Dr. Juan Meng
About: Dr. Meng’s teaching areas include public relations campaigns, research, PR leadership and ethics, and global PR. Her research focuses on leadership in public relations, measurement, trust, employee engagement, and reputation management. Dr. Meng founded and directs UGA’s ADPR Choose China study abroad program. Dr. Meng currently is the Executive Director of Choose China Training, Education and Outreach programs in Grady.
Education
Ph.D., University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
M.S., University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
M.A., Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
B.S., Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Research Interests and Activities
Dr. Meng’s current research focuses on leadership in public relations, talent management and leadership development, trust in reputation management, and organizational culture and employee engagement. Dr. Meng has received more than $220,000 in funding grants to support her research in the past seven years. She has published more than 35 referred journal articles in leading scholarly journals in public relations and communication management and contributed to different book chapters.
Meng is the co-editor of the scholarly book, “Public Relations Leaders as Sensemakers: A Global Study of Leadership in Public Relations and Communication Management,” published by Routledge in 2014. Meng is currently working on her new original book project, “PR Women with Influence: Breaking through the Ethical and Leadership Challenges,” selected as part of the AEJMC-Peter Lang Scholarsourcing Series.
Meng was elected to serve on the national board of advisors of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. She has collaborated with the Plank Center in the past ten years on various research projects, including the largest global study of PR leadership, Millennial Communication Professionals in the Workplace, the biennial Report Card on PR Leaders, and the North American Communication Monitor.
Meng serves on the editorial review board for leading scholarly journals in the field, including Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Public Relations Journal, and Journal of Promotion Management. Meng is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS). She also actively serve as reviewer for most leading communication, public relations, marketing, and management journals and conferences nationally and internationally.
Meng is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS). She also serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Public Relations Research and as reviewer for most leading communication, public relations, marketing, and management journals and conferences.
Panel description: This joint panel between Media Ethics Division and Public Relations Division explores in depth the topic of women’s ethical and leadership challenges in public relations and communication management. This panel is based on an original research project jointly funded by the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations and the Arthur W. Page […]
Read MoreAbstract: Communication leaders can strategically use organizational resources to co-define functions (the constructionist approaches in leadership) and to establish interpersonal alliances within and beyond communication units (the relational approaches in leadership). In the present study, we incorporated these theoretical lenses to evaluate how communication leaders’ performance helps build a positive communication structure and culture in […]
Read MoreAbstract: This study tests how the cognitive component of work attitude, particularly the job cognition as tested by Williams and Anderson (1991), affects the dynamic relationships among trust, commitment, and satisfaction. Our interests emanates from researchers’ continued focus on the dynamic and relational processes in constructing workplace relationships. However, few attention has been paid to […]
Read MoreMeng, J. (2019). The Most Dedicated Reviewer Award, recognized by Public Relations Division at the 2019 International Communication Association annual conference in Washington, D.C., May 27, 2019,
Read MoreMeng, J., Berger, B. K., Heyman, W., & Reber, B. H. (2019). Public relations leaders earn a “C+” in The Plank Center’s Report Card 2019. Gender and hierarchy gaps widen, gains are elusive. Tuscaloosa, AL: The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations.
Read MoreZerfass, A., Volk, S. C., Meng, Juan., & Chen, P. (2021, forthcoming). Communication Management Toolbox: Thinking tools and methods for managing corporate communications. New York: Springer. * This book will be included and featured in the Springer series Management for Professionals comprises high-level business and management books.
Read MoreMeng, J., Reber, B. H., Berger, B. K., Gower, K. K., & Zerfass, A. (2019). North American Communication Monitor 2018-2019. Tracking trends in fake news, issues management, leadership performance, work stress, social media skills, job satisfaction and work environment. Tuscaloosa, AL: The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. ISBN (paperback): 978-0-578-50179-6. ISBN (electronic): 978-0-578-50180-2. […]
Read MoreThis project is jointly funded by the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) (Funded Project Series ID: 18BXW065) and the Academic Research Project Funds of Shanghai International Studies University, 2019-2020.
Read MoreAbstract: This longitudinal pedagogical research investigates students’ perceptions and learning outcomes by integrating web and social analytics-based learning activities (i.e., Google Analytics courses and certification test) into Public Relations Research course design. Results from the pre-test before introducing the analytics learning assignment confirmed that students’ knowledge on web and social analytics is low but their […]
Read MoreAbstract: The study examines the impact of critical organizational factors (organizational culture and excellent leader performance) on public relations professionals’ overall job satisfaction by focusing on testing the joint mediating effects job engagement and trust could generate. A national online survey of 838 public relations professionals working in a variety of organizations was used as […]
Read MoreAbstract: Although millennials have been extensively examined in the popular and academic literature, there have not been sufficient studies in strategic communication that help us fully understand this unique and influential cohort in the communication profession. The purpose of this research is to take a talent management approach to gain a deep understanding of millennial […]
Read MoreAbstract: Although millennials have been extensively examined in the popular and academic literature, there have not been sufficient studies in strategic communication that help us fully understand this unique and influential cohort in the communication profession. The purpose of this research is to take a talent management approach to gain a deep understanding of millennial […]
Read MoreTeaching Specialties
Dr. Meng’s teaching areas include public relations campaigns, research, global PR, PR leadership and ethics. Dr. Meng founded and directs UGA’s ADPR Choose China study abroad program. She leads the program since 2014 and takes students to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong to learning global advertising and public relations. To know more about the program, please visit the Choose China website.
Experience
Prior to moving to the United States, she practiced communication in Shanghai for a few years, including being a journalist and editor at the Shanghai TV Network, correspondent in Xinhua News Agency (Shanghai Bureau), media relations specialist in Shanghai Media Group (SMG), and other strategic communication & marketing consulting service for various organizations. Before joining the faculty at Georgia, she was faculty at the University of Dayton and Oklahoma State University.
Awards and Fellowships
Dr. Meng has received multiple awards for teaching and research in public relations, including the Wilcox Award for Best Teaching Paper from AEJMC, the Red Raider Award from the Institute for Public Relations (IPR), and several top research paper awards from AEJMC, ICA and IPR.
- Board Member, the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations, since 2018
- Member, the Page Up Society, since 2016
- Fellow, 2015-2016 UGA Service-Learning Fellowship Program
- Fellow, 2013-2014 UGA Teaching Academy Fellowship Program
