Towards an understanding of corporate web identity

Abstract

IntroductionThe study of the role of organizational websites in the communication of corporate identity is still in its infancy. Yet for many of its potential stakeholders the first encounter with an organization is through its webpages (Coupland and Brown, 2004;Pablo and Hardy, 2009).Websites provide stakeholders with information, are a means of transmitting (Segars and Kohut, 2001), and sometimes responding to, high level management messages (Coupland and Brown, 2004), and project the wider 'look and feel' of an organisation (Pablo and Hardy, 2009). Given the strategic importance of websites as global communication tools, calls have been made to gain a deeper understanding of their role as a component part of corporate identity, especially in terms of communicating messages and shaping perceptions of organizations worldwide (Melewar and Karaosmanoglu;2006;Warren, 2009).This chapter starts by examining how corporate identity has been defined and applied. We argue that its sub-concept, corporate visual identity (CVI), is not sufficiently broad to encompass, appreciate and evaluate holistically the complex medium of websites and the importance of corporate web presence. Working therefore towards developing the specific concept of Corporate Web Identity (CWI), we examine existing work on the nature, role and purpose of organizational websites and identify five major features of contemporary corporate websites which, it could be argued, constitute an emergent CWI. Different methodological approaches to website research and their suitability and efficiency for the study of this specific and complex medium are considered. A short study of a corporate webpage is then presented and the issues we encountered in researching its web identity are discussed. Finally, we identify emergent future research avenues and discuss possible methodological strategies for future organizational website research. 2 Websites and Corporate IdentityVarious definitions of corporate identity have been developed within the extant literature. Gray and Balmer (1998:697) view corporate identity as the 'immediate mental picture' that audiences have of an organization. Melewar and Karaosmanoglu (2006:864), through an extensive study of managers' views, suggested that corporate identity is 'the presentation of an organisation to every stakeholder' and 'it is what makes an organisation unique'. Bartholme and Melewar (2011) summarised the concept of corporate identity as 'the set of meanings by which a company allows itself to be known and through which it allows people to describe, remember and relate to it' (p.53).There have also been attempts to break down this 'mental picture' into component parts. Melewar (1993) for example, identifies seven main dimensions of corporate identity: corporate communication, corporate design, corporate culture, behaviour, corporate structure, industry identity, and corporate strategy. Image and visual presentations of the organization certainly play a significant role in this framework. Indeed, Melewar and Karaosma...

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