Examining educational preparation for investor relations

Although public relations claims investor relations as one of its subfields, academia has paid little attention to the demands from practice and practitioners have historically come from one of two educational backgrounds finance and public relations. A qualitative study using in-depth interviews of 13 members of National Investor Relations Institute and Public Relations Society of Americas Financial Communication Section was used to better understand the educational curriculum required for proficient investor relations practitioners. This study is the first to challenge how academia prepares students for investor relations and how investor relations practices does not require better equipped investor relations practitioners coming out of school.