Public relations and public diplomacy in cultural and educational exchange programs: A coorientational approach to the Humphrey Program

•The Humphrey Fellowship Program was examined using the coorientation model.•The perceptual gap between Humphrey Fellows and Program staff was investigated.•Foreign Fellows of the Program viewed the U.S. staff’s goal to be public diplomacy.•The U.S. staff of the Program did not have the public diplomacy goal in mind.•Incongruency and inaccuracies were found in the perceptions of the two parties.