Our hope is that this work benefits a full range of public relations scholars and practitioners. For those already doing work or applied campaigns in the area of resistance, but perhaps not inoculation theory, we hope that this conceptual analysis offers a complementary framework for analysis, assessment, and future work. For those for which the idea of resistance is un- or under-studied, we suggest inoculation theory as a good starting place for resistance research.

Josh Compton, Shelley Wigley, & Sergei Samoilenko

Inoculation Theory and Public Relations

Inoculation theory explains how an existing state (an attitude, a belief, a position) can be made more resistant to future influence, in much the same way a medical inoculation can make an existing state (a healthy body) more resistant to future viral influence: through pre-exposure to weakened forms of challenges. The theory has established efficacy as an effective messaging strategy in a number of contexts, including politics and health. Another area that has received attention in inoculation theory scholarship is public relations. A comprehensive review of this work, however, is long overdue. We outline existing work in inoculation theory and public relations, and then show how inoculation theory and public relations research can bring new applications and theoretical development to the public relations areas of (1) issues management; (2) crisis and risk communication; and (3) character assassination. 

Compton, J., Wigley, S., & Samoilenko, S. A. (2021, March). Inoculation theory and public relations. Eastern Communication Association Annual Conference (Virtual)