A study of financial public relations practices and coporate image in selected commercial banks in Ghana

Abstract

The major purpose of the study was to investigate financial public relations practices in some selected commercial banks in Ghana. The study used both qualitative and quantitative method and adopted the descriptive survey design. The study employed the Excellence Theory as its theoretical framework. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to gather data from one hundred and fifty six (156) participants. The population was made up of all workers and clients of the Agricultural Development Bank, Cal Bank and Access Bank in Accra. The study used purposive and convenience sampling procedures. Descriptive statistics such as simple frequency counts and percentages were used to analyse the quantitative data while thematic analysis were used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings from the study revealed that the nature of financial public relations activities organized by the banks include financial relations, media relations, employee relation and community relations. The study disclosed that most of the banks‟ customers agreed their banks give more attention to financial public relation activities, appreciate, and recognise its customers through financial public relation activities. Majority of the customers were of the view that their banks are of good reputation and perform satisfactorily and will want to continue banking with them. The study further revealed that poor understanding of public relations concept, lack of specialization in the profession, lack of in-service training, lack of ethics by the existing professionals and organization inadequate budgetary allocation for public relation activities and limitation of practice by one way communication were some of the challenges of financial Public relations in the banks. Clear lines of communication, effective and efficient use of financial media, proper usage of electronic media, regular publication and distribution of annual reports, increased budgetary provision and adequate provision of in-service training were identified as ways to improve financial public relations in banks. The study recommends the need for training and retraining of bank workforce in order to motivate and equip them with skills required to enhance their performance and productivity. Finally, banks should always show their eagerness to empathize with the desires and needs of customers and other "publics" even when they cannot meet up with the needs of these "publics".