COMMUNICATIONS AS A FORM OF LEADERSHIP: THE ROLE OF MARKETING AND PR IN SHAPING MANAGERIAL DECISIONS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Abstract

The article deepens the theoretical and conceptual substantiation of communications as a form of leadership under the conditions of digitalization, information overload, crisis sensitivity of society and the growing importance of trust in the interaction between an organization and its consumers. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that marketing, public relations and digital communications increasingly influence not only the promotion of goods and services, but also the logic of managerial decision-making, reputational resilience, audience behavior and the perception of organizational legitimacy. The purpose of the article is to clarify the content of communicative leadership as an integrative category that combines strategic communications, digital leadership, marketing communications and PR management. The article offers authorial definitions of “communicative leadership”, “digital leadership” and “digital environment” and critically compares existing scientific approaches to communicative influence. It is argued that the specificity of the proposed concept lies not in the mechanical expansion of marketing or PR functions, but in understanding communications as a mechanism that connects managerial intention, the value framework of the organization, consumer behavior and social trust. The study shows that marketing structures desirability and choice, PR provides trust and legitimacy, digital leadership creates a technologically mediated capacity for adaptation, while strategic communications ensure the coherence of meanings. The practical value of the research lies in the possibility of applying the proposed framework to assess communications not only by reach, awareness or engagement indicators, but also by their impact on managerial consistency, reputational resilience, trust and consumer behavior. The article also outlines the limitations of the concept: communicative leadership cannot compensate for a weak product, unethical management or the absence of real value, and in the digital environment it requires particular attention to transparency, responsibility and the ethical boundaries of influence.