After I had finished my thesis on The Blogging Executive, the London-based communications firm Melcrum asked me to write a short article on the findings. The article below has recently been published on the Internal Comms Hub.

The Blogging Executive [1]

Using Executive Blogs to Engage Customers, Investors and Employees

Only few executives are actively engaging stakeholders online, according to research. [2] They do not see the use in communicating digitally themselves. However, the effect digital executives have, might be underestimated. In 2010 and 2011, I conducted research on the use and effect of executive blogs as corporate communication tools. Based on the findings as well as current theory and practice, I suggest that executives should improve their online communications, especially for B2B customers, investors and employees.

Recently, I had a discussion about digital natives. These are people that have grown up using computers, the Internet, social media, etc. Lex de Rooi, previously Senior Vice President of Marketing at Royal Wessanen, told me that he feared that most business executives did not belong in that category. He explained that the current generation of executives were not that inclined to use their computers for other than administrative purposes, let alone to engage in social media. [3]  However, some executives do see the benefits of communicating digitally with stakeholders themselves. For example, Andy Mulholland, Chief Technology Officer at Capgemini, [4]  actively maintains a blog. He says that his personal motivation to blog as an executive is “to communicate thought leadership and to develop the positioning of Capgemini.” [5]  He speaks freely about developments in his business environment and comments on competitors as well as his own organisation. Another blogging executive, John Dragoon, Chief Marketing Officer at Novell, [6]  explains “it is important, as a marketing executive, that I lead by example and demonstrate my use, commitment and belief in social media as an important tool of the overall marketing mix. […] It is important to put a human face and personality on Novell.” [7] These people have a clear vision on how executives such as themselves should use digital media. However, at the moment they stand alone.

Corporate blogging is mostly seen as a niche of digital media, executive blogs especially so. Very few organisations use these forms of digital media and prefer to use much faster and hipper social media. However, for those organisations that employ executive blogs, such as the organisations mentioned above, blogging is a manner of engaging stakeholders in yet a different way. They found blogging to be an ideal vehicle to express, for example thought leadership for their business environment, targeting professionals such as themselves. Executive blogging seems to provide a strong medium as the content communicated can have more breadth and depth than other digital means. These and other characteristics would provide ample opportunity to use executive blogs as a broader corporate communication tool. For instance, scholars and professionals have often mentioned ‘the human voice’ of blogging, i.e. a corporate blog puts a face to an organisation better than social media and websites do.

‘The Blogging Executive’

During my past internship at a leading international public relations firm, I studied the use and effect of executive blogs. My research used the insights from a qualitative analysis on the use of executive blogs in practice to accurately test for the effect of ‘The Blogging Executive’ in an experimental setting. For sake of clarity, the results from the experiment are revisited below before discussing the current and ideal use of executive blogs.

In an experiment, the effect of executive blogs in comparison with regular corporate blogs was studied. For the experiment, different versions of corporate blogs were mocked-up and manipulated on their source. Participants were asked to evaluate the author of the blog and the organisation represented by that author on several dependent variables linked to source and corporate image. In the analyses was also made a distinction between readers with a professional interest in corporate blogs and those without. In summary, the experiment showed that executive blogs did have a clear advantage over regular corporate blogs. The executive was perceived to have more authority as well as that he was more appealing, especially so for professionals. A regular employee was evaluated less enthusiastically. Also the organisation benefitted from the associations transferred by the CEO. It was perceived to be stronger financially and to have stronger vision. These effects occurred regardless of the content presented to the reader.

The experiment was originally preceded by an analysis of existing executive blogs and their general communicative characteristics. Also, to investigate executive blogs as corporate communication tools, the desired identity as formulated in the respective organisation’s mission, vision and values was compared to the communicated identity in these blogs. In retrospect, the findings correspond to the positive effect executive blogs appeared to have. All of the studied executive blogs were targeted at professionals mainly to communicate thought leadership. As an executive is perceived as an expert he would make the most likely candidate for thought leader. The combination of the effect of improved authority and appeal might indeed lead to more effective persuasive attempts. However, it was remarkable that the existing executive blogs were not used as a tool for corporate positioning. Keywords from the mission, vision and values were sparsely reflected in these blogs. While it is understandable that a corporate blog on thought leadership needs to stay as neutral as possible, it is surprising that corporate values were not more featured implicitly too.

Using executive blogs to your advantage

The results from both the qualitative and quantitative study lead to particular thoughts about how executives can use digital media such as blogs to their advantage. It offers some practical insights about how organisations can engage in blogging to make their specific objectives, an important part of digital corporate communications. A survey by Weber Shandwick [8]  as well as the interviews with blogging executives iii^,v^,vii  indicate several possible goals for corporate blogging. Based on the research’s findings and earlier studies regarding executive communications and digital media, a few goal-oriented executive blogs could be suggested that can be assumed to realise positive outcome for the author and/or organisation.

1)      Show thought leadership to attract B2B customers

The content analysis of executive blogs and interviews pointed out that current executive blogs are mostly used for thought leadership. The effects derived from the experiment’s findings support this as executives have more (perceived) expertise, a prerequisite of a thought leader. Furthermore, especially other professionals appreciate the effort of blogging, which makes an executive blog an ideal vehicle to address B2B stakeholders. By speaking about the business of the organisation, an executive can express his and his organisation’s views to like-minded. Stakeholders will perceive this as a display of organisational vision, and will reward the organisation for this. A regular employee would not achieve the same results. However, an in-company specialist or guru might.

2)      Improve transparency to facilitate investors

For many organisations, executives and especially CEOs and CFOs function as spokespersons for investors. According to reputation specialist, Leslie Gaines-Ross, strong executives can contribute significantly to an organisations (perceived) financial performance. [9]  Therefore, they could use their status and authority on these subjects writing a blog on investor relations, and thus amplifying the perception of strong financial performance and vision. Obviously, a strict disclosure policy should be enacted, but it is interesting to know that blogs are already recognised by the Securities & Exchange Commission in the United States as medium for official financial communications.

3)      Lead the way by interactive internal communications

For some organisations, the CEO or President is known ‘to address the troops’. According to corporate communications professor Paul A. Argenti, this is not without reason because an organisation’s ultimate leader can inspire and motivate employees by being open and accessible. [10]  An executive blog can function as an interactive medium by which top management can explain the dealings of the organisations, but also by which they can ask for feedback. My research showed that especially professionals think of a blogging executive as appealing.

Obviously, there may be some drawbacks. Blogs, in contrast with websites and other social media, focus on the author and content. This makes a blog a time-intensive medium. And especially when an executive’s hourly rate is assumed, time is very valuable. However, for the goals mentioned above, the executive touch can make a difference and would be worth the investment. A blog would provide an effective and cost-effective means for communications with stakeholders on these matters. Yet, you should not start blogging because everyone else does it. You should do it if it fits your digital strategy.

The executives mentioned in the introduction have found blogging to be of great use to their organisations. My research proves that they are right to do so, because there is more behind the concept than just a hype. Executive blogging really gives an edge to digital executive communications. And I believe that in the digital environment, organisations should take every chance to communicate more effective, more open, more honest and just more with their stakeholders, either outside or inside the organisation. ‘The Blogging Executive’ is perhaps the leading communicator stakeholders are waiting for.

About the author

Roel Steemers recently graduated Cum Laude in Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Currently, he is employed as Digital Media Consultant at the international communications agency Weber Shandwick. Currently, he is a student of Political Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. The article is written in a personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any organisation the author is affiliated with.

The Blogging Executive’s Summary

Corporate blogs are one of the means organisations use to interact with their stakeholders. Where regular corporate blogs written by various employees are the current standard, some organisations use executives as their spokespersons in blogs. However, this number is still very limited. Consequently, these executive blogs have sparsely been the object of academic or professional study. Therefore, my thesis bridges the gap in theory by answering how executive blogs are used and what their effects are.

To first address the use of corporate blogs in practice, a qualitative research was set up. By performing an inductive content analysis three existing executive blogs were studied on grounds of their general communicative characteristics. In addition, to investigate executive blogs as corporate communication tools, the desired identity as formulated in the respective organisation’s mission, vision and values was compared to the communicated identity in these blogs. In support of the research, two executives from the selected blogs were interviewed on their experience with and motivation behind executive blogging.

With input from the content analysis of existing executive blogs, a between-participants 2×2 factorial experiment was devised to study the effects of executive blogs in comparison with regular corporate blogs. In addition, the effect of type of content was investigated, for which corporate blogs involving personal subjects were compared with corporate blogs involving business-related subjects. For the experiment, four versions of corporate blogs were mocked-up and manipulated on their source and type of content. In total, 80 participants evaluated the author of the blog and the organisation represented by that author. Due to a good representation of readers with a professional interest in corporate blogs (professionals) and those without (non-professionals), this factor was added as an additional variable in the analyses. Several source characteristics for the author were included as dependent variables, namely credibility, trustworthiness, objectivity, authority, appeal, accessibility and likeability. The organisation was evaluated by scoring the perception of several corporate images, namely social responsibility, financial strength, product quality, work environment, innovation, vision, emotional appeal, and reputation. Ultimately, the author and organisation were given a final grade by the participants.

It can be concluded that executive blogs have a clear advantage over regular corporate blogs. Firstly, an executive as spokesman can be assumed to be more persuasive due to higher perceived authority and appeal. Secondly, under low involvement the executive’s traits are transferred on to the organisation’s image, strengthening the perceived financial performance and vision.

The findings indicate that type of content is effective depending on the goal of the corporate blog. Personal content can be used to improve the author’s positive emotional evaluation. On the other hand, business-related content is better suited for stimulating functional source characteristics such as expertise. These traits, either emotional or functional, are reflected on the organisation’s image, although the effects are minor.

Ultimately, it can be concluded that executive blogs are a specific niche in digital media. However, this niche has certain advantages that are not often considered. Overall, what is clear from the research in this thesis is that a corporate executive blog can offer interesting opportunities for influencing an executive’s and organisation’s image. While an executive blog would not be the ideal medium for all sorts of communications, there are certainly specific organisational goals and settings where a blogging executive could be the most effective and persuasive corporate spokesperson.

In the digital environment, organisations should take every chance to communicate more effective, more open, more honest and just more with their stakeholders. ‘The Blogging Executive’ is perhaps the leading communicator stakeholders are waiting for.

Please contact me at info(at)roelsteemers(dot)com if your interested in reading the full thesis.

The main conclusion of our research is that many Dutch organisations are active online, but not all are prepared or willing to engage with their stakeholders. While they are convinced of the influence that digital media have on corporate reputation, they often miss the knowledge, strategy and tools to successfully manage this. For instance, a staggering 64% of Dutch organisations have no strategy for Online Reputation Management, and only act on an ad hoc basis.

Fortunately, many organisations actively monitor social media and search engines. However, this is only the first step, or to be more precise, the foundation for successful Online Reputation Management. Communication professionals who are responsible for safeguarding corporate reputation need to focus on engagement. For example, Dutch marketing and communications professionals appear to neglect more active means of engaging with their stakeholders. Less than half of the organisations participate in online discussions or responds to Word-of-Mouth. And if they do, reaction time is too slow to counter real threats to corporate reputation. Organisations take up more than a day to deal with 28% of the negative Word-of-Mouth. Only 3% of negative Word-of-Mouth on social networks is responded to within the hour. Another remarkable finding was that professionals respond faster to advocates than to badvocates. In addition, they are of the opinion that positive online feedback has a stronger influence on reputation than negative Word-of-Mouth. One might conclude that they are more inclined to hear want they want to hear.

Luckily, a vast majority of organisations are taking advice from specialised external agencies. Organisations have taken up the challenge and have started to improve their game. The next challenge will be to persuade top-level management of the importance of Online Reputation Management… but the evidence for protecting corporate reputation via Online Reputation Management will undoubtedly reach the C-level suites.

This is an executive summary of my research as an intern at Weber Shandwick in the Netherlands. This item is published in similar form on the website of Weber Shandwick The Hague (English / Dutch) and on ‘Communicatie Online’, which is the website for communications professionals in the Netherlands (Dutch).

Update February 27th: See also reputationXchange by Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick’s Chief Reputation Strategist.

Corporate and executive blogs

The need to form a (better) relationship with customers prompts organisations to use new means of communication to facilitate two-way communication. Of all new media to their disposal, organisations have touched the concept of blogging, but its use is limited. Less than 5% of companies worldwide use genuine blogs (Lewis PR, 2007: 3) and most organisations that do, have not used blogs to their full potential (Cho & Huh, 2010: 45). These forms of blogging come in various sorts and sizes. In general, corporate or organisational blogs can be defined as “Web logs that meet three criteria. [Blogs] are (1) maintained by people who post in an official or semiofficial capacity at an organization, (2) endorsed explicitly or implicitly by that organization, and (3) posted by a person perceived by publics to be clearly affiliated with the organization.” (Based on Sifry, 2004, in: Kelleher & Miller, 2006: 399).

The most common distinction in corporate blogging is between internal and external blogs. Internal blogs are used as a platform for employees and management to share information, sometimes replacing intranet (Scoble & Isreal, 2006: 61; Lews PR, 2007: 8). On the other hand, corporate blogs are used as a medium for external communications. Blogs have great potential because of their unique characteristics such as one- and two-way communication, and both mass and interpersonal communication (Cho & Huh, 2010: 30). In this, external blogs are used to spread information, identify issues and for interactive communications (Porter, et al., 2007: 94). Another important element, as identified by Kelleher & Miller (2006: 408) is that blogs (in contrast to corporate websites) are perceived as capable of a conversational human voice. Derived from the notion that ‘markets are conversations’ as suggested by Searls & Weinberger (in: Levine, et al., 2000, 75), a human voice in CMC involves qualities such as being open to dialog, welcoming conversational communication, providing prompt feedback as well as communicating with a sense of humour, admitting mistakes, treating others as human, and providing links to competitors. As such, organisational blogs can be characterised as both personal and professional communication (Kelleher & Miller, 2006: 397). In conclusion, corporate blogs can be used for internal and external communications, and among others can help organisations to enhance their image. Further effects will be addressed in the following paragraph. However, corporate blogs also have potential drawbacks. For instance, Cox, et al. (2008: 6) have analysed the risks of corporate blogging, of which the lack of control of information is the most important. Also grievances uttered by employees perceived as corporate bloggers could have a damaging effect on an organisation’s reputation (Argenti & Barnes, 2009: 133; Weber Shandwick, 2009b: 11).

With regards to my thesis, a specific subset of external corporate blogs should be addressed, namely the CEO or executive blog. Reflecting the earlier mentioned human voice of blogging, according to Lee, et al. (2006: 329) executives can play an important role in personifying monolithic corporations to internal and external stakeholders. In another qualitative study, Terelli & Arnorsdottir (2008: 15) investigated the use and legal implications of executive blogs. They conclude that executives try and foster two-way communication, enhance transparency and humanise themselves and their companies (and should mind liability implications). So, as blogging fosters a human voice, executive blogging should be a corporate voice in human tones. However, of the small number of organisations that have a corporate blog, a still smaller amount have an executive who blogs (Wyld, 2008: 461). For instance, of the 50 biggest corporations globally there is no CEO who blogs (Weber Shandwick, 2010b: 7). However, there are some other executives who do blog. Of those, especially Chief Technology Officers (CTOs, for instance The CTO Blog) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs, for instance John Dragoon’s Blog) seem to blog.

The word ‘blog’ is derived from the words ‘web’ and ‘log’ (Rettberg, 2008: 17), and can be defined as a “frequently modified web page in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence” (Herring, et al., 2004: 1). There is some discussion as to when the first blog originated, however as of April 2007, there are globally over 70 million blogs and counting 120.000 more each day (Sifry, 2007). In a study into the motivation of bloggers, Nardi, et al. (2004: 43) found that there are myriad reasons why one starts to blog, varying from the will to document one’s life, to the need to provide commentary and express oneself (emotionally as well as rationally). The top three reasons to blog are ‘to express yourself creatively’ (77%), ‘to document your personal experiences or share them with others’ (76%) and ‘to share practical knowledge or skills with others’ (64%; Lenhart & Fox, 2006: 8).

In the motivation of bloggers, a relational aspect is almost always present. Therefore, blogging has often been studied in context of interpersonal relations. For instance, Schmidt (2007: 1415) distinguishes hypertextual relations and social relations. The first is a technical phenomenon, although linking to other blogs through hyperlinks can also point to a more personal relation (e.g. linking to friends). Social relations, also known as social ties, have a better fit with the interpersonal effects described in context of CMC. This makes blogs just as other social media a typical vehicle for hyperpersonal communication.

With help of my collegues in The Hague, I have set up an extensive questionnaire to poll marketing and communications professionals. We are interested in finding out what the current state of digital communications is for the Dutch market. Will you provide us with your insights? Fill in our questionnaire at http://www.webershandwick.nl/digital.

As I said, it is quite funny because I just read about blogging guidelines and related practices of various organisations. For instance, IBM, Oracle/Sun, GM (which is really to the point), and the International Olympic Committee have clear guidelines regarding blogs and social media. As I should have known, also Weber Shandwick has internal blogging guidelines.

I personally think social media guidelines for employees are a good thing. They aide in focusing on important aspects such as transparency and credibility, and help protect the organisation as well as the employee with regards to social media utterances. However, most times common sense is the key. Perhaps I should mind my common sense sometimes…

1. “Give the people control and we will use it”

Jeff Jarvis, an influential blogger, uttered these words to describe the fact that the Internet allows consumers “to speak to the world, organise themselves, to find and spread information” (Jarvis, 2009: 11). Previously organisations controlled the messages send out to consumers. Now, thanks to an interactive Web2.0 environment and the ability to speak and share via social media, it is much easier for consumers to make demands from corporations. There could perhaps not be said that consumers are in full control over organisations, but one-way messages have made place for a relationship (Jarvis, 2009: 149). Argenti & Barnes (2009: 1) call this stakeholder empowerment.

2. “Markets are conversations”

In correspondence with this notion, Searls & Weinberger (in: Levine, et al., 2000, 75) introduced the phrase that ‘markets are conversation’ in the perhaps visionary Cluetrain Manifesto (Levine, et al., 2000). Even before Web2.0 was in place, they advocated the shift from one-sided communication by organisations to let consumers ‘hear’ what the organisation wanted them to know, to two-way communication in which an organisation first ‘listens’ and then communicates what customers want to know. As Searls & Weinberger (in: Levine, et al., 2000: 81) note: “Customers – and advertisers – are human. Consumers are not.” Therefore, organisations first have to build a relationship with their customers for both their best interests.

This is where corporate communications comes in. As put to use in the corporate communication strategy framework by Argenti (2009: 40, see Figure 4), a well-tailored message and inherent feedback are important parts of organisational communication. When looking at messaging in a digital environment, traditional offline communications should be combined, supported or led with the new online media. As different segments have different information needs, the digital side of communications should not be disregarded. For instance, the most influential source of information today is pointed out to be online advocates, which hold online reviews and recommendations (Weber Shandwick, 2009a: 4). Organisations should therefore use their means to create integrated marketing communications or an INLINE methodology (Percy & Elliot, 2009: 376; Weber Shandwick, 2009a: 12).

As listening to the conversation is a key factor to a good relationship with stakeholders, online monitoring is becoming more important. “Knowing where your target stakeholders communicate with each other and search for information is the foundation of any communications strategy.” (Argenti & Barnes, 2009: 246). Monitoring is therefore tightly linked to reputation management, as what is said about an organisation online is often defining for what others will think about it. This also means that organisations can use the information spoken of in a digital environment to assess their own services and products (Scott, 2009: 51).

To add to this, I also received a swift response from John Dragoon, who is SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Novell. Luckily, in the technology sector they understand how to communicate in a digital environment: by being open and accesible, and by responding fast and honest. I am starting to appreciate the Tech Sector more and more!

Altough this was coincidental, I must be candid about the fact that Capgemini is a client of Weber Shandwick. This was, however, not the reason I chose for Andy Mulholland’s blog.

Corporate communication

In this paragraph, an overview is given of the most important terms and aspects of corporate communication (CC) regarding this thesis. Starting with corporate identity, the core of organisations is explored, followed by their inherent reputations (and the differences in terminology) as well as its measurement. In addition, the concept of organisational positioning is explored, followed by the relevance of executive reputation.

Corporate identity: mission and vision

The external as well as internal communications of an organisation should be formed by its identity. By reviewing past research Balmer (2001a: 257; Balmer & Greyser, 2006: 735) provides three related but distinct notions of corporate identity: (1) corporate identity (‘what we are’), (2) organisational identity (‘who we feel we are’, also known as corporate personality) and (3) visual identity (‘what we look like’, also known as corporate design, in Dutch ‘huisstijl’). The latter is focussed on the visual expression of the corporate identity for external and internal purposes via logos, symbols, and other graphic features (Van Riel, 2006: 25; Van den Bosch, 2005: 39). Corporate identity and personality are much intertwined as the first can be derived from the mission and vision of the organisation, where the second is the way these are upheld by the organisation’s employees (Argenti, 2009: 68; Melewar & Karaosmanoglu, 2006: 847).

Figure 2: AC²ID model (Balmer, 2001: 12)

As these different parts of the organisation’s identity might not always be in unity with each other, Balmer (2001b: 12; Van Riel, 2006: 47) proposes to see corporate identity in different levels (see Figure 2). Actual identity is expressed by internal values, organisational behaviour, activities, market scope, performance and positioning. Communicated identity comprises all communications by the organisation to its constituencies. Conceived identity means the representations constituencies hold of the organisational identity. Ideal identity is the optimum positioning in a given time, and Desired identity involves the mission and vision as articulated by the top-level management. These levels of identity should be in alignment, and if not, an identity change is necessary. Consistency is the key to a successful corporate identity (Argenti, 2009: 75).

In this thesis, the focus will be on the desired identity as formulated by corporate top-level management, otherwise known as executive management or C-level management (CEO, COO, CFO, VPs, etc.). Therefore, especially the corporate mission and vision are of interest in this case. The corporate mission states shortly the overall goal the organisation pursues (Kaplan, et al., 2008: 3); it holds its reason of existence (Leeflang, 2003: 68). The vision is concerned with the beliefs within the organisation, and includes language, rituals and ideologies that guide the company’s culture (Melewar & Karaosmanoglu, 2006: 855). It should be a statement of mid- to long-term goals of an organisation, which are externally oriented. Corporate vision should articulate how a company wants to be perceived by its constituencies (Hatch & Schultz, 2003: 1047; Kaplan, et al., 2008: 3). In practice, mission and vision are often used interchangeably.

Where the corporate vision is mostly aimed at external constituencies and is just a very concise statement, it can be expanded in a sustainable corporate story (SCS, Van Riel, 2006: 173). These kinds of narratives aim at consistently telling an organisation’s vision in form of a story. SCS makes it easier for employees to relate to an externally aimed vision statement, as well as that SCS should be unique, whereas mission and vision statements are kin to look alike (Argenti, 2009: 71; Van Riel, 2006: 173). Examples of mission and vision statements as well as SCSs are to be found in appendix II.

Brand, image and reputation

As identity is the way an organisation wants to be and wants to be seen, image is its reflection. Corporate image is the organisation as seen from the viewpoint of its constituencies (Argenti, 2009: 68). Although this relation might seem clear, in marketing, public relations, corporate communications, etc. the terms for this reflection are often used in connection to each other, as well as interchangeably. The most omnipresent are brand, image and reputation. There are, however, some important distinctions to be made.  Derived from marketing literature, a brand can be seen as a name, word or symbol used by an organisation (Leeflang, 2003: 347), to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition (Keller, 2008: 2). Examples of brands are Dove by Unilever, Pringles by Procter & Gamble or Honig by Heinz. Next to this, there are corporate brands. A company uses a corporate brand when it markets the company itself as a brand (Argenti & Druckenmiller, 2004: 368; Keller, 2008: 449), for instance Coca Cola and Heineken.

A brand can attribute to an image a person holds of the product, service or organisation (Keller, 2008: 51; Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007: 39). An image can be seen as the attitude someone holds of a specific (part of an) object, which could be an organisation, person or otherwise (Van Riel, 2006: 86). Regarding organisations often-used examples of images are a social/environmental responsibility image, financial performance image, product/service image, workplace environment image (Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007: 43), vision/leadership image and emotional appeal (Van der Jagt, 2002, in: Leeflang, 2003: 434). These images could be categorised by the constituencies of the organisations forming, for example, a customer image, community image, investor, image and employee image (Argenti, 2009: 83).

The total of images comprises the reputation of an organisation. Reputation is defined by Van Riel (2006: 86) as the overall evaluation of an organisation on grounds of assumed capabilities and responsibilities in comparison with its competitors. A reputation should be seen as the bigger picture a person holds of an organisation compared to others. Where image should be seen as a perception at a given point in time, the reputation of an organisation is build over time (Argenti, 2009: 83), and is therefore hard to imitate (Ferguson, et al., 2000: 1210).

Reputation measurement and attitudes

A solid reputation can help an organisation in many ways.  It can make a company more attractive for future employees, lets them increase prices and helps them to weather crises more effectively (Argenti, 2009: 84; Bemer & De Vries, 2005: 42; Van Riel, 2006: 91). Next to these intangible benefits, perhaps the most important is that reputation also holds financial benefits. It is often noted as one of the key factors contributing to the difference between book and market value of an organisation (Carlisle & Faulkner, 2005: 415). Accountants see reputation as an intangible asset adding value to a company, whereas economists view reputation as a signal that help describe a organisation’s expected behaviour and thus influencing for example stock rates (Fombrun, et al, 2000, in: Shamma & Hassan, 2009: 327; Van Riel, 2006: 95). A strong reputation can even financially benefit strategic groups (corporations that share certain characteristics such branches of industry; Ferguson, et al., 2000: 1211). Keller (2008: 449) calls this principle corporate brand equity, which means the differential (more favourable) response of constituencies to actions of an identified organisation, in contrast to an unknown or fictitious corporation. As described by Deephouse (2000: 1092) reputation should be seen as a strategic form of capital that can lead to a competitive advantage. Leeflang (2003: 435) calls this the stakeholder value of reputation.

Whereas reputation can be measured by the difference between book and market value, or other forms of corporate brand equity, the non-financial measurement of reputation and its intangible assets is a much discussed subject. Wartick (2002: 380) pleads that there can never be internally or externally valid measurement if researchers cannot agree on the definition of reputation and its components. Much used ways to measure reputation are based on aggregated scores from data sets (i.e. Fortune’s most admired companies or the HI/RI Reputation Quotient). These are based on the ranking of companies by managers, analysts or the general public (Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007: 246; Fombrun & Gardberg, 2000: in Wartick, 2002: 384). As Bromley (2000, in: Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007: 46) describes, there are three possibilities to influence reputation, namely personal experience, information of friends and acquaintances, and information from the media (including advertising). This leads to the relation between attitudes and behaviour. In connection with reputational research, among others described by Van Riel (2006: 118) and Shamma & Hassan (2009, 329), is the quantitative measurement of attitudes. This method is based on Ajzen & Fishbein’s theory of planned behaviour, which outlines the relationship between beliefs, attitudes and behavioural intent (O’Keefe, 2009: 12), as can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Attitudinal model of Fishbein & Azjen (1975, in: Van Riel, 2006: 118)

With help of Fishbein & Ajzen’s attitudinal model it is possible to aggregate the aforementioned images (social/environmental responsibility image, financial performance image, product/service image, workplace environment image, vision/leadership image and emotional appeal) and come to the overall evaluation of an organisation on grounds of assumed capabilities and responsibilities in comparison with its competitors as described by Van Riel (2006: 86).

2.2.4 Strategic communication and reputation management

As organisations attach much value to their reputations, it is very important to manage it (Van Riel & Fombrun, 2007: 47). Reputation management holds communicating strategically to bring identity and image in harmony with each other to achieve a solid and favourable reputation. At first, the overall corporate strategy should tell what the organisation is aiming to perform. It is the blueprint of the organisation’s principle objectives and strategies for competing in their given market. It is therefore strongly related to the mission and vision of the corporation (Jones, 2007: 209; Melewar & Karaosmanoglu, 2006: 862). Part of this strategy is the manner in which the organisation should communicate with its constituencies. Argenti, Howell & Beck (2005: 87) provide a table in which an example is given of strategically organised communication in relation to the overall corporate strategy (see Table 1).

Table 1: Strategic communications scheme (Argenti, Howell & Beck, 2005: 87)

Strategic communication should be aligned with the overall strategy to enhance the organisation’s strategic positioning (Argenti, Howell & Beck, 2005: 83). Strategic positioning entails “performing different activities from rivals’ or performing similar activities in different ways” (Porter, 1996: 62) to distinguish from other organisations (Melewar & Karaosmanoglu, 2006: 862). From an economic/marketing perspective, Porter (1996: 65-67) describes three forms of positioning, namely variety-based (positioning by choice of specific products or services), needs-based (positioning by choice of target group) and access-based (positioning by choice of location). In communicating with its constituencies it is important to position the organisation by establishing points of parity and difference (Keller, 2008: 107). Points of parity can make clear that an organisation belongs to a certain group (i.e. retail banking by providing banking accounts, credit cards, loans, etc.). Points of difference can be used to distinguish from others (i.e. special accounts for young professionals, low interest rates, etc.). This should lead to strong, unique and favourable associations in eyes of the constituencies (Keller, 2008). As can be concluded, the external environment plays a crucial role in positioning. In a force field of constituencies, such as customers, regulators, competitors, etc. interact with the organisation: the organisation’s specific environment. In addition, there is a general environment in which uncontrollable factors like political, economic and demographic forces influence the organisation and its specific environment (Jones, 2007: 60-61; Leeflang, 2003: 94).

The above is outlined in the corporate communication strategy framework (CCSF, Argenti 2009: 40, see Figure 4). In this model, the feedback cycle of strategic communication is depicted. An organisation has to choose how and what to communicate with specific constituencies (see Table 1). These constituencies will form an attitude based on these messages (and other impressions) and will or will not react to it. This feedback might alter an organisations reputation, or might prompt them to change this communicative approach. This framework tells us that organisations should pay careful attention to the form of their messages, approach of constituencies and feedback received. This should all be in line with the corporate and communicative strategy.

Figure 4: Corporate communication strategy framework (Argenti, 2009: 40)

This leads to a communicative perspective of positioning. As all communications should be in concord with the corporate strategy, they should also be derived from the corporate identity. The positioning strategy is associated with the identity that a company strives for (Melewar & Karaosmanoglu, 2006: 862). If an organisation does not tailor its messages to its identity, there is likely to be internal or external confusion as what the corporation can offer, which can result in loss of credibility, trust and eventually loss of profits (Argenti, 2009: 85). All of the above, from identity to image, is summarised in the following table (based on the 6C model in Balmer & Greyser, 2006: 735):

Table 2: Corporate marketing mix (based on the 6C model in Balmer & Greyser, 2006: 735)

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