Search results
1 – 10 of over 22000Miranda Y.P. Lee, Daniel W.C. So and Lornita Y.F. Wong
This paper aims to identify inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural commonalities and differences between web sites targeting, respectively, English and Chinese viewers, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural commonalities and differences between web sites targeting, respectively, English and Chinese viewers, and to examine within‐language and within‐culture variations of web sites for viewers in Greater China.
Design/methodology/approach
Two comparisons were made: among the home and subsidiary web sites of the same corporation, McDonald's (www.mcdonalds.com), and across web sites of five corporations within the aviation industry.
Findings
Corporate identity and positioning, corporate culture and citizenship are projected differently on the McDonald's web sites for the Anglo‐American viewers and the Chinese viewers. Web sites written in the same language, Chinese, reveal within‐language and within‐culture variations in contents and style across different web sites in the fast food and aviation industries within Greater China.
Research limitations/implications
A more extensive research on different industries can be conducted to validate the preliminary findings of this research. Relevant conceptual resources can then be developed to explain the inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural differences.
Practical implications
Findings from this comparative analysis help raise the corporate communicators' awareness of inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural as well as within‐language and within‐culture variations when drafting contents for web sites targeting viewers of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Originality/value
Comparative studies of global web sites targeting viewers of, respectively, English and Chinese groups, and within‐language and within‐culture variations in Greater China are still limited. The findings from this research serve as a basis for future investigation for effective bilingual corporate communication from the linguistic and cultural perspectives.
Details
Keywords
Marie‐Claude Boudreau and Richard T. Watson
Because the web can be an influential medium for attracting and retaining customers, it is critical to examine the connection between web advertising and corporate strategy. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Because the web can be an influential medium for attracting and retaining customers, it is critical to examine the connection between web advertising and corporate strategy. This is particularly true for multinational organizations, which face the most complex organizational environment. The purpose of this paper is to propose that multinational organizations should be concerned with alignment of their strategy and web image because of the size and geographic spread of their operations.
Design/methodology/approach
This research paper reviews the fundamental global strategies that corporations can pursue (e.g. integration, transnational, national responsiveness) and then empirically examine the relationship between corporate global strategy and web advertising strategy for 20 multinational organizations.
Findings
The results show that misalignment between corporate global strategy and web advertising strategy is reasonably common. For two thirds of the companies in our sample, there was imperfect alignment.
Originality/value
The paper suggests three reasons why this can be, and offer a tool that enables organizations to recognize how they should handle design and content matters for the combination of corporate and national web sites.
Details
Keywords
Sophie Bury and Richard Leblanc
The web offers a large and ever expanding range of information sources on the popular and widely researched topic of corporate governance. This paper aims to introduce keys sites…
Abstract
Purpose
The web offers a large and ever expanding range of information sources on the popular and widely researched topic of corporate governance. This paper aims to introduce keys sites of quality and relevance to those interested in researching the field of corporate governance using freely available web resources. It will also aims to prove useful to librarians who wish to develop web‐based subject pathfinders in this field or who want simply to connect with and build their knowledge of major topics and participants in the field of corporate governance.
Design/methodology/approach
By way of introduction important or groundbreaking works in the corporate governance literature are identified and cited in the paper to place selected web sites within the context of recent and historic developments in the area of corporate governance. A wide range of web‐based sources were consulted and critically evaluated in the study.
Findings
The result of this work is a significant sampling of quality web‐based information sources with evaluative annotations.
Originality/value
Given the recent explosion in information resources available on the topic of corporate governance, this paper will prove especially timely and useful to anyone interested in accessing and interacting with quality information on the free web from a wide range of significant players and stakeholders in the corporate governance arena.
Details
Keywords
Marcel J.H. van Birgelen, Martin G.M. Wetzels and Willemijn M. van Dolen
Although research is emerging, the knowledge base on the evaluative determinants of the effectiveness of corporate employment web sites is still limited. This paper attempts to…
Abstract
Purpose
Although research is emerging, the knowledge base on the evaluative determinants of the effectiveness of corporate employment web sites is still limited. This paper attempts to narrow this gap by investigating how potential job applicants' evaluations of web site content‐ and form‐related attributes contribute to corporate employment web site effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of an empirical study using PLS path modeling.
Findings
Applicants' attitude toward a corporate employment web site is found to be differentially influenced by the web site's content‐ and form‐related evaluations. In turn, attitude toward the web site influences intentions to apply. This relationship is fully mediated by attraction toward the organization. The latter is also influenced by attitude toward corporate employment web sites in general, which consequently contributes indirectly to application intentions.
Research limitations/implications
Using a non‐laboratory setting and a broader sample, future research should further apply a person‐organization fit perspective to corporate online recruitment and investigate effects of personality‐related factors such as risk/security‐seeking tendencies. Furthermore, it may be worthwhile to include technology‐oriented variables such as technological self‐efficacy as well.
Practical implications
Corporate employment web sites used to inform potential applicants about employment opportunities should be easy to use. In addition, firms should provide applicants with updated information and make sure that the information provided matches the applicants' needs during their information search process.. Persons who hold a more favorable overall predisposition toward corporate employment web sites are more attracted toward an organization using such sites. This suggests that corporate employment web sites may be particularly effective for certain groups of applicants, beyond the effects of web site content and form.
Originality/value
Drawing on literature in areas such as job applicant decision making, information systems, and web site effectiveness, the paper develops the understanding of the role of web site features in determining intentions to apply for a job via corporate employment web sites.
Details
Keywords
The primary objective of this study is to investigate the utilization of the internet by the Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) for corporate reporting;…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objective of this study is to investigate the utilization of the internet by the Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) for corporate reporting; to determine the company characteristics that influence the information disclosure level on the internet; and to investigate whether there is a significant difference between the firms listed in the Corporate Governance Index of the ISE and those that are not, in terms of level of disclosure on the corporate web sites.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology of the study was content analysis of corporate web sites of corporations listed on the ISE.
Findings
Firms, which are listed in the ISE Corporate Governance Index (XCORP), disclose significantly more information on corporate web sites compared to the firms that are not listed in the XCORP. In addition, the results indicate that firm size and being listed in the XCORP are significant explanatory variables for the total disclosure score on the corporate web sites, while industry and profitability are not.
Research limitations/implications
Since the study was conducted on a sample of listed companies on the ISE, the findings are not necessarily representative of non‐listed companies.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the scarce literature on internet reporting in developing countries and it incorporates the XCORP in the predictors of information disclosure level on corporate web sites.
Details
Keywords
Paul Capriotti and Angeles Moreno
The main objective of this study is to examine the presence and organization of information on corporate responsibility that is on the corporate web sites of companies that belong…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this study is to examine the presence and organization of information on corporate responsibility that is on the corporate web sites of companies that belong to the index of the Spanish stock market.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have designed a specific tool to identify corporate responsibility issues and to analyse how information on such issues is organized and presented on corporate web sites. A content analysis methodology was applied to the web sites of the companies under study.
Findings
The results suggest that the companies that were studied assign great importance to corporate responsibility on their web sites, even though they disseminate on those sites a limited conception of what corporate responsibility is and focus mainly on the topics of social and environmental action. Another relevant finding is the highly dispersed nature of the information that is related to corporate responsibility on corporate web sites.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted on a sample of companies from the Spanish stock market, and therefore the results are not necessarily representative of the entire Spanish stock market or of companies that do not trade on it.
Originality/value
This paper offers a specific methodology for the analysis of information on corporate responsibility and the organization of that information on the corporate web sites of all types of companies. The methodology and the results may be of utility to other researchers and will facilitate international comparisons of organizations regarding corporate responsibility and the manner in which information on this topic is disseminated to various stakeholders.
Details
Keywords
Sonja Gallhofer, Jim Haslam, Elizabeth Monk and Clare Roberts
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate upon the notion of counter accounting, to assess the potentiality of online reports for counter accounting and hence for counter…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate upon the notion of counter accounting, to assess the potentiality of online reports for counter accounting and hence for counter accounting's emancipatory potential as online reporting, to assess the extent to which this potential is being realised and to suggest ways forward from a critical perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
There are several components to a critical interpretive analysis: critical evaluative analysis, informed to some extent by prior literature in diverse fields; web survey; questionnaire survey; case study.
Findings
Web‐based counter accounting may be understood as having emancipatory potential, some of which is being realised in practice. Not all the positive potential is, however, being realised as one might hope: things that might properly be done are not always being done. And there are threats to progress in the future.
Originality/value
Clarification of a notion of counter accounting incorporating the activity of groups such as pressure groups and NGOs; rare study into practices and opinions in this context through a critical evaluative lens.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to identify starting points for improving corporate self‐presentation on the world wide web (WWW) by enhancing site usability, message credibility…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify starting points for improving corporate self‐presentation on the world wide web (WWW) by enhancing site usability, message credibility, and information utility.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis, quantitative linguistic analysis and discourse analysis were used to examine the “About Us” sections of 20 well‐known corporate web sites.
Findings
The findings suggest that companies recognise the challenges provided by WWW‐mediated communication but fail to respond adequately. The companies could enhance their web sites by adopting a more user‐centred approach, constructing more convincing arguments and raising the level of interactivity in order to present their audiences with more relevant information.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study are limited by the fast‐paced nature of the internet. The content and structure of the pages may have changed substantially since the research was conducted.
Practical implications
Companies need to pay more attention to the fact that the WWW as a pull medium empowers users to choose the material they want to be exposed to. Therefore, companies need to make more efforts to entice users to see material they would otherwise not choose to see.
Originality/value
In view of the small body of qualitative research on corporate web sites, particularly regarding the use of language, the challenges of corporate web communication and the responses identified may provide a framework for future research, e.g. for longitudinal studies. Practitioners may use the findings to redesign the content and structure of corporate web sites.
Details
Keywords
Charles H. Cho, Jillian R. Phillips, Amy M. Hageman and Dennis M. Patten
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the presentation medium of corporate social and environmental web site disclosure has an impact on user trust in such disclosure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the presentation medium of corporate social and environmental web site disclosure has an impact on user trust in such disclosure, and to examine the effect of media richness on user perception about corporate social and environmental responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper's methodology is a three‐by‐two between‐subjects design experiment, manipulating presentation medium and industry type. Participants viewed social and environmental web site disclosures and completed and communicated their perceptions of trust and the experimental companies' corporate social responsibility.
Findings
The presentation medium richness of social and environmental web site disclosures is positively associated with: trusting intentions, but not trusting beliefs, of web site users; and user perception of corporate social and environmental responsibility.
Research limitations/implications
As with all controlled experiments, the research design focused on internal validity to maintain control over the task design, manipulation, and measurement of variables. While this required trade‐offs with external validity, the task was designed based on real‐world scenarios to maintain high levels of external validity within the experimental setting.
Practical implications
The paper provides evidence that corporations could use enhanced web‐based technology to potentially mislead users regarding their performance in the social domain.
Originality/value
The paper extends the visual disclosure literature by examining the richness of the image/visual media, and investigates whether user perceptions are impacted by the variations in its richness.
Details
Keywords
Shawn D. Long, Sharon Doerer and Oscar J. Stewart
Research examining organizational diversity has largely ignored the role corporate web sites play in establishing the tone for diversity in organizations. Serving as “electronic…
Abstract
Purpose
Research examining organizational diversity has largely ignored the role corporate web sites play in establishing the tone for diversity in organizations. Serving as “electronic storefronts,” corporate web sites are typically the first point of contact individuals have with an organization. The purpose of this paper is to centralize communication as a critical tool in understanding the strategies corporations use to communicate their diversity philosophy, practices and policies. This virtual ethnographic study examines corporate web sites (n=100) across industries and sectors to capture the strategies organizations use to strategically communicate diversity to a variety of stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a virtual ethnographic, this study examines 100 corporate web sites across industries to capture the methods organizations employ to strategically communicate diversity in their respective organization.
Findings
Results from this ethnographic study reveal that organizations typically use three strategies in their diversity messages: impression management, persuasion and strategic ambiguity. Strategic ambiguity and the persuasive use of selling, telling and framing their diversity message are ubiquitous in corporate diversity communication. The use of these strategies may have a profound impact on how diversity is perceived within organizations. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
Originality/value
This is one of the first social science/humanistic studies to examine diversity messages on corporate web sites and advances a conceptual framework for electronic diversity communication. Additionally, this project employs a virtual ethnographic approach, a novel, yet contemporary, method.
Details