Ethical values of public relations practitioners in Saudi organizations: A field study

The study aimed to identify the level of awareness of public relations practitioners of moral values ​​in public and private Saudi organizations, and the extent of their actual commitment to these values, and to try to reveal the pressures that affect the extent of their commitment to practicing the public relations profession in Saudi public and private organizations. It focused on the ethical values ​​of practicing the profession of public relations, and the study used the descriptive survey method. The study population consisted of all the main state ministries and (20) ministries according to the recent formation of the Council of Ministers. The population also included (25) organizations from the private sector whose capital exceeds (20) million Riyals. It  was applied to a sample of Saudi public and private organizations, where the sample included 3 government ministries, namely: (Ministry of Justice, Health, and Transport), while the sample included private sector organizations (the Saudi Company for Land Transport, The Saudi Company for University Transport, and Almarai Food Company). The study concluded that there is a high level of awareness of public relations practitioners in public and private Saudi organizations of the moral values ​​of the public relations profession, in the public sphere of professional practice, and that the level of commitment to the ethical values ​​of practicing the profession of public relations in its actual reality among public relations practitioners in private Saudi organizations in the field. The general practice of the profession takes different levels, in general, tending to adhere to the ethical values ​​of practice. The results of the study also revealed the diversity of pressure levels that public relations practitioners are exposed to in public and private Saudi organizations.