The value of the evaluation of public relations and communication in organizations: The case of the Spanish national health system hospitals

This article attempts to determine whether the hospitals of the Spanish Health System carry out evaluation activities of their public relations and communication campaigns and to establish their purpose. As secondary objectives, the budget for the evaluation was examined, as well as if the characteristics of the hospital evaluation process were adapted to Besson's postulates. A large sample of 300 Spanish public hospitals (response rate of 23.33%) was taken. The results indicate that hospitals carry out evaluations for the development of their duties, but that they do not allocate a large budget to evaluate their actions. This suggests that there is a concern to demonstrate the value of public relations practice in hospitals but that they are still at an early stage of a systematic adoption of a concrete form of model for the strategic use of evaluation.