Communication with intent: A typology of communicative interaction in engagement

Abstract Engagement is a dynamic multidimensional concept that captures the intention to affect another entity at individual, organizational, or societal levels through communication. Within the extant engagement literature in public relations, scholars have argued interaction is a key communication attribute of engagement, but little is understood about the form and nature of the interaction, and its relationship to engagement outcomes. This conceptual paper advances the understanding of communicative interaction at the heart of engagement, and the consequent impacts on the outcomes of engagement. For public relations, the articulation and explication of interaction as either a shared or one-way communication event provides practitioners and academics with a new range of perspectives on how engagement-derived outcomes are achieved and enacted.