Design and Validation of a Smart Public Relations Model in Iran’s Food Industry Using Structural Equation Modeling
Keywords:
Smart Public Relations, Food Industry, Structural Equation Modeling, Digital Interaction, Data AnalyticsAbstract
This study aimed to design and validate a comprehensive and context-specific smart public relations model for Iran’s food industry by examining the causal relationships among its key components. The research is applied and quantitative in nature, employing structural equation modeling; data were collected through a researcher-developed questionnaire with 48 items across 12 constructs from 400 public relations managers and experts in the food industry and analyzed using LISREL software. The results indicated that digital infrastructure, digital skills training, and ethical governance significantly predict interactive engagement and sentiment analysis, data-driven decision-making positively affects real-time responsiveness and message personalization, and brand trust plays a significant mediating role in influencing media crisis management and communication effectiveness assessment, while crisis management and effectiveness assessment directly enhance digital competitive advantage, with the overall model demonstrating good fit indices. The validated model provides an integrated and empirically supported framework for advancing smart public relations and guiding digital transformation strategies in organizational communication within Iran’s food industry.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Nazanin Sadat Jafari Sheshmad (Author); Reza Abdolrahmani; Neda Shafiei, Ali Jafari (Author)
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