Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Public Relations Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pubrev Fostering social capital in an international multi-stakeholder issue network Adam J. Saffer University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Civil society Multi-stakeholder issue network International public relations Social capital Network-building ABSTRACT Scholars have theorized that public relations contributes to societies and communities by bringing attention to pressing public issues and fostering social capital in civil society networks. However, the extant research has studied civil society networks of NGOs, donors, and the media in transitional countries. This study extends the public relations model of civil society in two ways. First, it broadens the scope to an international context. Second, it draws from the multi- stakeholder issue network perspective to conceptualize a civil society network as a space where stakeholders of an issue mix their interests as they collectively address a pressing public issue. The literature on international and multi-stakeholder networks suggest that the international scope and the mixing of interests across sectors may restrict the production of social capital. The results from the social network analysis suggests that the mixing of interests across sectoral and geopolitical boundaries did not restrict the production of social capital. Rather, the patterns of the relationships among those on the core and those on the periphery of the network restricted the production of social capital. Such finding demonstrates how public relations’ functions like relationship building can have profound influences on social capital and civil society networks. The implications for public relations theorizing and research are discussed. 1. Introduction A growing line of theory-building and research in public relations has taken up the question: “How can public relations contribute to making better societies and communities?” (Heath, 2006, Taylor, 2010). Drawing from the civil society literature, scholars have theorized that public relations can contribute to societies and communities by bringing attention to pressing public issues and negotiating relationships that fosters social capital (Sommerfeldt & Taylor, 2011; Sommerfeldt, 2013b; Taylor, 2000, 2009). Studies furthering this public relations model of civil society have examined social capital among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), donors, and media outlets working to establish democratic systems in countries like Croatia and Peru (Doerfel & Taylor, 2017; Taylor & Doerfel, 2003; Taylor & Doerfel, 2005; Sommerfeldt, 2013b). These studies suggest that public relations functions like relationship building can foster the social capital that is necessary for civil society networks to collectively address pressing public issues. Yet, many of the pressing public issues that communities and societies face today go beyond the boundaries considered in prior studies. As national governments increasingly turn to transnational governing bodies to address global issues (Bennett, 2005; Smith, 2005, 2008) and as businesses are confronted with complex transitional issues (Moog, Spicer, & Böhm, 2015), civil society networks are transcending sectoral and geopolitical boundaries. The global scale and variety of organizations in international civil society networks may pose challenges to fostering social capital. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it extends the public relations model of civil society to an international scope. Public https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.02.004 Received 13 July 2018; Received in revised form 26 January 2019; Accepted 12 February 2019 E-mail address: Adam.Saffer@unc.edu. Public Relations Review 45 (2019) 282–296 Available online 12 March 2019 0363-8111/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T