a structural and ideological phenomenon and highlight the need to move from monologic, image-driven public relations towards more dialogic and citizen-centred communication in urban governance.
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| Keywords: public relations, municipal communication, critical discourse analysis, discursive gap, citizen trust, urban governance |
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Full-Text [PDF 561 kb]
(25 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Applicable |
Subject:
Special
Accepted: 2026/05/14 | Published: 2026/05/14
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