Organizational and societal goals in tension? A survey of communication practitioners at Swiss higher education institutions

The public communication of higher education institutions (HEIs) has gained importance both in practice and research can serve different goals. Many scholars argue that HEI departments mainly aim to promote their organization are less concerned with broader societal goals normative principles communication. Since these assumptions have not yet been explored empirically, we surveyed 203 practitioners from all 42 Swiss HEIs on role conceptions the quality criteria used departments. Our results show no general dominance organizational over revealed few differences between types HEIs.