Introduction: Today, with the tremendous development of new communication technologies, public relations can be equipped with electronic communication tools that will develop their communication and interaction with the audience and public opinion in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In this regard, the production of electronic content has become of particular importance. Currently, one of the challenges of public relations in economic organizations is the production of rich content and specialized personnel in this field. In fact, most public relations in economic organizations are so busy with their daily activities that they do not have time to produce electronic message content and process it in accordance with the target community. On the other hand, today, most public relations do not have a long-term strategy. In the contemporary world, public relations work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of course, this does not mean a physical presence in the organization; rather, public relations services are provided digitally. Because the transformation of public relations from a traditional format to a digital one has become an undeniable necessity. This is the fundamental question here, considering the capacity and facilities that public relations of economic organizations have for producing electronic content and using electronic communication tools to produce and disseminate their organizational messages to influence public opinion, why have they not been able to use this possibility and capacity well so far?
Objective: To identify the challenges and obstacles facing government economic organizations in Iran in benefiting from electronic public relations.
Method: The research was conducted using the Q method, and the statistical population included 40 managers and deputy public relations officers of four ministries (Economics and Finance, Oil, Labor and Social Affairs, and Industry, Mining and Trade).
Findings: The results of the study showed that the items "need to have a scientific model derived from the organizational culture of electronic public relations in a government economic organization", "need to have an executive management approach to electronic public relations in a government economic organization", "need to guarantee the strategic security of electronic public relations programs in government economic organizations", "need to promote a culture of reforming the consumption pattern of electronic public relations in government economic organizations", "knowledge-centeredness of the set of electronic public relations policies in government economic organizations" and "promote a culture of reducing economic dependence in government economic organizations" were associated with the highest agreement of respondents and the economic standard score, and the items "identifying job opportunities and new businesses", "attracting public trust in the performance of the government economic organization", "responsible behavior towards society", "making a commitment to all social groups, in addition to owners and shareholders", "disseminating information needed by audiences to improve the level of public awareness", "controlling the organization's performance in meeting the needs of the future generation" and "preparing and compiling a periodic report to improve the quality of public life" were associated with the lowest standard score in the economic, social and political fields. The ethical dimension was associated with the highest level of opposition from the respondents. In general, the results showed that out of 29 items with a standard score of more than +1, 14 were economic, 13 were managerial, and 2 were structural. Also, out of 28 items with a standard score of more than -1, 11 were social, 5 were legal, 5 were economic, 4 were ethical, and 3 were structural. Accordingly, what is emphasized in the first type is the economic, managerial, and structural dimensions, and the most opposition is to the social, legal, and ethical dimensions. Although the positive components and types are more dominant, the dispersion of elements with high scores (standard deviation) is lower. Also, the priorities of the first type in designing the desired model of electronic public relations management are more economic, managerial, and structural. Also, the priorities of the second type in the desired model of management and public relations are more managerial, economic, structural, and social, and the priorities of the third type are economic and managerial. This means that The first and second priorities of all three types are dedicated to economic and managerial components. With a general conclusion, we can say: Electronic public relations in a government economic organization, through effective internal and external electronic communications, can enable a balanced and balanced communication flow through the information process by attracting public participation and playing an equal role between an organization and the audience.