As public relations professionals around the world mark World PR Day, the Reputation Management Association of the Philippines (RMAP) welcomed the Public Relations and Communications Association’s (PRCA) newly announced definition of public relations, describing it as an important milestone in the continuing evolution of the profession while calling for a broader global conversation on legitimacy, governance, and Reputation Capital.
The PRCA recently defined public relations as “the strategic management discipline that builds trust, enhances reputation and helps leaders interpret complexity and manage volatility,” emphasizing measurable outcomes such as stakeholder confidence, long-term value creation, and commercial growth.
According to RMAP, the definition reflects the realities of organizations operating in an environment increasingly shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, artificial intelligence, misinformation, stakeholder activism, and rapidly changing public expectations.
“The PRCA deserves recognition for advancing the profession,” said Dr. Ron F. Jabal, APR, Founder and President of the Reputation Management Association of the Philippines (RMAP), and Executive Chairman and CEO of PAGEONE Group. “The new definition finally moves public relations beyond the outdated perception that it is primarily about publicity or media relations. It recognizes PR as a strategic management discipline that belongs in leadership, governance, and enterprise decision-making.”
Dr. Jabal said definitions matter because they shape how professions are understood, taught, and valued.
“They influence how universities educate future practitioners, how boards view the function, and how organizations define its contribution. This is why the PRCA announcement is significant. It reflects how much the profession has evolved.”
RMAP noted that while the new definition is an important step forward, the profession now has an opportunity to move the conversation even further.
“Trust and reputation are essential, but they are not the profession’s final objective,” Dr. Jabal said. “Public relations ultimately helps organizations earn and sustain legitimacy. Trust is confidence. Reputation is accumulated judgment. Legitimacy is permission. It is what gives organizations their license to operate, their license to lead, and the confidence of stakeholders over time.”
According to RMAP, this perspective also changes how organizations should understand reputation.
“For too long, reputation has been treated as an intangible concept discussed only during crises or brand rankings,” Dr. Jabal said. “Today, reputation behaves like enterprise capital. It attracts talent, strengthens investor confidence, builds customer loyalty, supports organizational resilience, and protects institutions during periods of disruption. Reputation should be managed with the same discipline we apply to financial, human, and intellectual capital.”
RMAP refers to this enterprise asset as Reputation Capital, defined as the accumulated stock of trust, credibility, legitimacy, and stakeholder confidence earned through consistent organizational behavior.
“When reputation is viewed merely as perception, public relations becomes a communications function,” Dr. Jabal explained. “When reputation is understood as enterprise capital, public relations becomes a governance discipline. It helps leadership make better decisions before those decisions become public messages.”
The association also welcomed the PRCA’s recognition that artificial intelligence is reshaping the information ecosystem.
“Organizations today are represented not only by people but increasingly by AI systems that summarize, interpret, and recommend information,” Dr. Jabal said. “Public relations now carries the responsibility of ensuring organizations remain credible and accurately represented in both human and machine-mediated environments.”
To contribute to the ongoing international discussion, RMAP announced that it is preparing a thought leadership paper titled “Beyond Trust: Legitimacy, Reputation Capital, and the Next Definition of Public Relations,” which expands on the PRCA definition and proposes a next-generation framework for the profession.
“The PRCA has started an important global conversation,” Dr. Jabal said. “Our intention is not to challenge that definition but to build upon it. The future of public relations lies not only in building trust and enhancing reputation, but in safeguarding institutional legitimacy by building, protecting, and growing Reputation Capital.”