Understanding public relations in the 'sharing economy'

•Constitutive elements of the 'sharing economy' put conceptual pressure on public relations.•Explanatory mechanisms from economic sociology enable an alternative reconceptualization.•Combined with the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) theory a new conceptualization of the role and function of public relations is possible.•Acts of communication can be seen not only to facilitate meaning, but to have economic value.•Public relations can be newly understood as a 'deliberatively disintermediated' function that enacts and reproduces 'circuits of communication' in the post-traditional economy.

In spite of the macro-economic impact of the so-called 'sharing economy' there is a nearly complete dearth of contributions from the communication academy to its discourse. More attention is overdue, particularly for the conceptual pressure the 'sharing economy' is exerting on the public relations function. The authors propose a reconceptualization of public relations by identifying the constitutive aspects of the sharing economy and bringing together the explanatory concepts 'circuits of commerce' and 'viable matches' from economic sociology and communicative constitution of organizations theory to develop the notions of 'deliberate disintermediation' and 'circuits of communication' in public relations. The contention is that by doing this, communicative acts not only contribute meaning in the sharing economy, but have economic value. Furthermore, the sharing economy poses challenges to the traditional forms of organizing public relations functions, but offers opportunities to realize different potential when public relations facilitates circuits of communication and becomes a meta-communicative competence embedded within the organization.