DIALOGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE THROUGH CORPORATE WEBSITES OF MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS IN CHINA
BAI SHULIANG
UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA 2017
DIALOGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE THROUGH CORPORATE WEBSITES OF MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS IN CHINA
by
BAI SHULIANG
Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
January 2017 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor
Dr. Jamilah Hj. Ahmad. Without her patient instruction and professional guidance, the completion of this thesis would be impossible. During the writing of this thesis, my father-in-law got cancer, my wife and I spent much time looking after him. During the hard time, I had even considered quitting my PhD study. My supervisor’s encouragement and support had sustained me through the depression. She spent much time reading my every draft, and gave me sufficient valuable suggestions. I shall remain forever indebted to her.
My sincere gratitude is also given to Dr Wang Chang Song, who gave me plenty of useful suggestions and encouraged me to complete this research. I also convey my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azman Azwan Azmawati and Dr. Bahiyah Omar. Their insightful comments in my proposal presentation help me a lot to improve this thesis.
I am grateful to all the lectures and staff in the Communication School of USM, for their direct and indirect help in my studies.
Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my family, for their unlimited love and understanding.
Especially for my son, I did not accompany your childhood, but I will be a good father in your whole life.
ii TABLES OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT…………………………………………………………………….ii
TABLES OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………….iii
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………….....vii
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………….viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………………ix
ABSTRAK…………………………………………………………………………………....x
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background……………………………………………………………………………….1
1.2 Problem Statement………………………………………………………………………..9
1.3 Research Objectives……………………………………………………………………..18
1.4 Research Questions……………………………………………………………………...19
1.5 Significance of the Research…………………………………………………………….20
1.6 Key Terminology………………………………………………………………………...23
1.7 Thesis Outline……………………………………………………………………………24
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Internet and Interactivity………………………………………………………………...27
2.2 Corporate Websites………………………………………………………………………30
2.2.1 Functions of Corporate Websites………………………………………………….31
2.2.2 Effectiveness of Corporate Websites……………………………………………...35
2.2.3 Public Relations Through Corporate Websites…………………………………....39
iii 2.3 Public Relations in China………………………………………………...……………...46
2.3.1 The Evolution of Public Relations in China ………...……………………………46
2.3.2 Current Public Relations Status in China....………………...……………………..49
2.3.3 Chinese Culture and Public Relations……………………..……………………....52
2.4 Related Research on Corporate Websites in China……………………………………...57
2.4.1 Importance and Effectiveness of Corporate Websites…………………………….57
2.4.2 Corporate Websites and Marketing………………………………………………..60
2.4.3 Corporate Websites and Public Relations………………………………………....62
2.5 Theoretical Framework ………………………….……………………………………...65
2.5.1 Two-Way Symmetrical Public Relations…………….……………………………67
2.5.2 Personal Influence Theory ……….……………………………………………….76
2.5.3 Relationship Management………………………………………………………...83
2.5.4 Dialogic Public Relations.………………………………………………………...90
2.5.5 Situational Theory of Publics……………………………………...……………..108
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Quantitative Method: Content Analysis………………………………………………..127
3.1.1 Content Analysis…………………………………………………………………127
3.1.2 Sampling Process………………………………………………………………...129
3.1.3 Coding Scheme…………………………………………………………………..133
3.1.4 Intercoder Reliability…………………………………………………………….142
3.2 Qualitative Method: In-Depth Interviews……………………………………………...143
3.2.1 In-Depth Interviews…………………………………………………….………..143
3.2.2 Sampling Process…………………………………………………………..…….145
iv 3.2.3 Interview Guideline…………………………………………………………..….148
3.2.4 Analysis Process……………………………………………………………..…...149
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS
4.1 Content Analysis on Content and Design Features of Websites………………………..151
4.1.1 Content Features……………………………………………………………….....152
4.1.2 Design Features…………………………………………………………………..158
4.2 In-Depth Interviews on the Perceptions and Performance of Public Relations
Practitioners…………………………………………………………………………...164
4.2.1 Corporate Websites as Communication Tools…………………………………..165
4.2.2 Corporate Websites as Public Relations Tools………………………………….180
4.2.3 Corporate Websites in Addressing Various Publics……………………………..190
4.2.4 Dialogic Characteristics of Corporate Websites………………………………...211
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Discussion on Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Promoting Communication and
Public Relations………………………………...…………………………………...…247
5.1.1 Beneficial Platform for Corporate Communication……………………………..247
5.1.2 Secondary Communication Tools………………………………………………..250
5.1.3 Supplementary Tools for Public Relations ……………………………………...252
5.1.4 Underestimated Effectiveness of Corporate Websites…………………………...261
5.2 Discussion on Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Addressing Various
Publics………………………………...………………………………………………263
5.2.1 Targeting Various Publics………………………………...……………………..264
v 5.2.2 Varying Weights on Various Publics………………………………...………….266
5.3 Discussion on Dialogic Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Facilitating Dialogic
Relationship Building………………………………...………………………………..282
5.3.1 Different Perceptions of Dialogic Public Relations……………………………..283
5.3.2 Design Features to Promote Dialogic Public Relations………………………....288
5.3.3 Prominent Barriers to Dialogic Public Relations………………………...... 296
5.3.4 Gap Between Corporate Dialogic Performance and Dialogue Tenets…………..299
5.4 Discussion on Strategies for Corporate Websites in Promoting Dialogic Public
Relations…………. ………………………...... ………………………...... 305
5.4.1 Value…………. ………………………...... ………………………...... 305
5.4.2 Commitment…………...………………………...... ………………..……...308
5.4.3 Attraction…………...………………………...... ………………..………….312
5.4.4 Balance……………...……………………...... ………………..……………318
5.4.5 Strategies and Dialogue Tenets……...……………………………..……………321
5.5 Conclusion…………. ………………………...... ………………..………………..327
5.6 Research Implications………………………...... ………………..………………..330
5.7 Limitations of the Research…………..………………………...... ………………..338
5.8 Suggestions for Future Research…. ………………………...... …………………..340
REFERENCE….………………………...... …………………………………………342
APPENDICES
vi LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1: Main orientations of corporate websites effectiveness………………………...... 37
Table 2.2: Four Models of Public Relations………………………...... ………………...69
Table 3.1: Categories of content features………………...... ………………………….136
Table 3.2: Categories of design features………...... …………………………………..140
Table 3.3: List of participants...... ………………………………………………………147
Table 3.4: Interview guideline……………………………………………………………...149
Table 4.1: Number of publics addressed by the contents of websites……………………...152
Table 4.2: Frequency of public combinations……………………………………………...153
Table 4.3: Overall content features for various publics…………………………………….155
Table 4.4: Overall design features to promote dialogic public relations…………………...160
Table 4.5: Departments in charge of corporate websites……………………...... 174
Table 4.6: The number of staff in charge of website contents..……………...... 178
Table 4.7: Three modes of corporate dialogic engagement………...... 231
Table 4.8: Barriers to dialogic public relations………...... 234
vii LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1.1: Top 10 internet users by countries in 2015………...... 5
Figure 1.2: Number of Chinese internet users……...... 6
Figure 1.3: Statistics of different types of websites in China…...... 7
Figure 1.4: Main functions of Chinese corporate websites...... 8
Figure 1.5: Construction of Chinese listed companies’ websites...... 11
Figure 1.6: Proportion of interactive services provided by Chinese corporate websites...... 13
Figure 1.7: Construction of corporate websites in different industries...... 17
Figure 2.1: Outline of research framework...... 66
Figure 2.2: Tenets of dialogic perspective...... 97
Figure 2.3: Dialogic principles to promote dialogic public relations on websites...... 102
Figure 2.4: The connections between the situational theory and dialogic principles...... 119
Figure 3.1: Outline of research methodology...... 126
Figure 4.1: Ranking of six publics categories...... 154
Figure 4.2: Ranking of four design features to promote dialogic public relations...... 159
Figure 5.1: The connections between strategies and dialogue tenets……………...... 322
viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CNNIC China Internet Network Information Center
IABC International Association of Business Communicators
OPRs Organization–public relationships
CSR Corporate social responsibility
CC Corporate citizenship
SD Sustainable development
SIC Standard Industrial Classification
URL Universal Resource Locator
FAQ Frequently asked questions
PV Page views
CSRC China Securities Regulatory Commission
ix AMALAN PERHUBUNGAN AWAM DIALOGIK MELALUI LAMAN
SESAWANG BADAN KORPORAT PEMBUATAN DI CHINA
ABSTRAK
Laman sesawang korporat memainkan peranan penting di China. Kebanyakan laman sesawang korporat di China memberi perhatian kepada penyebarkan maklumat korporat berbanding membina perhubungan awam. Perhubungan awam dialogik terbuktikan berkesan untuk membina perhubungan dalam laman sesawang. Penyelidikan ini bertujuan mengkaji amalan perhubungan awam dialogik syarikat pembuatan di China melalui laman sesawang.
Terdapat empat objektif penyelidikan: (1) untuk menilai ciri-ciri laman sesawang korporat dalam mempromosikan perhubungan komunikasi dan perhubungan awam; (2) untuk menilai ciri-ciri laman sesawang korporat dalam merujuk pelbagai pihak dengan kandungan yang berkaitan; (3) untuk memeriksa ciri-ciri dialogik laman sesawang korporat dalam memudahkan pembinaan hubungan dialogik; dan (4) untuk menyediakan strategi bagi laman sesawang korporat dalam mempromosikan perhubungan awam dialogik. Penyelidikan ini menggunakan kaedah bercampur iaitu analisis kandungan dan temu bual secara mendalam.
Analisis kandungan digunakan untuk memeriksa tetapan ketara dan aplikasi laman sesawang korporat. Manakala temu bual secara mendalam digunakan bagi mengenal pasti sebab yang tersirat seperti perwakilan dan persepsi dalaman. Sekitar 100 laman sesawang korporat pembuatan daripada senarai syarikat dalam Chinese Fortune 500 dipilih secara rawak sebagai contoh bagi analisis kandungan dan temu bual dijalankan dalam kalangan 10 syarikat korporat daripada 100 contoh analisis kandungan tersebut. Penyelidikan ini telah
x menghasilkan dapatan yang signifikan. Pertama, walaupun laman sesawang korporat mendapat faedah daripada syarikat komunikasi dan perhubungan awam dalam pelbagai cara, kebanyakannya masih lagi dianggap pilihan kedua dan masih menerima sumber korporat yang terhad. Laman sesawang korporat dinilai rendah oleh kebanyakan syarikat kerana kurangnya keberkesanan laman sesawang. Kedua, walaupun sebahagian besar laman sesawang korporat mensasarkan beberapa pihak awam, mereka memberi perhatian berbeza kepada pelbagai pihak awam. Asas bagi membina perhubungan awam dialogik adalah dengan menyediakan kandungan yang sesuai. Kebanyakan syarikat gagal menunjukkan sikap positif kepada pelbagai pihak awam melalui lama sesawang. Ketiga, kebanyakan syarikat gagal untuk menggunakan potensi dialogik laman sesawang korporat dengan sepenuhnya walaupun mengambil prinsip dialogik. Kebanyakan laman sesawang korporat memberi penekanan berbeza bagi prinsip dialogik yang berlainan dan menyediakan lebih banyak prasyarat bagi dialog laman sesawang berbanding penglibatan sebenar dalam pembinaan hubungan dialogik. Akhir sekali, penyelidikan ini mencadangkan empat strategi berkesan iaitu, nilai, komitmen, tarikan dan imbangan bagi mempromosikan perhubungan awam dialogik untuk laman sesawang korporat. Kesimpulannya, kajian ini menguatkan lagi teori perhubungan awam dialogik dan menyediakan pandangan berwawasan bagi syarikat korporat di China bagi menggunakan laman sesawang dengan lebih berkesan untuk membina hubungan dialogik dengan masyarakat awam.
xi DIALOGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE THROUGH CORPORATE
WEBSITES OF MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS IN CHINA
ABSTRACT
Corporate website has played an increasingly important role in China. Most Chinese corporate websites pay more attention to disseminating corporate information than building relationships with publics. Dialogic public relations is proved to be effective for relationship building on websites. This research aims to examine the dialogic public relations practice of
Chinese manufacturing corporations through their websites. There are four research objectives: (1) to examine the characteristics of corporate websites in promoting communication and public relations; (2) to examine the characteristics of corporate websites in addressing various publics with tailored contents; (3) to examine the dialogic characteristics of corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building; and (4) to provide strategies for corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations. This research adopted mixed method of content analysis and in-depth interview. Content analysis was used to examine the manifest settings and application of corporate websites, whereas in-depth interview was used to explore underlying reasons for such representation and internal perceptions. Approximately 100 manufacturing corporate websites of Chinese
Fortune 500 companies were randomly selected as samples for content analysis, and interviews were conducted among 10 corporations from these 100 content analysis samples.
This research has resulted in some significant findings. First, although corporate websites
xii could benefit corporate communication and public relations in various ways, most of them were still considered secondary tools and received limited corporate resources. The value of corporate websites was underestimated by most corporations for their lack of evaluation on websites’ effectiveness. Second, although the majority of corporate websites addressed multiple publics, they paid different attention to various publics. Providing tailored contents to publics is the foundation to build dialogic relationships. Many corporations failed to show sufficient positivity to address various publics through websites. Third, most corporations failed to fully utilize the dialogic potential of corporate websites, although employing dialogic principles. Most corporate websites placed varying weights on different dialogic principles, and provided more prerequisites for webbed dialogues instead of actual engagement in dialogic relationship building. Finally, this research proposed four effective strategies, namely value, commitment, attraction, and balance, to promote dialogic public relations on corporate websites. As a result of the findings, this research enriches the dialogic public relations theory, and provides insightful views for Chinese corporations to utilize websites more effectively for dialogic relationship building with publics.
xiii CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Internet is one of the greatest technological inventions of the 20th century, and has played a very important role in economic development, social construction, and people’s lives. It is reported that there are about 3.5 billion internet users by 30 June, 2016 (Internet World
Status, 2016), and 1.05 billion websites by June 2016 (Netcraft, 2016).
Internet was initially used for the purposes of politics and military. Its various applications became popular in the 1990s (C. Liu, Arnett, Capella, & Beatty, 1997). Corporations also benefit from the application of internet to develop business. There are two direct and obvious changes brought about by internet to corporations. Firstly, internet has reduced the transaction costs for customers, enabling publics to interact and negotiate with corporations directly. Secondly, internet-based communication has created workplaces “anytime, anywhere”, increasing productivity and efficiency.
One of the most important methods for corporations to enter cyberspace is to establish and utilize their corporate websites (C. Liu et al., 1997). Different from electronic commerce, portal, and other sites, corporate websites mainly provide corporate information to publics rather than transactions and other services (Ozihel, 2011). Corporate website provides publics with a virtual presence of the corporation and its offerings (Ghose & Dou, 1998).
1 Through websites, corporations can build online identities and conduct business with publics.
However, websites mean much more for corporations, which may benefit from utilizing their websites to sell products or provide services, build proper relationships with publics, organize supply and distribution chains, and so on.
Corporations could use their websites to achieve various corporate goals, such as the establishment of a global internet identity, enlarged market scope, promotion of corporate services, and creation of commercial opportunities (Teo & Tan, 1998). Jeremiah (1999) summarized the functions of corporate websites into four aspects: (i) Electronic commerce. It is an important and valid function of corporate websites. Transactions can occur directly between corporations and customers with low cost. (ii) Control of information. Corporate website is an important platform for corporations to disseminate positive information and respond quickly to negative information for image building. (iii) Disclosure of information.
Cormier et al. (2009) identified the utilization of corporate websites to disclose corporate performance and confirmed three types information for disclosure: business information, social information, and financial information. (iv) Reduction of communication expenses.
Corporate websites could help corporations save cost during the dissemination of information. Corporate website is a cheap and immediate tool for communication between corporations and customers.
It is important for corporations to utilize corporate websites effectively in competitive environment. The effectiveness and performance of corporate websites have major
2 influences on achieving corporate strategic goals, including those of corporate public relations.
Public relations is about relationship building. The aim of public relations is “creating, maintaining, and repairing strategic relationships” (Heath & Coombs, 2005, p. 4). Public relations can influence publics to form and maintain appropriate attitudes towards organizations and their products (Lindic, 2006). Excellent public relations activities with various publics, such as media, customers, investors, employees, can earn social understanding and acceptance.
Although the importance of internet for public relations was controversial during the early time of internet’s development (Lindic, 2006), it is impossible for practitioners to practice public relations without internet today (Newsom, Turk, & Kruckeberg, 2000). Internet possesses many advantages such as immediate communication, interactivity, and personalization, which traditional media do not have. Therefore, it can significantly improve the efficiency of public relations. Internet could provide a “low cost, direct, controllable communication channel” for organizations to build relationships with publics (Taylor, Kent,
& White, 2001, p. 299). Organizations can utilize internet to demonstrate organizational competitiveness and promote relationship building with publics (Hill & White, 2000).
Scholars have tried to construct the role of webbed communication in public relations (Hong,
Yang, & Rim, 2010; Verčič, Verčič, & Sriramesh, 2015; A. Yang & Taylor, 2010). Numerous research have identified the effects of organizational websites in building relationships with
3 publics (Kent, Taylor, & White, 2003). An organizational website is an excellent relationship-building platform to promote the public understanding of organizational products and services (Hyojung Park & Reber, 2008). For organizations, websites work as a controlled channel to communicate with publics; and for publics, websites offer a channel to better understand organizations.
Corporate website is more than a marketing or advertising tool. It is important and beneficial to build proper relationships with publics. To achieve that, the key for corporate websites is the interactive communication, the essence to promote relationships (Cutlip, Center, &
Broom, 2006).
Interactivity is a key element of internet technologies, which makes internet distinct from traditional media (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006). Interactivity of websites can provide a perception of social presence “through the availability of open channels allowing for two-way communication” (Dholakia, Zhao, Dholakia, Fortin, & Dholakia, 2001, p. 10). It is identified that interactivity can effectively affect relationship building (Sheila M.
McAllister-Spooner, 2008). The degree of interactivity has a positive correlation with public evaluation of websites. Some interactive components like “customer support” influence the possibility of corporate websites being considered as high-quality websites (Ghose & Dou,
1998).
Through interactive communication on websites, corporations could disseminate and collect information from target publics. Without interactivity, the “internet public relations becomes
4 nothing more than a new monologic communication medium, or a new marketing technology” (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p. 325). Websites become critical for relationship building when considering the potential for carrying out interactive communication.
However, numerous research have identified that plenty of organizations including corporations do not make full use of interactive feature of websites (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006;
J. Huang & Yang, 2015; Jun, 2011; Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009; S.M.
McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009; Taylor et al., 2001).
Internet in China has rapidly developed since 1994. At present, there are as many as 3.57 million websites, which widely influence the Chinese society. Moreover, as shown in figure
1.1, with approximately 674 million (until November 2015), China has become the country with the most internet users in the world. The number of Chinese internet users keeps growing at a very high speed. Figure 1.2 shows the significant growth from June 2011 to
June 2015 (CNNIC, 2015a).
China 674 India 375 United States 280.7 Brazil 117.6 Japan 114.9 Russia 103.1 Nigeria 92.6 Indonesia 78 Germany 71.7 Mexico 60 0 200 400 600 800 Millions of users
Figure 1.1: Top 10 internet users by countries in 2015 (Internet World Status, 2015)
5 800 667.7 700 632 564 590.6 600 485 500 400 300 200 100 0 2011.6 2012.6 2013.6 2014.6 2015.6
Millions of users
Figure 1.2: Number of Chinese internet users (CNNIC, 2015a)
Internet plays an important role in promoting Chinese economy and social development.
Information technology, which includes internet and its industry, has made significant contributions to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy. In 2014, Internet economy has accounted for 7% of Chinese GDP, the percentage of which has surpassed the USA. Internet also boosts the high-speed growth of related industries and markets. Chinese online retail volume has become the largest in the world (CNNIC, 2015c). Internet performs as an important driver of Chinese national economy.
More and more Chinese corporations have built and operated their websites. Based on the last survey report of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) about the statistics of different types of websites, the number of Chinese corporate websites has accounted for 60.4% of overall Chinese websites by 2006, as shown in figure 1.3 below
(CNNIC, 2006). By the end of 2014, about 41.4% of Chinese corporations have built their own corporate websites (CNNIC, 2015b). Furthermore, many Chinese corporations have
6 confirmed that they will increase the investment and utilization of corporate websites in future (PR Newswire, 2012). Corporate website has played an increasingly important role in
Chinese society.
Commercial Educational or websites, 3.5% scientific websites, 5.1%
Personal websites, 21.9%
Other public Corporate welfare websites, websites, 60.4% 3.8%
Other websites, 0.9% Government websites, 4.4%
Figure 1.3: Statistics of different types of websites in China (CNNIC, 2006)
Chinese corporate websites have multiple functions such as marketing, sales, propaganda, services, and so on. Chinese corporations pay more attention to the function of marketing and brand propaganda than sales, services, and customer administration on corporate websites (CNNIC, 2011). It seems that many Chinese corporate websites focus on disseminating information and ignore the functions of interactivity and transaction.
According to the investigation report of CNNIC (2015b), the main functions of Chinese corporate websites are as below:
7 Showcase of products or services 84.9%
Establishing brand image 78.5%
Customer service channels 60.4%
Product sales 52.0%
Internal work 38.3%
Raw material procurement 21.9%
Online payment 20.9%
Others 1.1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Figure 1.4: Main functions of Chinese corporate websites (CNNIC, 2015b)
Figure 1.4 shows that most Chinese corporations consider showcase of products or services as the most important function of websites. Enhancement of brand image is also a focus of corporate websites. Although 60.4% of investigated corporations pay attention to providing customer service, dissemination of information and corporate propaganda are still more significant functions for corporations to utilize websites.
Although many Chinese corporations consider their websites as important strategic tools for marketing and sales, few corporations pay attention to public relations through websites. The function of public relations through corporate websites is still secondary. Many corporations consider dissemination of corporate information as the main means for public relations through websites (Zhong, Deng, & Li, 2009).
8 In China, the interactive feature of corporate websites is widely considered as the main advantage from new technology (He, 2008; Sun, Li, & Zhu, 2011; X. Yang & Tian, 2006).
Interactive communication through corporate websites is beneficial for corporations to react quickly according to the requirements from publics. It could attract more publics to navigate corporate websites and enhance the satisfaction of visitors (X. Yang & Tian, 2006).
Interactivity can also promote direct communication between corporations and publics.
Therefore, interactivity makes corporate websites play an important role in corporate public relations, even though many Chinese corporations ignore the utilization of interactive features of corporate websites.
1.2 Problem Statement
The utilization of websites to build relationships with publics has become an important focus of public relations over the past ten years (Sommerfeldt, Kent, & Taylor, 2012). In this field, one of the most significant perspectives is dialogic public relations. In 1998, Kent and Taylor confirmed dialogic public relations as an effective approach to relationship building through websites. They defined dialogic communication as “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p. 325). Dialogic communication is regarded as the higher level of interactivity with more ethical, democratic and effective characteristics. Simple online interactive strategies that promote two-way exchange are not enough to build beneficial relationships. Dialogic communication with open interchange and discussion of ideas or opinions is valuable for mutual understanding and acceptance.
9 Using dialogic communication to build relationship is the core of dialogic public relations.
Dialogic communication can make communicators pay more attention to mutual relationships than self-interest. The inclusion of dialogues in public relations is an “important step towards understanding how organizations can build relationships that serve both organizational and public interests” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 21).
Dialogic public relations has been applied in various website research (Capriotti & Kuklinski,
2012; J. Huang & Yang, 2015; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Madichie & Hinson, 2014;
Sommerfeldt et al., 2012). It is confirmed to be beneficial for relationship building. Bruning,
Dials, and Shirka (2008) identified that dialogues through websites could positively affect respondents’ evaluations and intended behaviors towards an organization. In another research, A. Yang and Taylor (2010) found that dialogic public relations was effective to build beneficial and long-time collaborations between organizations and publics.
As mentioned in the introduction, corporate websites play an important role in China. Many
Chinese corporations pay attention to building and operating websites. Although there is a lack of the changes about Chinese corporate websites’ amount, a survey report shows that the number of Chinese listed companies’ websites has grown steadily. As shown in figure 1.5, until 2014, 96.95% of Chinese listed companies have owned corporate websites (Y. Li & Li,
2014). It is obvious that corporate websites have become an important part of corporate communication in China, especially for large corporations.
10 96.65% 97% 96% 94.81% 95% 93.77% 93.66% 94% 93% 91.78% 92% 91% 90% 89% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Figure 1.5: Construction of Chinese listed companies’ websites (Y. Li & Li, 2014)
In contrast to the high percentage of corporate websites construction, many corporations lack synthetic and multiple utilization of corporate websites. It is believed that corporate website is an ideal platform for communication, image building, and introduction of products (Deng
& Yang, 2008). However, the actual usages of corporate websites by the majority of Chinese corporations are limited to marketing and brand building rather than customer service and relationship management (CNNIC, 2015b).
It is necessary and crucial for Chinese corporations to take full advantage of websites during this digital era. According to the three orientations proposed by Soto-Acosta and
Merono-Cerdan (2008) to assess websites, Chinese corporations pay more attention to informative orientation than relational orientation and transactional orientation. In addition, there is still a distance in the utilization of corporate websites between Chinese corporations and international advanced corporations. Shi (2012) compared the websites of Chinese state-owned corporations with Fortune 500 corporations and found that Fortune 500 websites
11 performed better in website utilization, user experience, and customerization.
Although many Chinese corporations tend to improve their websites, there is always a lack of effective guidelines for improvement. For example, some corporations emphasize customers’ requirements in order to provide more customizable information (G. Chen, 2010;
Shi, 2012). However, the ultimate goal seems to be dissemination of information rather than relationship management. A corporate website is more than a display platform. It is an important communication tool for relationship building.
Corporate websites have many advantages, such as immediate communication, various forms, and comprehensive participation, which can promote public relations (He, 2008; Sun et al., 2011; Zhong et al., 2009). Although there are many platforms on internet to promote corporate public relations, corporate websites are more credible than blogs, social networking, and advertising. China does not have social media with global influences such as Facebook and Twitter. It is a fact that Chinese corporations pay much attention to the fast development of local social media, which are usually influenced by strict governmental restraints and immature online public opinions. Social media are beneficial to promote corporate communication and public relations. However, as stated by Schwartzman, Smith,
Spetner, and McDonald (2009), corporate websites should not be ignored. It is not outdated for corporations to utilize corporate websites for positive interactions and relationship building with publics (PR Newswire, 2012).
12 Interactivity of websites is beneficial to attract publics and enhance public satisfaction.
However, many Chinese corporations consider the dissemination of product information and promotion messages on websites as main channels to build relationships with publics.
Interactive features of websites are still secondary (Z. Chen, 2009). As a result, many corporations do not make full use of the interactive functions of corporate websites. The argument is confirmed by the figure 1.6.
Online consultation/complaint 18.6%
Virtual community/BBS 12.7%
Online sales for customers 11%
Online sales for agent/dealer 10.7%
Opinion polls 8.6%
Online procurement 6.1%
Others 12.7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Figure 1.6: Proportion of interactive services provided by Chinese corporate websites (CNNIC, 2005)
As shown in figure 1.6, Chinese corporate websites provide limited interactive services. Few websites provide online consultation or other interactive services. Another survey report of
Chinese listed companies shows that many listed companies do not reply public inquiries through the interactive channels on their websites. These interactive channels like E-mail or message board seem to be ornamental rather than valid dialogic tools (Shao & Li, 2011).
13 As the higher level of interactivity, dialogue is often confused with interactivity in Chinese research and practice (Yimin Zheng & Guan, 2008). The term “interactivity” includes the meaning of dialogue and always attracts more attention. Dialogic public relations remains a new issue for Chinese corporations as well as scholars. As mentioned above, most Chinese corporations utilize limited interactive functions of corporate websites. It is hard to imagine that Chinese corporations carry on valid and ample dialogues with publics through websites.
Moreover, in China little evidence can be found on this issue.
Chinese corporations, which focus on dissemination of information and propaganda of image, should apply dialogic public relations to build beneficial relationships with publics.
Providing useful information is merely the first step for relationship building. Dialogic public relations, which emphasizes mutual interest and exchange of opinions, is also very important. As a Chinese public relations expert said, “it's like a date. When you go on a date with a girl, you ceaselessly introduce yourself. However, if you do not give the girl a chance to talk to you, she will be unsatisfied with the appointment. If you let her be involved in the dialogue, you may get an opportunity to establish a relationship” (Z. Kang, 2011).
There is a lack of research on dialogic public relations in China. Hu (2007) regarded dialogue as “meta-reasons”, which means that dialogue is the essential requirement of public relations. Hu proposed that it was inevitable for the rise of a dialogue paradigm in public relations from a philosophical angle (Hu, 2007). However, few research can be found to explore this issue in China, particularly the current status and methods to promote dialogic
14 public relations through websites. There are numerous related research in western countries, but China has her own situations. It is necessary to explore this issue in China in order to provide Chinese corporate websites with a new approach to relationship building.
It should be noted that different types of industries have very different ways to utilize corporate websites for webbed dialogues. For example, the websites of banks are usually more dialogic than the websites of mining corporations. Therefore, this research selects the websites of Chinese manufacturing corporations as research objects to make the research more specific and representative.
Manufacturing is one of the most important industries in national economy. It represents the national productivity level to distinguish developing countries from developed countries. At the upstream of industrial chain, manufacturing is the strategic foundation for various industries, the development of which depends on the level and scale of manufacturing.
Therefore, manufacturing is the guarantee for the sustainable development of the nation’s economy and society.
Manufacturing is especially significant in China. The “Made in China” labels have become well-known worldwide. It is reported that, globally 80% of air conditioners, 90% of personal computers, 70% of mobile phones, and 63% of shoes are made in China. In 2011, China surpassed the USA and became the largest manufacturing country in the world. In 2014, manufacturing economy has accounted for about 40% of Chinese GDP and contributed to 91% of Chinese export value (Woetzel & Towson, 2014).
15 Although Chinese manufacturing industry is large scale, the competitiveness of manufacturing corporations remains insufficient (Guo, 2014). Low-quality and low value-added products constitute the greatest proportion of overall manufacturing products.
Poor profitability, low-level technology, and weak competitiveness are major problems for many Chinese manufacturing corporations. To some extent, China as the “manufacturing plant” of the world, is essentially a low-end product and cheap commodity supplier. Chinese manufacturing corporations should improve their competitiveness in high-tech products.
China’s manufacturing industry needs to transform and upgrade its operations. In 2015,
China’s State Council proposed a ten-year national plan the “Made in China 2025” for transforming and upgrading China’s manufacturing industry. In this national plan, the integration of information technology and industry, and the promotion of service-oriented manufacturing are two important focuses (China’s State Council, 2015). Chinese manufacturing corporations should promote the application of the internet to develop a new manufacturing mode, such as customized production, crowd-sourcing designs, etc. Based on the internet technology, Chinese manufacturing corporations should understand the dynamic needs of customers in order to lead the intelligent production and provide more personalized products to meet the needs of customers fully. The utilization of websites as a corporate platform will encourage manufacturing corporations to provide and improve corporate and professional social services.
16 Corporate websites play an important role in transforming and upgrading the Chinese manufacturing corporations, which could significantly benefit from the effective utilization of their websites. At present, more Chinese manufacturing corporations build and operate websites to advance corporate development. Compared with other industries, the percentage of corporate websites building is relatively high.
Manufacturing 50.8%
Construction 32.2% Transportation,warehousing, and postal service 27.4% Information transmission, computer service, and software 52.4% Wholesale and retail trade 34.9%
Real estate 32.8%
Business service 40.3%
Resident service and other service 27.9%
Total 41.4%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Figure 1.7: Construction of corporate websites in different industries (CNNIC, 2015b)
As shown in figure 1.7, it seems positive for Chinese manufacturing corporations to utilize corporate websites. Corporate websites have become important components of manufacturing corporate communication. However, as mentioned above, most Chinese corporations including manufacturing corporations have not utilized corporate websites effectively to build dialogic relationships with publics. Many manufacturing corporations
17 operate their websites more traditionally. It is significant to select manufacturing corporations as the research object to explore the characteristics of dialogic public relations through their websites. The effective utilization of corporate websites is essential for the development of Chinese manufacturing. Assuming that most corporate websites might employ insufficient dialogic public relations, the usages of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations are also examined to extend the scope of dialogic public relations. These issues are closely connected with each other in corporate utilization of websites. As a result, this research is expected to promote corporations to utilize their websites effectively for corporate communication and dialogic relationship building.
1.3 Research Objectives
It is valuable for corporations to build beneficial dialogic relationships with publics. The main purpose of this research is to examine and analyze the dialogic public relations practice of Chinese manufacturing corporations through corporate websites. Meanwhile, the utilization of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations is also examined to extend the scope and background of dialogic public relations. Based on the results, some effective strategies will be proposed to promote dialogic public relations through corporate websites. The main objectives of this research are as follows:
1. To examine and analyze the characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations.
18 2. To examine and analyze the characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in addressing various publics with tailored contents.
3. To examine and analyze the dialogic characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building.
4. To provide strategies for Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations.
1.4 Research Questions
According to the objectives of this research, four research questions are developed and confirmed. The questions are shown in below:
RQ1. What are the overall characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations?
RQ2. What are the overall characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in addressing various publics with tailored contents?
RQ3. What are the overall dialogic characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building?
RQ4. What are effective strategies for Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations?
19 The first research question is to examine the utilization of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations. The role of corporate websites in corporate communication and public relations would be confirmed. Based on the findings from the first research question, the first research objective would be achieved. The second research question is to examine how manufacturing corporate websites address various publics with specific contents. The websites’ content features for targeted publics would be summarized and analyzed to attain the second research objective. This research utilizes the third question to examine the dialogic characteristics of manufacturing corporate websites for dialogic relationship building. Websites’ design features that employ dialogic principles and corporate actual performance to promote webbed dialogues would then be examined. The results would fulfill the third research objective. The last research question is to suggest some effective strategies for corporate websites to promote dialogic public relations. Based on the findings and results of the first three research questions, some useful and practical strategies would be proposed to accomplish the last research objective.
1.5 Significance of the Research
The findings of this research have significant implications for public relations research and practice.
First, this research extends the theory of dialogic public relations to Chinese corporate websites. Although there are plenty of research about dialogic public relations through organizational websites in western countries, dialogic public relations remains a new issue in
20 China. The research focus on corporate websites is usually marketing rather than public relations. As a result, in China there are limited dialogic public relations research, most of which discuss dialogue from a theoretic or philosophical perspective without empirical identification. It is far from corporate public relations practice. Dialogic value of corporate websites remains potential rather than actual. It is thus necessary and valuable to provide new avenues for Chinese corporations to promote public relations through websites.
On the other hand, few research in China have examined dialogic public relations with dialogic principles of Kent and Taylor (1998), which are fundamental for dialogic public relations research. It is necessary to examine dialogic public relations with popular theories.
This research would examine and enrich the dialogic public relations theory, as well as related theories to provide insights for Chinese corporations to utilize websites more efficiently and effectively.
Second, this research summarizes and analyzes practical factors that influence dialogic public relations through corporate websites. There are abundant content analyses to examine the presence or absence of dialogic principles on organizational websites (Capriotti &
Kuklinski, 2012; J. Huang & Yang, 2015; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Madichie & Hinson,
2014). However, few research have explored the actual factors that can influence dialogic public relations. It is necessary to examine the status of dialogic public relations through websites. However, it is more important to find and summarize practical factors that influence dialogues. This research seeks to explore key factors in corporate dialogic public
21 relations. The crucial factors to promote or hinder dialogic public relations would then be summarized. As a result, this research would propose some useful suggestions for corporate websites to improve dialogic relationship building.
Third, this research explores public relations practitioners’ perceptions to make a deeper understanding of dialogic public relations. It is a fact that many organizations fail to fully utilize websites to practice dialogic public relations. Public relations practitioners are always criticized for underutilizing the dialogic potential of websites (Sommerfeldt et al., 2012). It seems to be an important reason for the lack of webbed dialogues. In fact, there are not enough research to investigate and analyze the practitioners’ perceptions about dialogic public relations. It is rather significant to explore practitioners’ perceptions, which could promote the utilization of organizational websites.
From the analysis of practitioners’ perceptions, the dialogic public relations theory could be further connected with public relations practices. It is also an important goal of this research.
With in-depth interviews of public relations practitioners, this research would explore practitioners’ actual perceptions and performance for corporate communication and dialogic public relations through websites. As a result, the real reasons for the representation of dialogic public relations would be explored and summarized. It is very meaningful to analyze dialogic relationship building from the practitioners’ angle. Based on the results, dialogic public relations would be better promoted in corporate communication.
22 1.6 Key Terminology
1. Corporate websites: different from electronic commerce, portal, and other sites, corporate websites mainly provide corporate information to publics rather than transactions and other services (Ozihel, 2011).
2. Online interactivity: “the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time” (Steuer, 1992, p. 84).
3. Two-way symmetry model: a public relations model which uses communication to negotiate with publics, resolve conflicts, and promote mutual understanding and respect between the organization and its publics (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984).
4. Guanxi: guanxi is the Chinese individual network of social connections and friendship, which means “establishing connections, creating obligations and favors among interactants, and enjoying privileges through relationships” (N. Chen & Culbertson, 2009, p. 280).
5. Public relations: “the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends” (Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 1985, p. 4).
6. Relationship management: “the practice of public relations as an exercise in identifying mutual interests, values, and benefits between a client-organization and its publics” (Hutton,
1999, p. 208).
23 7. Dialogic communication: “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (Kent & Taylor,
1998, p. 325).
8. Dialogic public relations: the utilization of two-way dialogic communication to build and maintain beneficial relationships between organizations and publics.
9. Microsite: microsite is an individual webpage or a small cluster of webpages, which supplement primary websites or offline activities (Hudson, Roth, & Madden, 2012).
Microsites are always used for releasing thematic contents, which concentrate on some special topics or issues, such as organizational products and activities (Sommerfeldt et al.,
2012). Microstes can have their own domain names or subdomains.
1.7 Thesis Outline
This research consists of five chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of this research. It introduces the overall background, problem statement, research objectives and questions, research significance, and some key terminologies. The second chapter reviews some important literatures related to this research. It offers a detailed review on internet and interactivity, corporate websites, public relations in China, and related research on corporate websites in China. On the basis of these literatures, five important theories (i.e., two-way symmetrical public relations, personal influence theory, relationship management theory, dialogic public relations theory, and situational theory) are further introduced and discussed in this chapter. These theories are adopted as the theoretical framework for this research and
24 provide important theoretical perspectives. The third chapter introduces the methodology used in this research. Quantitative content analysis and qualitative in-depth interview are adopted. This chapter also demonstrates some methodological issues, such as sampling process, coding categories, intercoder reliability, interview guideline, and analysis process.
The fourth chapter provides research results and findings from both research methods. The last chapter discusses research findings according to the objectives and draws the conclusion of this research.
25 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews some important literatures related to this research. On the basis of these literatures, some important theories are further discussed and utilized as the theoretical framework for this research. It is organized into five sections: (i) internet and interactivity, (ii) corporate websites, (iii) public relations in China, (iv) related research on corporate websites in China, and (v) theoretical framework. The first section focuses on the definition and influence of internet, advantages and influence of interactivity. This section provides a necessary background to understand the characteristic of internet and interactivity for communication. The second section presents some related research on corporate websites.
The functions of corporate websites, modes to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites, and public relations through corporate websites are introduced. This section presents a detailed review on the utilization of corporate websites.
The third section introduces public relations in China. The evolution of public relations in
China, current Chinese public relations status, and Chinese culture and public relations are reviewed and summarized. This section is beneficial to understand the characteristics of
Chinese public relations and provides necessary reference for this research. The fourth section reviews related research on corporate websites in China, which has very different research focus on corporate websites. It is necessary to introduce these Chinese research to extend the scope and background of this issue. The last section offers an overview of the
26 theoretical framework of this research. Five theories (i.e., two-way symmetrical public relations, personal influence theory, relationship management theory, dialogic public relations theory, and situational theory) are adopted as the theoretical basis for this research.
This section demonstrates the implications of these theories, and offers fundamental insights to this research.
2.1 Internet and Interactivity
Internet is a global electronic communications network which interconnects computer networks and organizational computer facilities to serve users (Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, 2015). It is a system, which comprises various academic, businesses, governmental, social media, private, and public networks. Internet has demonstrated a valid impact on the world since the mid-1990s. Different from traditional media, internet provides many advantages to facilitate communication, such as offering all day broadcasting regardless of the geographic location (Anastasios & Zoe, 2011). Internet can make abundant information immediately communicated at low cost. It can work as a mass communication platform and personal communication medium. Customization and personalization can be properly supported in the cyberspace.
Interactive communication is an important advantage of internet. Internet offers an ideal platform for various individuals or organizations to interact with each other from a great distance (Rogers & Allbritton, 1995). During the process of online interactive communication, much more meaning is created and exchanged. Interactive communication
27 has significantly changed the way of communication between organizations and publics.
Interactivity is one of the key technical characteristics of internet (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006).
The concept of interactivity is a multidimensional term with different meanings from different angles. The Webster’s New Unabridged Dictionary defines “interact” as acting mutually and performing reciprocal acts (Webster’s New Unabridged Dictionary, 2016).
Heeter (1989) considered interactivity as a term composed of responsiveness to the user, complexity of choice, available effort users must exert, ease of adding information, monitoring information use, and facilitation of interpersonal communication. Dholakia et al.
(2001) cited Fortin’s definition of interactivity as:
the degree to which a communication system can allow one or more end users to
communicate alternatively as senders or receivers with one or many other users or
communication devices, either in real time or on a store-and-forward basis, or to seek
and gain access to information on an on-demand basis, where the content, timing, and
sequence of the communication is under control of the end user, as opposed to a
broader basis. (p. 4)
As the extension of interactivity to the internet environment, online interactivity is considered to be “the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time” (Steuer, 1992, p. 84). Anastasios and Zoe (2011) stated that online interactivity could enable users to have real time two-way communication and dialogic communication. Dholakia et al. (2001) further proposed six important criteria
28 for online interactivity: user control, real time interaction, connectedness, personalization, responsiveness, and playfulness. These criteria offer important insights to define and understand online interactivity.
Interactivity on organizational websites is important for relationship building (Ghose & Dou,
1998). Jo and Kim (2003) identified the fact that interactivity could significantly influence the relationship building. According to the degree of interactivity on organizational websites,
Capriotti and Moreno (2007) classified two approaches to organizational websites: the communication of information and the generation of relationships. The first approach with low level of interactivity focuses on disseminating information and image building. The second approach with high degree of interactivity is used to make two-way communication and build relationships through beneficial interactions or dialogues. Therefore, it is obvious that the second approach of interactivity on websites could effectively promote relationship building.
For corporate websites, interactivity is useful for corporations to build beneficial relationships with various publics. Hoffman, Novak, and Chatterjee (1995) stated that interactivity changed the role of customers from traditionally passive role to active participants in the marketing process through improving user’s control of information.
Except for the enhancement of public status, Cuneo (1995) claimed that proper interaction on corporate websites could facilitate relationship marketing and improve public supports.
His statement confirmed the effects of interactivity for corporate websites.
29 Ghose and Dou (1998) found that interactive features on corporate websites could positively influence users’ perceptions of the websites. Based on a functional perspective, they further classified the forms of corporate websites’ interactive function into five aspects: customer support (e. g., software downloading, order inquiry, feedback, etc.); marketing research (e. g., website investigation, product survey, etc.); personal-choice helper (e. g., dealer locator, personal-choice helper, key word search, etc.); advertising, promotion, publicity (e. g., online order, multimedia shows, etc.); entertainment (e. g., games, electronic post card, etc.).
Corporations can carry on effective interactions with publics through making full use of related items on corporate websites (Ghose & Dou, 1998).
Internet and its main technical advantages, especially interactivity, are not new issues for current research and practice. The research arguments on this issue mainly appear at the end of last century as internet’s rising. However, the basic principles of internet and online interactivity still hold true. Interactivity on corporate websites is still important for corporate communication and relationship management. It is necessary to explore new features of online interactivity for relationship building. This is also an important aim of this research.
2.2 Corporate Websites
As the object of this research, corporate websites are distinguished from other types of websites. Ozihel (2011) claimed that corporate websites were obviously different from electronic commerce, portal, or other sites. Corporate websites mainly provide corporate information to publics rather than transactions or other services. Generally speaking,
30 corporate websites typically contains some information about their corporations such as corporate products and businesses (Gustavsen & Tilley, 2003). From another angle, Ghose and Dou (1998) defined corporate website as “internet presence site”, which provides a virtual presence for a corporation and its offering.
Since the appearance of internet, websites have become a widespread internet phenomenon, which will continue to have a long-term influence on people’s lives (Sommerfeldt et al.,
2012). It is an important vehicle for corporations to enter the cyberspace. Corporate websites, as important online platforms, are believed to promote corporate images, provide service, and interact with publics (M. Li & Gao, 2012). This section reviews related research on the functions of corporate websites, effectiveness of corporate websites, and corporate websites for public relations.
2.2.1 Functions of Corporate Websites
The essential objective of corporate websites is to build a positive online identity of the corporation and lead to good business with customers (Llopis, Gonzalez, & Gasco, 2010).
Although e-commerce is an important part for corporate websites, the primary function of corporate websites is not to sell a specific product or service (Gustavsen & Tilley, 2003).
There are various functions of corporate websites such as marketing, public relations, management, electronic business, and so on. Soto-Acosta and Merono-Cerdan (2008) stated that corporate websites represented corporate strategic intentions of utilizing websites to share information, improve service, communicate with publics, and facilitate transactions.
31 Corporations could use their websites to achieve various corporate goals, such as the establishment of a global internet identity, enlarged market scope, promotion of corporate service, and creation of commercial opportunities (Teo & Tan, 1998). Accordingly, plenty of research identify and analyze some specific applications of corporate websites, such as describing corporate strategy (Llopis et al., 2010), disclosing corporate performance
(Cormier et al., 2009), electronic commerce (Ennew, Lockett, Blackman, & Holland, 2005), and so on.
Among the numerous research on functions of corporate websites, the research of Jeremiah is significant and representative. He summarized corporate website functions into four aspects: (i) electronic commerce, (ii) control of information, (iii) disclosure of information, and (iv) reduction of communication expenses (Jeremiah, 1999).
(i) Electronic commerce. It is an important and valid function of corporate websites.
Transactions could occur directly between corporations and customers with the low transaction cost, which must reduce the cost of labors, distributors, and inventory management. Corporate websites can provide corporate marketers with a cost-efficient gateway to reach their global customers. Moreover, the direct and interactive communication between corporate marketers and customers can efficiently influence customers’ attitudes and performances (W. Shin & Huh, 2009). It is a very attractive function for customers to visit corporate websites.
32 (ii) Information control and gatekeeping. Corporate website is an important means for corporations to disseminate positive information and respond quickly to negative information to build a good corporate image. Through websites, corporations could express their opinions and collect public opinions to make some strategic changes. Corporate websites could work as important tools to promote corporate strategic communication and offer corporations the necessary means to communicate with publics (Llopis et al., 2010).
Heldal, Sjøvold, and Heldal (2004) further suggested that optimized communication through corporate websites could improve and develop sustainable relationships.
(iii) Information disclosure. Corporate website could be utilized to disclose corporate performance. Cormier et al. (2009) investigated Canadian largest publicly-traded firms’ websites and identified the utilization of corporate websites to disclose corporate performance. They pointed out that corporate website was an ideal platform to disclose business-related information, financial-related information, and social-related information.
Corporations can disclose important information on corporate websites, such as annual report, financial report, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. Both corporations and publics could benefit from the information disclosure.
(iv) Reduction of communication expenses. Jeremiah (1999) confirmed that various cost savings occurred during the dissemination of corporate information. For example, publics can read corporate annual reports through websites. Corporations can provide information services to customers through interactive functions of websites. Corporate website can be a
33 low-cost option and immediate tool for communication between corporations and customers.
According to the summary of Jeremiah (1999), corporate websites have various functions.
However, diverse functions get different attention from corporations. Connolly-Ahern and
Broadway (2007) stated that corporations paid more attention to image building than marketing, cost control, and disclosure on websites.
Numerous factors, such as corporate types, corporate scales, corporate emphases, could influence corporate utilization of corporate websites. Moreover, corporate utilization of corporate websites transforms as technologies and circumstances change. Heinze and Hu
(2006) found that the Standard & Poor’s 500 companies had significant transformation in website presence during 1997 to 2003. Their websites have become more interactive and informative to provide publics with more services. Heinze and Hu (2006) further claimed that large corporations paid more and more attention to the customer orientation in order to establish positive corporate images through websites. Building proper images has become important utilization of corporate websites.
There are numerous research on the functions of corporate websites during the early stage of corporate websites from a macroscopic view. Their research provide an important insight into corporate websites. It is beneficial for this research to explore corporations’ actual utilization of their websites. As the development of websites, researchers pay more and more attention to specific utilization of corporate websites, such as the effectiveness of corporate websites, which is reviewed in the next section.
34 2.2.2 Effectiveness of Corporate Websites
Building website is a valid means for corporation to enter and utilize internet (Soto-Acosta &
Merono-Cerdan, 2008). Adams et al. (2006) stated that corporations could utilize corporate websites to build corporate images and communicate with publics. Corporations can utilize websites to perform their strategic intentions through sharing information with stakeholders, facilitating transactions with customers, communicating with various publics, and improving corporate services.
Corporations can benefit from making full use of corporate websites in various ways. For instance, corporate websites are considered to be pivotal for e-business success (Y. Lee &
Kozar, 2009). It is a cost-efficient tool, which can assist corporations to reach publics all over the world. Corporations can introduce their products and services to people from different regions with limited cost. Corporate websites can also enhance the relationship between corporations and publics through direct, two-way communication (W. Shin & Huh,
2009). Furthermore, corporate websites as important online marketing platforms could play a significant role in corporate marketing (Vrontis, Ktoridou, & Melanthiou, 2007).
Owing to the importance of corporate websites, it is necessary for corporations to utilize websites effectively in the competitive environment. Hence, identifying key factors to promote websites effectiveness is a significant topic for academics. Based on different perspectives, various factors are indentified to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites, such as user satisfaction, user loyalty, information quality, and website design.
35 From the perspective of relationship management with customers, Heldal et al. (2004) proposed that usability, human computer interaction, and branding can promote optimal communication through corporate website. The improvement of these three fields is helpful for corporations to develop sustainable relationships with publics.
Based on two important criteria of reach and loyalty, Tarafdar and Zhang (2008) examined the performance and effectiveness of 190 corporate websites. They identified seven factors that could influence the two criteria. Usability, security, information content, and ease-of-navigation are crucial factors for reach. Security, customization, availability, and ease-of-navigation are determinants for loyalty. Considering these seven factors to design corporate websites is helpful to improve the performance and effectiveness of websites
(Tarafdar & Zhang, 2008).
Prominent among various research on this issue is the study of Soto-Acosta and
Merono-Cerdan (2008), which confirms three important orientations to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites. Table 2.1 shows these three orientations, namely informative orientation, relational orientation, and transactional orientation.
36 Table 2.1: Main orientations of corporate websites effectiveness
Content features Design and privacy features Contact methods Navigation Address Well-structured menus E-mail Site map Phone number Search function Use of multimedia Informative orientation Privacy Corporate/institutional information Privacy statement History Message from CEO Organizational charts Financial report Employment opportunities Commercial /service information Product /service description Product /service prices Relational orientation Client support Webmaster Internet chat Web forum Registration for newsletter Transactional orientation Online ordering Ordering by e-mail Ordering by electronic forum Electronic payment
Corporations can utilize informative orientation for corporate websites to disseminate corporate information. Publics are able to acquire information of corporate background
(employment information, financial reports, history, etc.) and product-related information
(prices, introduction of products, etc.) through corporate websites. The relational orientation enables corporations to utilize some applications of websites, such as e-mail or web forums, to achieve two-way conversations. These functions of websites can facilitate the information
37 exchange, collaboration, and relationship building. On the other hand, transactional orientation could promote corporations to involve electronic processes to fulfill the orders on corporate websites. Corporations can directly connect with website transactions through related web items.
Soto-Acosta and Merono-Cerdan (2008) also explored some design and privacy features of corporate websites. They proposed four variables to promote the design features of corporate websites: site map, well-structured menus, multimedia, and search engine. They finally confirmed one variable to enhance the privacy feature of website: privacy statement
(Soto-Acosta & Merono-Cerdan, 2008).
Compared with other research, the arguments of Soto-Acosta and Merono-Cerdan (2008) offer a more specific and practical means for corporations to utilize websites effectively.
With the improvement of related items, corporations could promote information quality, beneficial relations, and transaction efficiency of their websites. The effectiveness of corporate websites should then be greatly enhanced.
The research on the effectiveness of corporate websites mainly appeared in the beginning of this century. Similar research have significantly decreased in recent years, because scholars have been inclined to make research on specific utilization of corporate websites, such as dialogic public relations. Moreover, communication forms and tools of corporate websites have developed very fast. It is thus necessary to conduct a research on effective utilization of corporate websites. Base on former studies, this research aims to examine the practical
38 utilization of corporate websites for corporate communication and dialogic public relations.
It is beneficial for corporations to utilize corporate websites effectively.
2.2.3 Public Relations Through Corporate Websites
Corporate website is an important platform for public relations. Corporations could utilize corporate websites to build beneficial relationships with publics. This section reviews the utilization of internet and websites for public relations, the utilization of corporate websites for public relations, and practitioners’ perceptions of corporate websites for public relations.
2.2.3.1 Websites for Public Relations
The importance of internet for public relations was controversial during the early time of internet’s development (Lindic, 2006). However, internet has become an important tool for current public relations. As Newsom et al. (2000) claimed, “it is virtually impossible to practice effective public relations today without using the Internet” (p.399).
The recognition of internet for public relations could date back to the end of last century. M.
A. Johnson (1997) conducted an early research on this issue. She identified that public relations could benefit from internet in many aspects, such as news release, communication of organizational information, research on publics, and interactivity with publics. Due to her research outcome, the importance of internet for public relations has been increasingly acknowledged. Coombs (1998) identified some advantages of internet for public relations.
He proposed that internet provided a “low cost, direct, controllable communication channel”,
39 which could promote public relations practice and link organizations with publics effectively
(Coombs, 1998, p. 299). Similarly, Ebo Hinson (2011) emphasized that internet could timely disseminate information with a very low cost. Ki and Hon (2006) considered that internet technology performed as an important leveler, which could build new business relationships and enable public relations practitioners to move faster.
Websites represent a durable communication on internet (López & Ruiz, 2011). It is believed that organizations can benefit greatly from the utilization of websites to communicate with publics (Madichie & Hinson, 2014). Organizational websites can promote the public understanding of organizational products and services (Hyojung Park & Reber, 2008).
Moreover, different from traditional media, websites could set multiple sections and target various publics. As a result, websites could simultaneously meet public information needs to the greatest extent. From the view of public relations models, website is an excellent medium which enable the application of all four public relations models proposed by J. E. Grunig and
Hunt, especially, the ideal two-way symmetry model (Ingenhoff & Koelling, 2009).
With advanced technical characteristics, websites have become a suitable medium for public relations, especially for relationship management. Ki and Hon (2006) identified some advantages of websites for relationship building, such as multidimensional communication, through which publics could get more beneficial information with various forms. They further confirmed the “anywhere, anytime” characteristic of websites, which makes the communication and relationship building on websites globally available all the time.
40 2.2.3.2 Corporate Websites for Public Relations
Corporate public relations also benefits greatly from corporate websites. W. Shin and Huh
(2009) claimed that optimized communication through corporate websites could develop sustainable relationships. Hill and White (2000) identified various benefits of corporate websites for public relations, such as displaying corporate competitiveness, promoting media relations, reaching new publics, enhancing professional abilities, and relationship building.
There are numerous research on various usages of corporate websites for public relations, such as disseminating CSR contents (Capriotti & Moreno, 2007; Gomez & Chalmeta, 2011), creating corporate identity (Theunissen, 2014), cultivating relationship strategies (Ki & Hon,
2006; O’Neil, 2014), building media relations (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006; Pettigrew & Reber,
2011; Reber & Kim, 2006), building investor relations (AbuGhazaleh, Qasim, & Haddad,
2012), building customer relations (Heldal et al., 2004; Hong et al., 2010), managing public relations crisis (Capriotti, 2007; Merkelsen, 2011), and so on. Among these usages, the usages of corporate websites to disseminate CSR contents and build media relations are comparatively prominent. Furthermore, confirming key factors that influence corporations to utilize corporate websites for public relations is also an important research focus on this issue.
Corporate website is an ideal platform to disseminate CSR contents. Capriotti and Moreno
(2007) pointed out that the contents of CSR/SD/CC (corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, and corporate citizenship) were very important for corporations. It
41 is necessary for corporations to set a specific section with CSR/SD/CC contents on corporate websites. Capriotti and Moreno (2007) confirmed that there was an increasing importance of corporate websites as communication platforms for CSR contents. They also found that most sampled corporate websites focus on the presentation of information rather than interactivity with publics on this issue (Capriotti & Moreno, 2007). Scholars have acknowledged the importance of corporate websites in CSR practice. However, it seems that many corporations have their own ways to utilize websites to promote CSR. Esrock and Leichty (2000) found that although lots of corporations displayed CSR contents on their websites, most of them preferred to show corporate good deeds on CSR issue. Moreover, many corporations designed their websites rather straightforward—product information, corporate history, news releases, CSR claims, and so on. It seems that corporations should make more efforts to promote CSR communication on corporate websites.
Media relations management through corporate websites is another important research issue.
It is beneficial for corporations to make full use of corporate websites to meet journalists’ requirements and build proper media relations (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006; Pettigrew & Reber,
2011). S. T. Lee and Desai (2014) stated that traditional public relations for media relations needed to offer some information subsidies to journalists, such as news conference, and press release. In contrast, websites could provide sufficient information conveniently and build beneficial relationships with journalists. However, it seems that many corporations do not pay much attention to their websites to promote media relations. Alfonso and Miguel (2006) did an investigation on 120 corporate websites from 8 countries, and found that most
42 corporate websites failed to fully utilize the section of “media center” on websites, though it is important to build media relations. Pettigrew and Reber (2011) investigated some journalists’ opinions towards Fortune 500 company websites and found that the dialogic components of corporate websites were recognized and appreciated by many journalists.
However, distrust and manipulation still exist in the dialogic relationships between journalists and Fortune 500 companies.
Finally, research on factors that influence corporations to utilize websites for public relations have been conducted by some scholars. AbuGhazaleh et al. (2012) did an investigation on corporate websites in Jordan. They stated that re-branding the company was the key to promote website adoption. They also found that many corporations failed to utilize corporate websites for investor relations because of corporate attitudes and beliefs in management.
Some factors to promote public relations on corporate websites have been confirmed. For example, Heldal et al. (2004) suggested three factors (usability, human computer interaction, and branding) as efficient channels to optimize information on corporate websites for public relations. They further developed a model, which incorporates usability, human computer interaction, and branding, to promote beneficial relationship building through websites.
2.2.3.3 Practitioners’ Perceptions of Corporate Websites for Public Relations
Another important research focus on this issue is the perceptions of practitioners to use websites for public relations. It is believed that corporate websites significantly change the way of practitioners to disseminate information, interact with the public, and deal with crises
43 (Lindic, 2006). It is necessary and beneficial to make research on practitioners’ perceptions because their opinions could represent corporate practical utilization of websites. However, most of research are based on scholars’ understandings of corporate websites for public relations. The research on practitioners’ perceptions of using websites for public relations are still insufficient (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2010).
According to the research of Hill and White (2000), many public relations practitioners identify the importance of corporate websites for public relations. They believe corporate websites could work as a symbolic representation of organizational competitiveness and enhance organizational image. Ryan (2003) found that all respondents considered interactive communication on websites to be helpful and useful for public relations. Respondents considered that the most important contents on their websites were news releases, products and services, and investor information. Streaming video and photographs of products were also considered to be popular.
Some public relations practitioners doubt the important role of corporate websites for public relations. Some practitioners consider that the power of websites seems to be “potential” rather than “actual” in public relations (Sommerfeldt et al., 2012). Seltzer and Mitrook (2007) also found that there was a gap between the relationship–building potential of corporate websites and practitioners’ actual utilization. Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner (2010) tried to explain the gap through an investigation on public relations practitioners. He examined practitioners’ perceptions of utilizing public relations strategies through websites. The results
44 seemed disappointing because most practitioners failed to get enough organizational supports to promote public relations through their websites. The lack of organizational supports, such as training, resources, and staff, becomes an important barrier to inhibiting practitioners’ recognition and utilization of websites’ potential.
After thirteen interviews of practitioners, Sommerfeldt (2012) found that most public relations practitioners viewed their websites as secondary communication tools to supplement traditional public relations practices. In their opinions, communication on websites was rather passive. Practitioners usually considered websites as information storerooms instead of nascent OPRs building mechanisms. Most of public relations practitioners failed to make full use of websites to promote communication and public relations.
There seems to be a contradictory understanding and utilization of corporate websites between scholars and practitioners, whereby scholars confirm the importance of corporate websites for public relations, but practitioners do not consider websites as crucial tools of public relations (Madichie & Hinson, 2014). Some practitioners believe that corporate websites are beneficial for public relations. However, the effects of corporate websites are limited. It seems that the actual influence of corporate websites for public relations remains controversial. This research aims to explore the perceptions and performance of public relations practitioners towards corporate websites. As a result, the characteristics of corporate websites in promoting communication and public relations could be analyzed and
45 summarized. The research on public relations practitioners’ perceptions is beneficial to get a deeper understanding of this issue.
2.3 Public Relations in China
Although the history of Chinese public relations is a little more than thirty years, the Chinese public relations industry has a rapid development in the opening-up and transformation of the country. Unlike western public relations, China’s public relations, which has been influenced by Chinese culture and values, has its own characteristics and operational manners. This section reviews the evolution of public relations in China, outlines the status of current Chinese public relations, and summarizes Chinese cultural factors influencing its public relations. It is beneficial to better understand the characteristics of Chinese public relations to provide necessary reference for the analysis on Chinese corporate public relations practice.
2.3.1 The Evolution of Public Relations in China
Public relations was introduced to China in the late 1970s when China began to transform its political and economic systems and open up to the world (Hou, Zhu, & Bromley, 2013).
Public relations, which was considered as a western new concept and advanced practice, started to attract some Chinese scholars and practitioners’ attention. Public relations was initially practiced in foreign corporations and Sino-foreign joint ventures in China. The first public relations department of local organizations appeared in 1984 in a state-owned
46 corporation, Bai Yunshan, a pharmaceutical factory of Guangzhou (Rui, 2009). The spread of public relations practice in China could be well described by the Rogers (2010) diffusion model. Public relations initially appeared in some southern coastal cities like Guangzhou and
Shenzhen, most of which are special economic zones of China. Later, public relations diffused to the commercial and government capitals (like Shanghai and Beijing), and finally to some conservative inland regions (N. Chen, 1996).
Since 1980s, Public relations has been a popular issue attracting more interests in China.
However, in that period the essence and characteristic of public relations was always misunderstood by the public. With a pragmatic attitude, plenty of publics considered and utilized public relations practice as substitutes for interpersonal network building—“guanxi”, which means “establishing connections, creating obligations and favors among interactants, and enjoying privileges through relationships”(N. Chen & Culbertson, 2009, p. 280). The profession of public relations was stereotypically viewed as a charming job because some of the early practitioners were young and pretty females staff, also called “Ms. PR”, who played the role of guest relations to accompany and entertain the guests or clients (N. Chen, 2009).
At that time, public relations, to some extent, was vulgarized and viewed as some illegal means to build “guanxi”, such as bribery. Organizational public relations practice always focused on specific affairs without strategic planning and management. The target audiences of public relations were always powerful government officers or important customers rather than the public (Fang, 1990). Although some Chinese public relations research sought to clarify the characteristics of public relations through translating western public relations
47 books and articles, the effects were still insufficient.
After a period of reflections and decline in the early 1990s, Chinese public relations practice grew once again and had gradually matured with the development of China’s society and economy. Globalization has also promoted the development of public relations in China. The practices of international public relations agencies and multinational companies have advanced the public relations level in China (Hung & Chen, 2004). Corporate public relations became especially significant in China as Chinese corporations stated to face much wider markets and customers in the transformation to market economy. Public relations, which was initially viewed as a new management method and valid communication skill, has received more and more corporate attention as the focus turned to building proper relationships with consumers.
On the other hand, public relations practice of the Chinese government lagged behind those of the corporate sector because of its slow transformation of political system and government functions (Cheng, 2007). However, two major events promoted the level of Chinese government public relations. In 2002, Hill & Knowlton, a global public relations firm, effectively assisted the Chinese government to bid in the campaign to host the 2008 summer
Olympics Games. Beijing won the selection and became the host city for the Game. The second event was the SARS epidemics crisis in 2003. The Chinese government managed to pacify the panicky publics through effective communication and the establishment of a spokesperson system. Since then the system had been institutionalized at most levels of
48 Chinese governments (Hou et al., 2013). The Chinese government began to set some special departments, such as publicity department and information department, to conduct public relations. However, profit-making organizations remain the largest group of users and market of public relations in China (Hu, 2013).
Main reasons for the revitalization of Chinese public relations are: first, Chinese governments and corporations relied more on public relations in response to public pressure for transparency. Second, media relations has become an important issue for both Chinese governments and corporations, especially when challenges were brought to organizations by new media. Third, internationalization has caused Chinese governments and corporations to consider image building and relationship cultivation through public relations (N. Chen,
2009).
2.3.2 Current Public Relations Status in China
The prosperity of the Chinese economy has promoted the rapid development of public relations. The total business turnover of Chinese public relations has increased from 2 billion to 30.3 billion between 2001 and 2012 (Hu, 2013). The development of Chinese public relations industry has enhanced the level of professionalism among practitioners (Chmielecki,
2012). Public relations practices have gained a more strategic position in the Chinese society.
Hung and Chen (2004) stated that media promotion, public relations campaigns, and integrated marketing communication were some frequent practices of Chinese public relations. Hu (2013) summarized the main influence and utilization of public relations in
49 China and pointed out that public relations was applied, as a management function, to manage various relationships, such as media relations, consumer relations, investor relations, employee relations, government relations, and so on. He further claimed that public relations could act as a marketing tool to promote integrated marketing with advertisements and promotions. Public relations practices are effective to build organizational images and create beneficial environment for organizational development.
A large number of Chinese public relations practitioners have held on to a pragmatic approach to conducting public relations. They have highlighted the management of public perceptions through skillful news publicity and media communication. Although the existence of truth was acknowledged, many practitioners emphasized the important role of communication strategy to achieve organizational goals (Hou et al., 2013). Practitioners’ pragmatic position led to some prominent characteristics of Chinese public relations. For example, crisis management became a salient issue in Chinese public relations practices.
Both multinational public relations agencies and local public relations companies have expanded the function of risk communication and crisis management to meet social requirements. Some public relations practitioners deal with organizational crisis by blocking negative information, such as the deletion of internet posts. Consequentially, the credibility of Chinese public relations was sometimes questioned and undermined.
Chinese public relations research have widely introduced the mainstream western public relations theories and models, such as J. E. Grunig and Hunt's (1984) four public relations
50 models (press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetry, and two-way symmetry) and excellence theory (J. E. Grunig & Grunig, 1992). The localization of western public relations theories are still in process. With the views of popular western theories, some researchers analyzed Chinese public relations industry and produced some significant findings. After an investigation on Chinese public relations practitioners, Meng (2007) found that the model of press agentry was the most frequently used model for Chinese public relations. This is because media, which can effectively influence public attitudes, is crucial to the success of public relations programs. Some Chinese practitioners relied on the press agentry and two-way asymmetry model to conduct public relations. The ideal two-way symmetry model was viewed as unrealistic by some practitioners. N. Chen (2008) also found that although there was some two-way communication in Chinese corporations, the communication effects were still asymmetrical and unbalanced. The public relations practice, to some extent, sought to attain organizational objectives as the core purpose. The pragmatic direction remained significant in Chinese public relations.
Corporate public relations is still the focus of Chinese public relations industry (Lu, 2012).
Many corporations view public relations as the instrument for corporate marketing, branding, and profit making (Hou et al., 2013). Some practitioners made efforts to change their corporate leaders’ perception of public relations from a marketing instrument to a communication management vehicle. However, the effects seemed limited because the majority of public relations departments were marginalized in corporations. Sriramesh,
Grunig, and Buffington (2013) claimed that public relations practitioners could have great
51 impacts on decision-making only when they were included in organizations’ dominant coalition. In most case, public relations practitioners were not part of the dominant coalition and just implemented decisions about public relations rather than make the decisions. It is a similar situation for Chinese corporations. N. Chen (2008) found that few public relations executives were policy makers in Chinese corporations. Most public relations practitioners acted as communication strategists or technicians. The distinction between policy makers and communication strategist or managers was a determinant factor to influence the effects of corporate public relations and strategic communication.
Despite a rapid development of Chinese public relations industry, practitioners’ perceptions and practices of public relations still need to be improved. The pragmatic orientation is prominent in Chinese public relations industry, which has led to some social problems and has influenced the credibility of Chinese public relations. Corporate public relations is the focus of Chinese public relations industry, however, most corporate public relations practitioners are not part of corporate dominant coalition. It appears that Chinese public relations needs more time to become truly mature.
2.3.3 Chinese Culture and Public Relations
The internationalization trend of Chinese public relations has become more and more apparent in both Chinese public relations companies and Chinese public relations business services (Rui, 2009). Although most of Chinese practitioners conduct public relations with the international universal standard, it cannot be denied that Chinese culture has some deep
52 influences on Chinese public relations. Identifying the impacts of Chinese culture on public relations practices is beneficial to the understanding of the Chinese characteristic public relations, as well as providing a reference for the glocalization of international corporations.
China is a country with a long history and a great variety of cultural traditions, which still play important roles in contemporary society. The unique features of Chinese culture partly come from Confucianism, which is not a religion but a set of some pragmatic values to guide
Chinese daily lives. The aim of Confucian value is to produce social harmony (Hung & Chen,
2004). Confucianism highlights interpersonal relationships, individual moral cultivation, loyalty to one’s group, and perfect personality (Q. Yang, 1997). Based on Confucian value, there are two prominent Chinese cultural features that are closely related with public perceptions and practice of Chinese public relations, namely guanxi and harmony (Hou et al.,
2013).
To some extent, China is a guanxi-rooted society. Guanxi, a Chinese vocabulary, is an important representation of Chinese collectivism and distinct from relationship. N. Chen and
Culbertson (2009) considered guanxi as individual network of social connections and friendship, which is necessary for social life. Guanxi stems from preexisting kinships, such as relatives, friends, fellow-villagers, classmates, and so on. Obligations and favors are confirmed by specific guanxi. Through repeated exchange of favors, guanxi always leads to trust between individuals (N. Chen, 1996). As a special type of personal relationships, guanxi is necessary for individuals and organizations. For example, Chinese prefer transactions
53 between acquaintances on a personal level. They cannot easily accept purely business dealings. Chinese Confucian culture distinguishes in-group and out-group members significantly through guanxi. As a result, it is difficult to build new relationships with out-group members quickly. In China, guanxi is so important that people can hardly get anything done without necessary connections of guanxi.
Guanxi is a prominent feature of Chinese culture, however, it brings about some challenges for public relations practice. Organizations need to build guanxi of trust before they enter a business or a deal, which cannot be easily understood and accepted by efficiency-oriented westerners (N. Chen & Culbertson, 2009). Guanxi building is an important part in Chinese public relations practice. Many practitioners believe it is helpful and justifiable to build guanxi before entering a business process. Guanxi building is thus considered to be legitimate for public relations practices (Hou et al., 2013). Therefore, human touch and interpersonal relationships seem to be the important basis for public relations in Chinese culture. Hung and Chen (2004) further pointed out that the major function of Chinese public relations was to establish and cultivate guanxi. With the unique feature of Chinese culture, building interpersonal and interorganizational guanxi was more important and required than that in the West.
However, the traditional guanxi sometimes has a negative implication, which includes unethical means to build relationships. Chinese public relations practitioners need to rethink how to manage guanxi ethically and transcend from the focus on guanxi and conduct
54 effective relationship management (Y. -H. Huang, 2000). M.-J. Chen (2001) also suggested that Chinese public relations should modify the practice of guanxi, and adopt western standards to recognize the concept of relationship. The transformation from guanxi building to relationship management is still an important issue for Chinese public relations.
Chinese culture aims to build and maintain social harmony, which implies the harmonious interpersonal relationships and the harmony with nature. Chinese people always try their best to keep social harmony, because chaos will come when harmony is damaged (K. S. Yang,
1992). The harmony in Chinese culture is embodied in the coexistence of similarities and differences. Harmony allows disagreement, debate, and resistance. However, harmony does not mean naive conformity but constructive criticism. It is the result of the acceptance of commonalities and conflicts (Zhang, 2010). At present, building a harmonious society is also one of the most important goals of current Chinese government. Harmonious society means not only to develop but also to be stable and concordant. The risk and crisis could be resolved through dialogues (Hu, 2013).
Harmony, which accepts the conflicting logics of traditional cultural values and market competition, is thus especially important for Chinese public relations. Hou et al. (2013) proposed that Chinese public relations reflected a multidimensional, evolving practice that includes marketing competition and harmony-based guanxi. Chinese practitioners usually practice public relations according to universal western standard and process. Meanwhile, they retain Chinese characteristics to adapt to social environment. Most of practitioners aim
55 to build proper organizational images and cultivate harmonious social relationships through seeking common ground with the public. Although they can allow disagreement or difference, debate and conflict are always avoided in order to keep harmonious. The value of
Confucian harmony does not devote to pursue extreme but encourage moderation, "follow the middle way" (Bond, 1993). Accordingly, China public relations practitioners consider harmony as an important professional goal and transform moderation into actual practice.
The cultural focus on harmony is a significant difference between Chinese public relations and western public relations.
Lei (2016) stated that Chinese public relations should be localized with Chinese traditional culture. Chinese public relations practices need to absorb advanced theories and concepts of western public relations and transform these ideas into local practice with Chinese culture values. The establishment of China’s standards is crucial for the development of local public relations.
Overall, Chinese public relations has a rapid development within China’s reformed society.
Although misunderstood in the past, currently Chinese public relations industry has become more professional and international. Public relations practices have gained a more strategic position in Chinese society. In practicing public relations, Chinese practitioners always adhere to a pragmatic position, which can be problematic at times. Corporate public relations is the focus of Chinese public relations industry, in spite of the fact that most corporate public departments are excluded from the dominant coalition. Chinese culture has a deeper
56 influence on local public relations. Chinese public relations should build its own standards by adapting western public relations ideas with Chinese culture.
2.4 Related Research on Corporate Websites in China
As mentioned above, there are numerous research on corporate websites with various topics from the international academics. There are some similar topics in Chinese research. For instance, many Chinese research have identified the important role of corporate websites and confirmed some key features to promote the effectiveness of websites. However, the focus of
Chinese research on corporate websites is mainly on marketing, which seems a pragmatic approach to the utilization of corporate websites. Research on public relations, especially dialogic public relations through corporate websites, is very limited in China. Owing to the different focuses on corporate websites research, it is necessary to review Chinese related research on corporate websites. As a result, the emphasis and shortage of Chinese research could be outlined.
2.4.1 Importance and Effectiveness of Corporate Websites
In China, numerous research have identified the importance of corporate websites.
Corporations can utilize websites to achieve various goals, such as enhancing corporate reputation, collecting customer opinions, promoting corporate marketing, and improving corporate services (G. Chen, 2010; Deng & Yang, 2008; Wang, 2008; Zhong et al., 2009).
Many scholars summarized the specific utilization of corporate websites qualitatively.
57 Deng and Yang (2008) believed that corporate website was an ideal platform for communication with customers, image building, and introduction of product. Wang (2008) further pointed out that corporate websites have played an important role in such fields as market promoting, raw material purchasing, and personnel recruiting. He also summed up the functions of corporate websites into seven aspects, which include market research, products and services display, distribution channel expansion, advertisement and brand promotion, public relations, the creation of corporate image, and customer service.
Among numerous arguments on corporate websites functions, dissemination of corporate information is considered to be one of the most important function of corporate websites (X.
Zhang, 2009). Z. Chen (2009) stated that Chinese corporate websites mainly had three functions: business card—display of corporate information; propaganda function—corporate image building, and e-business. Meanwhile, many other Chinese scholars suggested that corporate websites should provide more customizable and useful information to satisfy customers (G. Chen, 2010; Shi, 2012; Yimin Zheng & Guan, 2008). It seems that the dissemination of corporate information is more important than relationship management on corporate websites.
Although there are different viewpoints of corporate websites’ functions, the importance of corporate websites is widely accepted in Chinese research (G. Chen, 2010; Deng & Yang,
2008; Shi, 2012; X. Zhang, 2009). Many research aim to confirm key factors to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites. Based on different perspectives, some Chinese scholars
58 have proposed various factors.
With the view of customer’s satisfaction, Yimin Zheng and Guan (2008) pointed out that corporate website should be a proper communication platform and a convenient transaction platform for customers. They believed that corporate website could work as a satisfactory communication platform through high-quality information, convenient navigation, beautiful website design, and valid interactive service. Meanwhile, corporate website, as an effective transaction platform, can benefit from easy ordering system, abundant products choice, safe transaction environment, immediate customer service, and customized marketing.
From the perspective of image design, L. Zhang (2009) did some analysis on corporate websites. She proposed some important design items such as website layout, sufficient information, loading speed, adequate graphs, readability of content, and privacy statement.
Corporate websites can benefit from the efficient utilization of these items.
M. Yang and Zhuang (2009) summarized some previous research and proposed six factors to promote the effectiveness of corporate website: content (such as quantity of website pages, relevant information, frequent update, credibility, etc.); service (quality of service, response to customers’ requirement, etc.); e-commerce function (such as online transaction system, display of products, online payment, etc.); ease of use (such as website structure and information category, site map, search engine, etc.); and technique and efficiency (such as download speed, safety and privacy, etc.). According to their argument, corporations can promote the effectiveness of corporate websites through improving related factors.
59 Although plenty of Chinese research have summarized factors to promote effectiveness of corporate websites, most of them were subjective and lacked quantitative identification.
Moreover, most research cannot connect with each other to form a research stream on this issue. The lack of prominent research on this issue influences the overall exploration on corporate websites’ effectiveness.
2.4.2 Corporate Websites and Marketing
Marketing is an important focus for Chinese corporations to utilize corporate websites.
Research on marketing is one of the most popular issues of corporate websites in China.
Scholars are mostly interested in analyzing the status and providing advices for marketing on corporate websites (J. Liu, 2007; Teng, 2011; Wei, 2010; Xiao & Ji, 2011).
The important role of corporate websites for marketing is extensively acknowledged in
Chinese research. For instance, Wei (2010) stated that corporate website was one of the most important tools for marketing. She proposed some specific methods for corporate website to promote marketing, such as satisfying customers’ requirement and creating an ideal online environment.
Among various research on marketing, the research of Xiao and Ji (2011) is representative.
They firstly analyzed current shortages of marketing through corporate websites in China, then summarized five main problems: lack of explicit purpose to build corporate website, confusing website contents without frequent update, insufficient brand communication,
60 overemphasizing technique, and limited visits to website. To solve these problems, they suggested that corporate websites should pay attention to consumer-oriented information and emphasized customers’ involvements and experiences in experiential marketing. They believed that corporations should utilize corporate websites to meet users’ requirements, improve users’ experience, and attract users to visit websites. In this way, marketing on corporate websites could be effectively improved. Similarly, J. Liu (2007) and Teng (2011) also analyzed the shortages of Chinese corporate e-marketing through website and suggested some solution strategies from a macroscopic level.
Different from the many macroscopical arguments on marketing, R. Zheng (2007) focused on the specific interactive features of corporate websites that could promote marketing, and stated that many corporate websites did not play an important role in marketing. One important reason was that numerous corporate websites mainly provided information dissemination services rather than interactive services. Interactivity is a key factor to promote corporate marketing through websites. Online interactivity can promote corporations to provide more customer-oriented products and customized marketing services.
However, most corporations failed to realize the value of online interactivity for marketing.
It is necessary to examine the application of corporate websites in promoting corporate marketing. However, many Chinese research tend to employ a macroscopical angle to summarize the characteristics of marketing through corporate websites. These researchers proposed some countermeasures, which lacked specific dimensions to operate. Moreover,
61 there are more than enough research focusing on marketing through corporate websites. This focus narrows the research scope on corporate websites. After all, there are various research topics on communication through corporate websites. It seems that many Chinese research select a pragmatic approach to analyzing the shortages of marketing through websites in order to propose some beneficial solutions for corporations.
2.4.3 Corporate Websites and Public Relations
Compared with the popularity of the research on corporate websites marketing, research about online public relations are less prevalent in China. However, there is a general consensus that internet has many advantages to facilitate public relations, such as immediate communication, various forms, and comprehensive participation (He, 2008; Y. Liu & Ma,
2009; Sun et al., 2011; Zhong et al., 2009).
For example, He (2008) stated that online public relations provided a new channel for organizations to build relationships with publics. Sun et al. (2011) proposed some suggestions for corporations to promote online public relations, such as construction of corporate websites, utilization of corporate micro blogs, and online crisis management.
Although the advantages of new technology in facilitating public relations are extensively accepted, most related research have focused on public relations through internet rather than websites.
62 A few research have identified the advantages of corporate websites for public relations. Yao
(2004) claimed that online relationship building was the tendency of modern public relations.
Corporations can utilize corporate websites to promote their images. There are two advantages: dynamics (corporations can update websites’ contents at any time) and interactivity (corporations can communicate interactively with publics through corporate websites). Jing (2011) claimed that a corporate website was an ideal medium for corporations to communicate with publics. Corporations could utilize the advanced functions of websites to achieve their public relations goals.
The research on specific utilization of corporate websites for public relations is still insufficient. Among the limited research, some scholars considered the interactive feature of websites as an important advantage to facilitate public relations (He, 2008; Sun et al., 2011;
X. Yang & Tian, 2006). Interactivity is beneficial for direct communication between corporations and publics. As a result, it can significantly enhance the satisfaction of website users and promote corporate public relations (X. Yang & Tian, 2006).
Dialogue remains a new issue for Chinese public relations research. In fact, Chinese researchers usually confuse dialogue with interactivity (Yimin Zheng & Guan, 2008). The term “interactivity” attracts more attention and always includes the meaning of dialogue.
This research only finds three studies on dialogic public relations in China. Hu (2007) considered dialogue as “meta-reason” for public relations and discussed the inevitability of dialogue paradigm from a philosophical angle. In another study, Hu claimed that the
63 essential purpose of public relations was dialogue. In his opinion, public relations has three value premises: community spirit, mutual benefits, and non-confrontational cooperation (Hu,
2008). Hu’s research provided a beneficial conceptual approach to dialogic public relations from the views of philosophy and logic.
The research of Jiang (2006) is the only one found to utilize Kent and Taylor ’s (1998) principles (i.e., ease of interface, usefulness of information, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop) to analyze dialogic public relations through corporate websites. In her thesis, she focused on the role of culture in corporate websites design and contents to promote online relationship building. Cultural values approach and relational approach are employed as theoretical framework to compare the similarities and differences in relationship building of Chinese corporate websites and American corporate websites. Her research clarified the influence of culture in corporate websites for relationship building and offered corporations some strategies to utilize websites to promote public relations. The study of Jiang (2006) is quite significant for Chinese public relations practice and provides some useful ideas for this research.
It is obvious that dialogic public relations in China remains a new research area where very limited research exist. Dialogic value of corporate websites remains potential rather than actual. It is necessary and valuable to make research on this issue to promote dialogic relationship building on corporate websites.
64 Overall, the importance of corporate websites is extensively acknowledged in Chinese research. Numerous research have proposed some key factors to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites. Marketing has become the focus of corporate website research in China.
However, most Chinese researchers qualitatively analyzed corporate websites with a macroscopical angle, which lacks empirical identification and specific dimensions. Public relations, especially dialogic public relations through corporate websites, remains a new research area, where limited research are found.
2.5 Theoretical Framework
This section provides an overview of the conceptual framework. This research mainly adopts the perspective of two-way symmetrical public relations, the relationship management theory, and the dialogic public relations theory to examine dialogic public relations practice through
Chinese manufacturing corporate websites. Meanwhile, the personal influence theory and the situational theory are also added as supplement to explore corporate specific efforts to promote relationship building with publics. This section thus consists of five components: (i) two-way symmetrical public relations, (ii) personal influence theory, (iii) relationship management theory, (iv) dialogic public relations theory, and (v) situational theory. These theories provide fundamental insights on the organization-public relationships (OPRs) building through two-way dialogues on corporate websites. The main outline of the research framework is shown in figure 2.1below.
65 Two-way symmetrical Relationship management Dialogic public public relations relations
Characteristics of Characteristics of Dialogic characteristics corporate websites in corporate websites in of corporate websites in promoting addressing various facilitating dialogic communication and publics relationship building public relations
Effective dialogic strategies for corporate websites
Figure 2.1: Outline of research framework
The two-way symmetry model of public relations is employed to examine the characteristics of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations. Based on the two-way symmetrical perspective, public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards dialogic public relations are also assessed. The relationship management theory offers this research a fundamental perspective, with which corporate public relations practice can be explored. Furthermore, some relationship cultivation strategies are utilized to inspect corporate efforts to build relationships with specific publics through websites. The dialogic public relations theory provides an essential perspective to examine corporate dialogic public relations practice through websites. Kent and Taylor’s
66 (1998) dialogic principles are adopted to examine the content features and design features of websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building. With the perspective of dialogue tenets, public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of webbed dialogues can be further analyzed.
In addition, the personal influence theory and the situational theory are supplemented to examine corporate specific efforts to promote relationship building with publics. The personal influence theory provides a beneficial perspective to explore Chinese public practitioners’ practice with Chinese guanxi characteristics. The situational theory is very meaningful for corporations to promote publics’ information behaviors. With the implications of the situational theory, this research can examine corporate efforts to address the needs of targeted publics and transform general people into active publics of corporate websites. Based on the findings from these theories, this research proposes some effective strategies to promote corporate dialogic relationship building on corporate websites.
2.5.1 Two-Way Symmetrical Public Relations
This section discusses two-way symmetrical public relations to get an understanding of the forms of public relations. It is useful to analyze the essential characteristics of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations. The discussion firstly introduces the four models of public relations, then discusses the advantages of two-way symmetry model.
67 The models of public relations, especially the two-way symmetry model, have become popular research topics in 1980’s when J. E. Grunig and Hunt proposed the four models of public relations in their book Managing Public Relations. Since then, the perspective of public relations models has been viewed as one of the most dominant theories in public relations development (Laskin, 2009). The models of public relations describe the essential ideas of public relations and demonstrate how they link to each other. Botan and Hazleton
(2006) pointed out that “a leading body of work has developed around Symmetry/Excellence
Theory, which has probably done more to develop public relations theory and scholarship than any other single school of thought” (p.6).
In fact, the roots of public relations models could date back to J. E. Grunig’s research in
1976. J. E. Grunig (1976) analyzed various tactics in public relations and classified them into two groups of synchronic and diachronic communication. Organizations could utilize synchronic communication to synchronize publics with organizational needs. Diachronic communication is utilized to seek solutions that are beneficial for both organizations and publics by creating dialogues. In 1984, the synchronic/diachronic dichotomy was replaced by asymmetrical/symmetrical dimension because J. E. Grunig considered the concepts of
“asymmetrical” and “symmetrical” to be more precise (Laskin, 2009).
In 1984, J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) made a definition of public relations from a managerial perspective. They considered public relations as “management of communication between an organization and its publics” (p. 6). The definition has become the foundation of
68 building public relations models. Through analyzing the historical evolution of public relations, J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) proposed four models of public relations, which described the four different forms of public relations between organizations and publics. The four models of public relations, namely press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetry, and two-way symmetry, are mainly based on two dichotomous dimensions: direction (one-way vs. two-way), and balance of intended effects (asymmetrical vs. symmetrical). The main characteristics of four models are shown in table 2.2 below.
Table 2.2: Four Models of Public Relations (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984)
Public Two-way Two-way Press agentry information asymmetry symmetry Dissemination Scientific Mutual Purpose Propaganda of information persuasion understanding Communication One-way One-way Two-way Two-way type Communication Complete truth Imbalanced Truth important Balanced effects nature not essential effects Little; Formative; Formative; Research Little; reliability “counting evaluative of evaluative of nature readership house” attitudes understanding
First, the press agentry model is a one-way model, which may be the oldest form of public relations. For this model, truth is not important. Public relations is equal to promotions or publicity. Under this model, public relations practitioners seek all possible ways to get public attention and promote their organizations in the media. Organizations usually make research about their publics. The dissemination of information may be used manipulatively to the public. Persuasion is also used to influence publics to behave as organizations desire.
69 Second, the public information model also takes a one-way approach from organizations to the public. Different from press agentry, the purpose of public information is to inform rather than to promote or publicize. J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) described this model by saying that: “The public relation person functions essentially as a journalist in residence, whose job it is to report objectively information about his organization to the public” (p. 22). The public information is based on truthful but usually favorable organizational information. Few research is done about organizational publics beyond testing the information clarity.
Third, the two-way asymmetry model employs a two-way approach, with which public relations practitioners both talk and listen. However, organizations gather public information for organizational benefits. The main purpose of this model is scientific persuasion. “They
(public relations practitioners) use what is known from social science theory and research about attitudes and behavior to persuade publics to accept the organization’s point of view and to behave in a way that supports the organization” (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984, p. 22).
Some research are employed to measure OPRs, as a result of which organizations could adjust their programs to attain public supports.
The last one is the two-way symmetry model, which also employs a two-way approach. In contrast to the two-way asymmetry model, the goal of the two-way symmetry is to attain a mutual understanding rather than persuasion or manipulation. J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) described this model as the utilization of communication to negotiate with publics, resolve contradiction, and facilitate mutual understanding between organizations and publics. They
70 believed this model could balance “self-interests with the interest of others in a give-and-take process that can waver between advocacy and collaboration” (J. E. Grunig, 2001, p. 28).
Through open dialogues, both organizations and publics need to adjust to each other. As a result, a compromise or solution that could benefit both parties may appear. Some social science research methods are employed to attain mutual understanding rather than persuasion.
The four models of public relations, which shift away from propaganda and persuasion, are considered as an important milestone of public relations development (Waddington, 2012).
The first three models represent the public relations performance to achieve organizational goals through persuasion. However, the fourth model, namely the two-way symmetry model, attempts to balance self-interests and public interests. Therefore, it is regarded as the most ethical model. The two-way symmetry model has been extensively accepted as an ideal approach in public relations. There are mainly two advantages of the two-way symmetry model.
First, the two-way symmetry model makes public relations more effective through the balance of interest. The two-way symmetry model as a form of two-way communication could facilitate information exchange. In addition, it could perform as an ideal way to balance the positions of both organizations and publics. This model is beneficial to form a symmetrical process rather than manipulation or persuasion. The basic idea of symmetry is that public relations should surmount the advocacy of self-interest and balance self-interest
71 and others’ interest. During the give-and-take process of balance, organizations would waver between advocacy and collaboration. As a result, a win–win orientation could become the goal of public relations (Reber & Kim, 2006). Just as Theunissen and Noordin (2012) stated, the two-way symmetry model, which is the progression of the two-way asymmetry model, is more balanced and therefore more beneficial to all.
J. E. Grunig (1989b) believed that organizations could communicate with publics symmetrically with the balance of advocacy and accommodation. As a result, mutual change and acceptance in ideas, attitudes and behaviors could come out as the outcome. In the IABC
(International Association of Business Communicators) Excellence Project of public relations during the 1980s, the research team confirmed the effects of two-way symmetry model for relationship building. They found that the utilization of two-way symmetry model would more likely lead to long-term relationship with trust and mutual understanding (J. E.
Grunig, 2001). Cancel, Cameron, Sallot, and Mitrook (1997) also considered two-way symmetry model as the most effective normative model in most situations.
Second, the two-way symmetry model is a more ethical communication ideal. This model implies that public relations should ‘‘serve the public interest, develops mutual understanding between organizations and their publics, contributes to informed debate about issues in society, and facilitate dialogue and collaboration between organization and their publics’’ (J. E. Grunig, 2000, p. 9). Different from one-way persuasion, two-way symmetry model offers forums for discussion, dialogue, and discourse, through which both
72 organizations and publics would change somewhat after some public relations efforts
(Merkelsen, 2011). All parties are equally involved to resolve problems or conflicts, which is more ethical than organizational one-way performance to gain compliance. J. E. Grunig
(2001) stated that the two-way symmetry model was the most ethical model due to the extensive involvement of all groups to solve problems.
In contrast, the other three models have obvious weaknesses in ethics. They cannot recognize the interdependence between organizations and publics. The press agentry model seeks to manipulate public attitudes and behaviors through one-way persuasion. The public information model communicates accurate but selected organizational information without some negative messages. Although the two-way asymmetry model employs a two-way approach, the aim of this model is to gather public feedbacks and adjust communication tactics for scientific persuasion. In comparison, the two-way symmetry model is more ethical and beneficial to all. As stated by Podnar and Golob (2009), public relations should be about more understanding and less persuasion.
It has been more than thirty years since J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984) proposed the four models of public relations. The four models, especially the two-way symmetry model, have been extensively utilized in various studies. Waters and Jamal (2011) believed that the two-way symmetry model developed public relations in practitioners’ professionalism and public relations specializations. However, the two-way symmetry model is also very controversial. Some scholars argued that the two-way symmetry model was a utopian idea,
73 which no large and powerful organizations would like to use. Some others doubted the practicality and attainability of this model. Practitioners could not actually use it in real practice (Laskin, 2009). Dover (1995) also considered the two-way symmetry model as a pure academic concept which failed to take place in practical public relations.
Facing such doubts, J. E. Grunig claimed that the two-way symmetry model was a normative idea rather than a positive idea. In his opinion, a normative model implies how public relations should be performed, while a positive model describes how public relations is performed (J. E. Grunig, 2001). Waddington (2012) also considered that J. E. Grunig intended to set a model that how public relations should be practiced. It is not the fault of the two-way symmetry model itself. He pointed out that few organizations truly utilized two-way symmetry communication. One-way or imbalanced two-way asymmetry models were still important and practiced in real public relations. However, as stated by J. E. Grunig, when a normative theory is practiced positively, it will add support to its practicality (J. E.
Grunig, 2001).
In the practical sense, although the weakness of asymmetrical models has been well acknowledged, insufficient changes have taken place in practical public relations (Laskin,
2009). In the Excellence Project of public relations, it is found that the press agentry model is the most common public relations form in many organizations. The two-way symmetry model and two-way asymmetry model, however, do not show up as the dominant forms (J. E.
Grunig & Grunig, 1992). Theunissen and Noordin (2012) also found that control still
74 persisted when organizations used social media for public relations. J. E. Grunig (2001) admitted that organizations could practice every model based on conditions and effectiveness.
However, he argued that the utilization of the two-way symmetry model or the mixed-motive model (a combination of the two-way asymmetry and two-way symmetry models) can improve public relations and promote organizational effectiveness.
In recent years, the four models of public relations have fall out of favors with scholars. Few research have been carried out to incorporate public relations models into web communication. However, the four models, especially the two-way symmetry model, still provide an important perspective to explore public relations. As stated by Waters and Jamal
(2011), the utilization of public relations models is helpful to understand the way organizational communication contribute to relationship building. They further indicated that public relations models might reveal the insights of organizational efforts for relationship building on websites.
Based on the discussions above, this study employs the perspective of public relations models, especially the two-way symmetry model, to examine corporate public relations practice through websites. The perspective of public relations models is still an important theoretical approach. Just as the authors of Excellence Project suggested, “We did find that the four models still provide an accurate and useful tool to describe public relations practice and worldview” (L. A. Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier, 2002, p. 377).
75 2.5.2 Personal Influence Theory
This section discusses the personal influence theory, which highlights the importance of personal network in public relations. This is especially important for Chinese public relations practice, which are influenced by Chinese culture characteristics. Thus, the discussion of the personal influence theory is especially practical and meaningful for this research. This section introduces the development and implications of the personal influence theory, followed by a discussion about this theory as applied to Chinese public relations.
2.5.2.1 The Development and Implications of the Personal Influence Theory
As mentioned in the section of two-way symmetrical public relations, scholars have identified and confirmed the importance of public relations models, especially the two-way symmetry model. Public relations practitioners and departments should emphasize and apply the two-way symmetry model in their practice to build beneficial relationships with publics.
However, some scholars argued that public relations models were initially confirmed and studied in western countries, but may not exist in various organizations in other cultures.
Public relations practitioners in other cultures may have a completely different model of practice (J. E. Grunig, Grunig, Sriramesh, Huang, & Lyra, 1995).
In order to confirm public relations models in different cultures, some research were conducted in non-western countries. J. E. Grunig et al. (1995) made a meta-analysis of studies on public relations practice in India, Greece, and Taiwan. Based on the results, they
76 proposed that public relations models could be genetic to all cultures, and public relations in different countries and regions might be most effective when it included at least elements of two-way symmetrical model. However, J. E. Grunig et al. (1995) also found that the two-way symmetrical model in those three countries and regions seemed to be more ideal and normative than it in the U.S. That may be because the conditions of excellent public relations were less in those three countries and regions. There was a lack of understanding on public relations’ strategic management function in organizational dominant coalition, and professional education and knowledge of public relations in these countries and regions. As a result of research findings, J. E. Grunig et al. (1995) highlighted the personal influence model as an additional pattern to supplement and clarify four public relations models.
According to a research on India society, Sriramesh and Grunig (1988) had already noticed and indentified the personal influence model to cultivate relationships between individuals through using favors. Y. -H. Huang (2000) stated that the personal influence model, as a way to exploit individual relationships, appeared in authoritarian cultures. The instances of personal influence practice contain providing gifts, entertainments, and so on. Some scholars argued that the personal influence model was mostly based in Asia, highly pervasive in
Africa, but it was not a true nor an essential principle in Europe and America, where public relations might be more professional (Toni, 2008). However, the personal influence model, as an important model to extend the four public relations models, had been gradually acknowledged and accepted by more and more scholars since 1990s (Sriramesh & Verčič,
2003). Yudarwati (2013) claimed that public relations varied in different parts of the world.
77 Some generic principles, such as excellent public relations, are worldwide standards that have specific applications because of differences in cultures, media systems, political and economic systems, and development levels. Yudarwati (2013) pointed out that the personal influence model was a additional dimension of Grunig’s four public relations models, especially in different cultures.
The personal influence model, which is based on the personal relationship network, has become one of the most universally adopted model of professional public relations (Toni,
2008). This model highlights that personal networks have great impacts on the success of public relations. It is very important for public relations practitioners to hold powerful and personalized networks with influential individuals or groups to achieve their goals (Valentini,
2008). According to this model, practitioners would seek to build personal relationships or friendships with key persons in the government, media, or activist groups. K. M. Johnson
(2008) claimed that maintaining beneficial personal relationships with influential individuals was imperative for business. The personal influence model is suitable for practitioners to nurture relationships with organizational stakeholders. If organizations could transform these personal relationships into organizational relationships, the value of organizations and public relations would be greatly enhanced.
Building good personal relationships includes trust and authenticity. Interpersonal trust is primary within practitioners’ practice of the personal influence model. Maintaining trustful relationships with influential individuals and having powerful social networks are personal
78 skills that advanced practitioners need to have. Valentini (2008) proposed that the capacity of using personal networks to achieve public relations goals was as important as other public relations expertise. He further pointed out that powerful networks were determined by personal trustworthy relationships. Therefore, building powerful networks was more a personal work rather than an organizational privilege. This brings more requirements and challenges to public relations practitioners. After all, personalized relationships with influential publics could significantly influence practitioners’ personal and professional development and organizational performance (Schriner, 2008).
To some extent, personal influence model could be encompassed in cultivations strategies for personal network. The personal network is a specific network of publics which are influenced by social network. The influence is personalized because of continuous and specific face-to-face interactions between individuals. Valentini (2008) claimed that the focus of personal influence model was on the individuals of the network, personal relationships, and mutual understanding. Individuals could form network or friendships once interactions were properly established and maintained.
Personal influence model is beneficial to achieve organizations’ public relations goals.
Various benefits from this model are widely indentified by scholars. J. E. Grunig et al. (1995) stated that organizations and their publics could benefit from trustworthy relationships with journalists or activist groups’ leaders. Schriner (2008) also pointed out that personal influence was beneficial for public relations practitioners to keep beneficial relationships
79 with journalists and have the ability to influence on mass media. Some other outcomes derived from personal relationships are: mutual trust, increased media reports, decreased negative media coverage, successful political achievements (Derville, 2008).
Although some scholars considered personal influence model to be significant in some special regions, such as Asia and Africa, some research have also confirmed this model in various cultures. Downes (1998) examined public relations practices between Capitol Hill press secretaries and journalists and found that press secretaries offered journalists internal information as favors to build beneficial media relations. Evidence of favors for personal influence exists in various cultures. As claimed by Valentini (2008), when public relations becomes more and more global, the role of personal influence model cannot be confined to specific regions or cultures.
2.5.2.2 The Personal Influence Theory for Chinese Public Relations
The personal influence model was initially found and established in Asia (Sriramesh &
Grunig, 1988). This model is prominent in many Asian countries because of cultural and social characteristics. For example, J.-H. Shin and Cameron (2003) found that the informal relations had great influence on media relations activities in South Korea. The informal relations were similar with Chinese guanxi relations.
As mentioned in the section of public relations in China, guanxi is the individual network of social connections and friendship. Guanxi is especially important in Chinese society because
80 of the Chinese Confucian culture. Guanxi always leads to trust and beneficial relationships through repeated exchange of favors. In fact, guanxi is the Chinese version of the personal influence model. With the unique characteristics of Chinese culture, guanxi is more critical and required for Chinese public relations. Hung and Chen (2004) believed that building and maintaining guanxi was a major function of Chinese public relations. Public relations practitioners need to cultivate interpersonal and interorganizational relationships by the exchange of favors and hospitality.
The personal networks of influence, which is connected with guanxi, has a central conception in Chinese society (Valentini, 2008). Guanxi represents a personal connection between individuals in which one could prevail on another to perform a favor. Through beneficial guanxi, individuals can exert influence on others and achieve their intentions with others’ supports. Jacobs (1979) claimed that guanxi could be used to describe a state of general understanding between two participants, in which each participant was aware of what the counterpart needed and would take them into account when deciding future actions.
Building guanxi, namely establishing personalized networks of influence, has become a necessary skill for public relations and organizations in China. Chinese public relations practitioners place more weights on building interpersonal relationships with influential individuals, such as government officials and journalists through doing favors for them.
Practitioners believe that these influential individuals could help them when needed and return the favor through the approval of governmental license or proper news reports
81 (Sriramesh & Verčič, 2003). S. H. Park and Luo (2001) investigated Chinese firms and also found that the firms paid much attention to developing strategic guanxi to overcome competitive and resource deficiencies through exchanging favors with competitors and government authorities. Guanxi, as important Chinese manifestation of the personal influence model of public relations, becomes important resources for organizations and public relations practitioners in China.
As for how to perform favors to build proper guanxi in China, Y. -H. Huang (2003) supplemented a Chinese concept of mianzi, which was defined as “face-work” in English.
Mianzi implies to help people look well through protecting their dignity and avoiding embarrassment. It is sometimes called “saving face”. Y. -H. Huang (2003) believed that
“face-work” could be considered as doing favors to develop personal relationships, therefore, it could also fits with the personal influence model in Chinese practice. The research of Y. -H.
Huang (2003) connects guanxi with “face-work”, and embodies a culturally specific consideration.
Overall, personal influence model of public relations, which is represented by guanxi in
China, is especially important for Chinese public relations. Practitioners’ powerful and personalized networks with influential individuals are helpful to achieve their goals and organizational interests.
In this section, the research reviews the development of the personal influence theory, illustrates the implications of this theory, and discusses the personal influence theory with
82 guanxi for Chinese public relations. Personal networks are especially important for Chinese public relations with the characteristics of Chinese culture. The personal influence theory provides a necessary perspective to examine Chinese public relations practitioners’ practice with Chinese characteristics. With the personal influence theory and the implications of guanxi, this research could concretely and deeply explore the characteristics of corporate public relations practice for relationship building, especially dialogic relationship building.
2.5.3 Relationship Management
Relationship management theory is an important theoretical framework for public relations.
It shifts the emphasis on public relations from communication management to relationship management. The relational perspective provides an insight to confirm the goals and efforts of corporate public relations. It is beneficial to get a deep understanding of corporate public relations practice on websites. This section discusses the definition of relationship, the important role of relationship management, and some popular relationship cultivation strategies.
2.5.3.1 Definition and Significance
Although public relations models provide significant insights for public relations process, they do not focus on relationship-building aspect. Ferguson (1984) claimed that “The unit of study should not be the organization, nor the public, nor the communication process. Rather the unit of study should be the relationships between organizations and their publics” (p. ii).
83 Ehling (1992) further pointed out that the relationship perspective was a departure from considering public relations as manipulation of public opinion to centering on relationships building and maintenance. In the recent years, relationship management theory has become an important foundation of public relations, which provides a crucial approach to practice and research (Avery et al., 2010; Kent & Taylor, 1998; Men & Tsai, 2012; O’Neil, 2014).
The relationship management theory was initially discussed in a conference paper by
Ferguson in 1984. Ferguson called for scholars to pay attention to OPRs, which “would greatly enhance the probability of productive theory development” (Ferguson, 1984, p. 23).
With this relational perspective, Cutlip et al. (1985) defined public relations as “the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends” (p. 4).
However, the advice has not been considered as a focus of public relations until the late
1990s, when some research began to pay more attention to mutual beneficial relationships between organizations and publics (Jahansoozi, 2007). At present, the relational perspective has become an important focus of public relations research. Numerous research focus on the definitions of OPRs, summarizing relationship cultivation strategies, confirming dimensions to measure the outcomes of relationships, and examining the quality of mutual relationships
(Waters & Bortree, 2011).
84 From different perspectives, some scholars make diverse definitions of OPRs. Adopting the perspective of the interpersonal relationship, Ledingham and Bruning (1998) defined OPRs as “the state which exists between an organization and its key publics, in which the actions of either can impact the economic, social, cultural or political well being of the other” (p. 62).
To emphasize the exchange characteristics of process, Broom et al.(2000) defined that OPRs was “represented by the patterns of interaction, transaction, exchange, and linkage between an organization and its publics” (p. 18). From the level of practical management work,
Hutton (1999) defined relationship management as “the practice of public relations as an exercise in identifying mutual interests, values, and benefits between a client-organization and its publics” (p. 208).
The perspective of relationship management is an important shift in the primary task of public relations (Ledingham, 2003). The theory affects organizational direction to build and maintain relationships with their strategic publics. Moreover, both organizations and publics can benefit from a mutual beneficial relationship. Bruning (2000) proposed that:
The emergence of relationship management…calls into question the essence of
public relations—what it is and what it does or should do, its function and value
within the organizational structure and the greater society, and the benefits generated
not only for sponsoring organizations but also for the public those organizations serve
and the societies in which they exist. (p. xiii)
85 Ledingham (2003) further claimed that the relationship management had become a general theory of public relations. In his opinion, the relational perspective is an appropriate framework for public relations because “effectively managing organizational–public relationships around common interests and shared goals, over time, results in mutual understanding and benefit for interacting organizations and publics” (p.190).
The perspective of relationship management shifts the central position of organizations to mutual relationships between organizations and publics. It also balances the interests of organizations and publics through the OPRs management. It is important for the maintenance of organization’s social license to provide legitimacy (Jahansoozi, 2007). The perspective of relationship management could effectively connect organizational goals and public interests.
Hon and J. E. Grunig (1999) considered that “the most productive relationships are those that benefit both parties in the relationship” (p. 11). Ki and Hon (2007) confirmed the argument of J. E. Grunig and further identified that relational outcomes from relationship management could lead to positive attitudes and behavioral intentions.
2.5.3.2 Relationship Cultivation Strategies
An important focus on relationship management research is the perspective of relationship cultivation strategies, which initially refer to relationship maintenance strategies.
Relationship cultivation strategies, which are utilized by practitioners as common tactics, are helpful to build beneficial relationships with trust, commitment, satisfaction, and control mutuality (J. E. Grunig & Huang, 2000). Stafford and Canary (1991) conducted an early
86 research about this issue. Based on interpersonal communication perspectives, they proposed some useful dimensions for relationship cultivation strategies. Their dimensions are positivity, openness, assurances, networking, and shared tasks, which are useful strategies to maintain favorable relationships.
Hon and J. E. Grunig (1999) further developed the research by Stafford and Canary (1991), and proposed six strategies for relationship cultivation, which are extensively accepted in academics. The six strategies consist of access, positivity, assurances, openness/disclosure, networking, and sharing of tasks. Organizations could use these strategies to cultivate and maintain relationships with strategic publics efficiently
Access means that organizations should be accessible to publics through offering communication channels. Both participants will reply calls or e-mails from each other.
“Either party is willing to go to the other when they have complaints or queries, rather than taking negative reactions to third parties” (Hon & Grunig, 1999, p. 14). As for organizational websites, organizations should provide publics with some communication tools, such as organizational e-mail, bulletin, phone number, and so on.
Positivity refers to organizational performance to make relationships more enjoyable for all participants (Hon & Grunig, 1999). Organizations should perform as a resource for publics and provide convenience to their publics. Ki and Hon (2006) considered that in the context of organizational websites, positivity could perform as ease of use for publics. O’Neil (2014) further pointed out that the easy-to-use websites were beneficial to promote OPRs.
87 Assurance means all participants in the relationship make efforts to assure their publics that they and their concerns are important and legitimate. This strategy includes the participants’ efforts to show their commitment to maintain relationships (Hon & Grunig, 1999).
Organizations should truly understand public needs and offer them what they want. O’Neil
(2014) claimed that listening can facilitate assurance. Organizations with assurance strategy would respond to public requests and concerns positively.
Openness/disclosure means the openness of thoughts and feelings among participants (Hon
& Grunig, 1999). As for organizational levels, organizations should offer sufficient information of organizational characteristic and performance to publics. For organizational websites, organizations should provide enough related information transparently, which is beneficial for publics to better understand organizations.
Networking refers to “organizations’ building networks or coalitions with the same groups that their publics do” (Hon & Grunig, 1999). It is helpful for organizations to cooperate and maintain relationships with some related groups, such as unions and environmentalists.
Sharing of tasks means “organizations’ and publics’ sharing in solving joint or separate problems” (Hon & Grunig, 1999, p. 15) . Organizations should cooperate with their key publics to solve problems, which are in the interest of organizations and publics. Some examples of tasks are community issues, environment problems, poverty issue, medical care problems, and so on.
88 Relationship cultivation strategies are used in numerous research to examine organizational efforts to nurture and maintain relationships with publics. Ki and Hon (2006) did a content analysis of 286 corporate websites from Fortune 500. They revealed that the openness strategy was most frequently used, while the networking strategy was the least used one.
They also considered that corporate websites from different industry types utilized strategies of positivity, openness, and access significantly differently. Hanna Park and Rhee (2010) examined five non-profit organizations in South Korea and found that relationship cultivation strategies were critical antecedents of OPRs, which could effectively bring proper relationship outcomes. Moreover, in their opinions, the relationship quality could significantly affect public intention to support organizations. O’Neil (2014) extended relationship cultivation strategies to Facebook by examining how Fortune 500 companies and Philanthropy 200 non-profit organizations utilized their Facebook for relationship maintenance. O’Neil found that both companies and non-profit organizations most frequently used cultivation strategies of openness and access. These two types of organizations failed to fully utilize some interactive strategies such as networking and sharing of tasks.
Relationship cultivation strategies focus on practical tactics for relationship building and maintenance. The effective application of relationship cultivation strategies could foster favorable relationship outcomes. This perspective provides a useful way to assess organizational efforts to build beneficial relationships through websites.
89 Based on the discussions above, relationship management shifts the emphasis of public relations from communication management to relationship management. The goal of relationship management is to build beneficial relationships between organizations and publics. Both organizations and publics could benefit from favorable relationships.
Relationship cultivation and maintenance is a dynamic process rather than a stable stage.
Organizations should employ appropriate relationship cultivation strategies to build and maintain beneficial relationships with publics. The relationship management theory offers this research a useful and important theoretical view to confirm corporate primary goals of public relations, evaluate corporate efforts to build beneficial relationships with publics, and examine corporate specific tactics to cultivate relations through corporate websites.
2.5.4 Dialogic Public Relations
Dialogic public relations is the focus of this research. Michael L. Kent and Maureen Taylor defined dialogical communication as “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (Kent
& Taylor, 1998, p. 325). In their opinions, dialogic communication, as a special type of relational interaction, could be used to conduct public relations in an ethical way. Based on their arguments, dialogic public relations in this research refers to the utilization of two-way dialogic communication to build and maintain beneficial relationships between organizations and publics. Dialogic public relations theory offers an important perspective to examine corporate efforts for dialogic relationship building. This section discusses the concept of dialogue in communication, the development and implications of dialogic public relations
90 theory, the tenets of dialogic perspective, dialogic principles through websites, and the connections between dialogic principles and dialogue tenets.
2.5.4.1 The Concept of Dialogue in Communication
Deeply rooted from philosophy, rhetoric, psychology and relational communication, dialogue is considered to be one of the most ethical communication forms (Kent & Taylor,
2002). Philosopher Martin Buber, who is viewed as the father of modern dialogue concept, believed that dialogue was an effort to acknowledge others’ value rather than an approach to achieving desired goals. He considered dialogue as a distinct way of immediacy and a connection of two beings without conscious intent to affect each other. Moreover, Buber distinguished dialogue from monologue by highlighting the mutuality orientation of dialogue.
As a result, he called dialogue as I-Thou relation, in which communicators should not consider others as objects — the “I You,” but as equals—the “I Thou” (Buber, 1970).
Buber viewed communication as an intersubjective process, within which participants can establish an open and respectful relationship. Dialogue works as the basis of that relationship.
Communication with each other should be the goal for dialogic relationship. In Buber’s opinion, dialogue is not ordinary conversation. Dialogue represents one whole being to confront another whole being with the acceptable relation in which individual affirms the other’s basic difference but still stands in his own being. It means to confirm and accept the others as dialogic partner (Buber, 1965).
91 Similar with Buber’s “I Thou” relationship, Habermas (1984) proposed that ethical communication should not be dominated by any party through emphasizing the intersubjective, ethical, and dialogical characteristics of communication. In his communicative action theory, Habermas claimed that dialogic communication contained the cooperative and communicative relationship. He considered equal access for all participants was the essential precondition for the symmetrical distribution of opportunities in dialogues.
It could be facilitated by the climate of openness. Based on Habermas’ arguments, organizations should open useful information to publics and provide enough accessible channels for communication. Therefore, publics could have dialogues with organizations and express their opinions freely.
Dialogue is also an important concept and framework for relational communication, especially the ethic relationship building. Grounded on some intellectual traditions,
Johannesen (1971) proposed six specific characteristics of dialogue: genuineness, accurate empathic understanding, spirit of mutual equality, presentness, unconditional positive regard, and supportive psychological climate. These elements offer a foundation to understand dialogue in relational communication.
Kent and Taylor (1998) defined dialogic communication as “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions”(p.325). Based on Buber’s opinions on dialogue, they extended the implications of dialogue into two aspects. First, it is not necessary for individuals engaged in dialogue to agree or disagree. Dialogue is not about agreement but the progression of open
92 and negotiated discussion. Second, dialogue is about intersubjectivity rather than objective truth (Kent & Taylor, 1998). In their opinions, dialogue represents a special type of relational interaction. With the emphasis on negotiated communication, dialogue is considered to be an ethical way to conduct public relations, namely dialogic public relations.
2.5.4.2 Dialogic Public Relations
In this research, dialogic public relations refers to the utilization of two-way dialogic communication to build and maintain beneficial relationships between organizations and publics. In fact, dialogue has emerged in public relations research for decades. However, it has been neglected most of the time. Dialogue becomes prominent because the theoretical focus shifts from communication management to relational management, which brings about the recognition of dialogue’s importance (S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014). Dialogue is an ethical way to build and maintain effective relationships. Taylor et al. (2001) believed that dialogue was one of the most important perspective for conceptualizing OPRs.
It is assumed that Lerbinger and Sullivan (1965) firstly used the term “dialogue” in public relations. They considered dialogue as the individual rights along with the need to recognize the values of organizations. However, Pearson’s research is considered to be the earliest systematic treatment of the dialogue concept in public relations (Kent & Taylor, 2002).
Pearson considered dialogue as a practical strategy for public relations. He suggested that it was very important to have a dialogic system in the practice of ethical public relations rather than monologic policies. Communication process between organizations and publics should
93 be reciprocal and dialogical (Pearson, 1989). As Pearson claimed, “public relations is best conceptualized as the management of interpersonal dialectic” (Pearson, 1989, p. 177).
After Pearson’s research, dialogic public relations began to occupy a central place in public relations ethics. Dialogic public relations is considered as a more moral approach than monologue. Just as Botan (1997) explained:
Traditional approaches to public relations relegate publics to a secondary role,
making them instruments for meeting organizational policy or marketing needs;
whereas, dialogue elevates publics to the status of communication equal with the
organization. (p. 196)
van Es and Meijlink (2000) summarized public relations ethics and confirmed two types of public relations ethics: the pragmatical ethics and dialogical ethics. The pragmatical ethics focuses on issues without a conceptual core. It is gradually giving the way to dialogical ethics. Dialogical ethics concentrates on process and structures. The conceptual core of dialogical ethics is the two-way symmetric communication, specified with reciprocity and dialogue (van Es & Meijlink, 2000).
Dialogic public relations has a close relationship with two-way symmetrical communication.
Two-way symmetrical communication could serve public interest to develop mutual understanding. It could promote collaboration and dialogues between organizations and publics. Two-way symmetrical communication and dialogic public relations can be viewed
94 as the process and product. The essence of two-way symmetrical communication is the procedure through which organization could interact with publics. However, dialogic public relations is “not a process or a series of steps” but “a product of ongoing communication and relationships” (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p. 24). As the focus of public relations shifts to relational approach, dialogue becomes more prominent than two-way symmetry in the scope of public relations. Dialogue is not only an excellent framework to comprehend interpersonal relationship, but also an important way to understand mediated relationship like those in website communication (Taylor et al., 2001). S.-U. Yang, Kang, and Cha (2015) stated that the convergence of two-way symmetrical communication and dialogue became more and more pertinent to the research and practice of public relations from the relationship management approach.
Relationship building is the kernel of dialogic public relations. Kent and Taylor (1998) viewed dialogic public relations as an honest and ethical approach to the creation and maintenance of beneficial OPRS. Meanwhile, they described dialogue as a communicative orientation, which was compatible with the views about communication’s role in relationship building. Though dialogic public relations cannot necessarily guarantee outcomes, it is believed that a dialogic orientation can indeed enhance relationships between organizations and publics with a better understanding of each other (Kent & Taylor, 2002).
95 2.5.4.3 Tenets of Dialogic Perspective
Michael L. Kent and Maureen Taylor are two of the most excellent scholars in developing dialogic public relations theory. In their opinions, dialogue is regarded as one of the most ethical form of public relations. Dialogue involves an understanding of mutual benefits rather than unilateral interest. Public relations is thus about two-way dialogues rather than one-way monologues. Although dialogic public relations might produce unexpected and harmful results, the value of dialogue is to seek a long-range benefit for relationships between organizations and publics (Kent & Taylor, 2002).
Furthermore, as an important foundation of articulating dialogic public relations, Kent and
Taylor (2002) confirmed five prime tenets or features of the dialogic perspective. These tenets contain the explicit and implicit assumptions under the dialogue concept, and could promote “the likelihood that publics and organizations will better understand each other and have ground communication” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 33). However, they also pointed out that these five tenets may be not exhaustive and somewhat overlapping. Since dialogue is an orientation of communication and not a series of rules, some possible overlap is acceptable.
The five tenets of dialogue are shown in figure 2.2:
96 Mutuality – the acknowledgement of inextricable OPRs.
Propinquity – publics are considered and consulted by organizations on the matters affect them.
Empathy – the supportiveness and confirmation of public Dialogue Tenets interests.
Risk – a condition of dialogue because sometimes unpredicted and dangerous outcomes occur.
Commitment – the genuineness or authenticity, commitment to conversation and commitment to interpretation.
Figure 2.2: Tenets of dialogic perspective (Kent & Taylor, 2002)
The first tenet is mutuality, which means an “acknowledgement that organizations and publics are inextricably tied together” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 25). Mutuality represents the recognition of the relationships between organizations and publics. Mutuality is characterized as collaborative orientation and spirit of mutual equality. Collaborative orientation, which is the central feature of mutuality, highlights the understanding of both participants’ positions and how they get there. Different from bargain or negotiation, dialogue is a conversation, in which parties open themselves and accept each other’s views as worthy of consideration. The spirit of mutual equality focuses on the maintenance of fairness and equality of relationship. Power and superiority should not be exercised in dialogue. Parties with different status in the dialogue should not manipulate the flow of conversation.
97 The second tenet is propinquity. “For organizations, dialogic propinquity means that publics are consulted in matters that influence them, and for publics, it means that they are willing and able to articulate their demands to organizations” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 26). There are three characteristics in propinquity: immediacy of presence, temporal flow, and engagement.
Propinquity implies that participants could communicate at present rather than after decision has been finished. The dialogue focus is on a continued and shared future for all participants in dialogue. Dialogue is to construct an equitable and accessible future for all participants.
All participants must like to give themselves to encounters and should be accessible and involved in the interaction. The implication of propinquity is significant that organizations should sufficiently consider public needs and try to understand their own situations.
The third tenet is empathy, which is also called sympathy. Empathy refers to the “atmosphere of support and trust that must exist if dialogue is to succeed” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 27).
Empathy emphasizes sympathy for others’ positions and highlights the importance of support and trust to make dialogue successful. This tenet is characterized by three features: supportiveness, a communal orientation, and confirmation or acknowledgment. For dialogic climate, participants should be encouraged to take part in dialogues. Moreover, their participations should be facilitated. This is especially important for dialogues through websites, which should provide easy navigation and enough dialogic channels. Dialogue should propose a communal orientation and promote community building among participants. Finally, organizations should acknowledge other voices, which are different or opposed to organizational opinions. Publics that feel ignored are less willing to develop
98 relationship with organizations.
The fourth tenet is risk, which suggests that dialogue has “the potential to produce unpredictable and dangerous outcomes” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 28). Vulnerability, unanticipated consequences, and recognition of strangeness are three main characteristics of risk feature. Dialogue includes the sharing of information and self-disclosure, which might make participants vulnerable to manipulation and ridicule by other participants. Nevertheless, every encounter may provide the chance of growth. On the other hand, dialogue is always unrehearsed and spontaneous. As a result, dialogue may incur unanticipated consequences.
Organizations should not intend to manipulate participants with scripted interaction. Finally, the risk feature needs the unconditional acceptance of individuality and uniqueness.
Participants in the dialogue should be accepted by each other though they bring difference to dialogic exchange. Risk seems to be an unacceptable concept for public relations, which aims to reduce environmental risks and maximize stability. However, Kent and Taylor (2002) argued that the risk of dialogue could lead to stronger OPRs as reward. Sufficient information sharing is needed to minimize the uncertainty and misunderstandings.
The four tenets above build the foundation for the last tenet—commitment, which is considered as the core of assumptions (Kent & Taylor, 2002). Commitment means the extent that organizations devote themselves to dialogue, interpretation, and understanding in exchanges with the public (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). The tenet of commitment emphasizes genuineness, commitment to conversation, and commitment to interpretation.
99 According to commitment feature, dialogue should be honest and forthright. Organizations need to treat their publics truthfully to build a beneficial relationship. Moreover, the aim of conversation is to share the common meaning or move towards mutual understandings rather than to defeat others or exploit weakness. Finally, dialogue needs participants to commit to interpretation and understanding from different positions. Organizations should make efforts to get publics’ values, beliefs, and positions through interpretation (Kent & Taylor, 2002).
The tenet of commitment is an important basis of ethical public relations as commitment to publics (S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014).
The five tenets of dialogue are necessary to clarify the explicit and implicit meaning of the dialogue concept. It is an important step to articulate a dialogic public relations theory. After all, for dialogic public relations, essential building blocks must exist to support dialogue (S.
T. Lee, 2014). Furthermore, the five tenets are important principles to build interpersonal relationship or mediated dialogic relationship, especially the dialogic relationship through websites.
2.5.4.4 Dialogic Principles Through Websites
Internet is the only medium that allows the application of all four public relations models proposed by J. E. Grunig and Hunt, especially the two-way symmetry model (Ingenhoff &
Koelling, 2009). With interactive communication technologies, website can work as a proper platform for organizations to build dialogic relationships with publics. Kent and Taylor refined dialogic public relations theory and extended it to the orientation of internet and
100 organizational websites. They considered dialogic public relations through organizational websites as an appropriate approach to relationship building (Kent & Taylor, 1998).
To build successful dialogic relationships through websites, Kent and Taylor (1998) proposed five excellent principles to promote dialogues on websites. As shown in figure 2.3, the five principles are: (i) ease of interface—websites should provide features to facilitate the easy navigation of users; (ii) usefulness of information—websites should provide various users with specially tailored information to address users’ needs; (iii) conservation of visitors—websites should provide attractive features for repeat visits and encourage users to stay on the website; (iv) generation of return visits—websites should provide features that generate return visits and build foundation for long-lasting relationships; and (v) dialogic loop—websites can allow users to query organizations and give organizations the chance to respond (Kent & Taylor, 1998). Taylor et al. (2001) further classified the five dialogic principles into two clusters: the technical and design cluster, and the dialogic cluster. The technical and design cluster comprises the principles of usefulness of information, ease of interface, and conservation of visitors. The dialogic cluster consists of the principles of generation of return visits and dialogic loop.
101 Technical and design Dialogic cluster cluster
Ease of interface
Generation of return visits
Dialogic Usefulness of information principles
Dialogic loop
Conservation of visitors
Figure 2.3: Dialogic principles to promote dialogic public relations on websites (Kent & Taylor, 1998, pp. 326-331)
Rybalko and Seltzer (2010) considered conservation of visitors to be one of the most important dialogic principles. It is beneficial for organizations to attract visitors and keep them engaged within dialogic spaces so that corporations can have dialogues with them.
However, Taylor et al. (2001) believed that, even if a website performed the first four principles, it was not dialogic enough without dialogic loop. Only when a website fulfills dialogic loop, can two-way communication come true. Pettigrew and Reber (2011) suggested the sixth principle to supplement the dialogic principles of Kent and Taylor. They considered that the new principle of “relationship initiation and enhancement” might be a new avenue for initiating relationships (Pettigrew & Reber, 2011, p. 424). It can also offer a realistic application of dialogic public relations through websites. However, no more research is found to confirm their proposal.
102 Although Kent and Taylor proposed the five dialogic principles over ten years, these principles still work as valid guidelines to facilitate dialogic public relations through websites. Their principles and variable categories are extensively accepted and used to examine websites of various organizations, such as: colleges (Anastasios & Zoe, 2011; S.
Kang & Norton, 2006; S.M. McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009; Shadinger, 2013), activist organizations (J. Huang & Yang, 2015; Ingenhoff & Koelling, 2009; Jo, 2011; S. T. Lee &
Desai, 2014; Reber & Kim, 2006; Sommerfeldt et al., 2012; Taylor et al., 2001), companies
(Esrock & Leichty, 2000; C. Liu et al., 1997; Hyojung Park & Reber, 2008; Theunissen,
2014), and governments (Madichie & Hinson, 2014; Taylor & Kent, 2004).
Moreover, with the dialogic principles of Kent and Taylor (1998), many topics were studied, such as the utilization of dialogic principles for relationship building on websites (Bruning et al., 2008; J. Huang & Yang, 2015; A. Yang & Taylor, 2010), the examination of users’ perceptions towards dialogic principles (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2008), the investigation of public relations practitioners’ perceptions towards dialogic principles (Hill &
White, 2000; Sommerfeldt et al., 2012), and the examination of journalists’ perceptions and attitudes towards dialogic components of websites (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006; Pettigrew &
Reber, 2011).
Some research have identified the effects of webbed dialogues for relationship building.
Bruning et al. (2008) found that webbed dialogues could positively influence respondents’ assessments and intended behaviors towards an organization. A. Yang and Taylor (2010)
103 pointed out that webbed dialogue was effective to build beneficial and long-time collaboration between organizations and publics.
However, it seems that many organizations do not make full use of websites to build dialogic relationships with publics (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). There are many reasons for such a problem. Briones, Kuch, Liu, and Jin (2011) claimed that the availability of human resources is an important barrier for dialogic public relations through websites. Taylor et al.
(2001) considered that the weak websites designs without enough dialogue approaches might cause the lack of dialogues through websites. As mentioned in last section, Sommerfeldt et al.
(2012) conducted an investigation on public relations practitioners. They found that the awareness regarding the role of websites was a big barrier to dialogic public relations through websites.
Although scholars have recommended dialogic public relations through websites, many corporations and corporate practitioners still do not pay much attention to this public relations approach. The disconnection between public relations scholars and practitioners needs to be highlighted. Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles (1998) offer this research an important perspective to examine corporate dialogic public relations practice through websites. With these principles, the content features and design features of websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building could be analyzed and discussed.
104 2.5.4.5 Dialogic Principles and Dialogue Tenets
Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles are effective to promote dialogues through organizational websites. These principles could be further connected with dialogue tenets to provide an integrated perspective. Although participants in the process of dialogues should pay attention to all dialogue tenets, there are more connections between some specific dialogic principles and dialogue tenets.
Mutuality highlights inextricable organization–public relationships. In regard to this tenet, dialogues are conversations with collaboration. Superiority and authority should not be applied in dialogues because both participants are equal. The mutuality tenet especially needs the principles of conservation of visitors and generation of return visits. Organizational websites should provide attractive features to encourage users to stay on websites, and promote repeated visits to build long-time relationships. As a result of these two principles, websites could appear more collaborative and equal with publics, otherwise, it is disadvantageous to the conservation of visitors and repeated visits.
Propinquity refers to the willingness and abilities of organizations and publics to consult and be consulted by each other. This tenet includes three characteristics: immediacy of presence, temporal flow, and engagement. According to propinquity, participants of dialogues should give their whole selves to encounters and consult each other before decisions. The principles of usefulness of information and dialogic loop are especially important for propinquity.
Organizational websites ought to provide sufficient tailored information and more dialogue
105 opportunities to users. This is beneficial for the consultations between organizations and their publics, as a result, propinquity could be promoted.
The third tenet is empathy, which highlights the importance of support and trust for successful dialogues. Empathy is characterized by supportiveness, a communal orientation, and confirmation or acknowledgment. Based on empathy, dialogues should be encouraged and promoted. Organizations should acknowledge other voices, which may be even different or opposed to organization opinions. Therefore, the principles of ease of interface and dialogic loop are very useful to promote empathy. Websites should provide features to facilitate easy navigations and pay much attention to dialogic channels and opportunities for users. Then publics’ dialogues with organizations would be facilitated and emphasized.
Empathy could be significantly enhanced in consequence of these two principles.
The tenet of risk suggests that dialogues may bring unpredictable and dangerous outcomes.
Risk comprises three main characteristics: vulnerability, unanticipated consequences, and recognition of strangeness. Participants should accept unpredicted outcomes and even risks to promote dialogic relationship building. Kent and Taylor (2002) suggested that organizations could minimize uncertainty and misunderstanding by providing sufficient information. The principle of usefulness of information, which emphasizes the supply of sufficient important information, is very useful to decrease risks of dialogues. Moreover, the risks of misunderstanding could be reduced through open and effective dialogues, which are embraced in the principle of dialogic loop. Organizations could fully utilize dialogic
106 principles of usefulness of information and dialogic loop to decrease risks in dialogues and promote beneficial dialogic relationships with publics.
All four tenets above build the foundation of the tenet of commitment, which emphasizes genuineness, commitment to conversation, and commitment to interpretation. Commitment, as the core of dialogue tenets, needs participants to devote themselves to dialogues, interpretation, and understanding. Organizations should give commitments to dialogues and treat their publics truthfully to build beneficial relationships. The tenet of commitment needs the emphasis of all five dialogic principles. Organizational websites ought to offer users facilitated features and sufficient useful information. Attractive features and connected features are also needed on websites to conserve visitors and generate repeated visits. Most of all，organizational websites must pay attention to the utilization of dialogic loop and frequent dialogue engagements. If organizations effectively utilize five dialogic principles, the tenet of commitment will be achieved and promoted.
Dialogue tenets build the foundation of dialogic public relations theory. Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles provide effective strategies to promote dialogues through organizational websites. Dialogic principles could be further connected with dialogue tenets. Organizations need to fully utilize dialogic principles to promote dialogue tenets and dialogic relationship building through their websites.
Overall, this section reviews the concept of dialogue in communication, clarifies the evolution and implications of the dialogic public relations theory, elucidates five features of
107 the dialogue as essential tenets, presents Kent and Taylor ’s dialogic principles through websites, and discusses the connections between dialogic principles and dialogue tenets. The importance of dialogic public relations is increasingly recognized as the shift from communication management to relationship management. Dialogic public relations perspective is important to develop public relations initiatives and generate mutual beneficial relationships (Taylor et al., 2001). As a result of dialogic perspective, the public relations profession is moving to a two-way relational communication (Theunissen & Noordin, 2012).
A very important application of dialogic perspective in public relations is about dialogues through websites (Bruning et al., 2008), which offers this research an essential perspective and framework to analyze corporate efforts to build dialogic relationships through corporate websites.
2.5.5 Situational Theory of Publics
This section reviews and discusses the situational theory, which provides a key perspective to identify and categorize publics. With the implications of the situational theory, corporate websites can promote publics’ communication behaviors and have more active publics engaged in dialogic relationship building. This section provides an overview of the situational theory, and then discusses the implications of the situational theory for dialogic public relations.
108 2.5.5.1 The Overview of the Situational Theory
The situational theory is viewed as an important cornerstone of public relations. Aldoory and
Sha (2007) considered the situational theory as the first discipline-specific theory of public relations. Borrowing from the segmentation theory of marketing, the situational theory of publics, initially developed by J. E. Grunig, was to explain “when and how people communicate and when communications aimed at people are most likely to be effective” (J.
E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984, p. 184). The situational theory of publics defines publics as the foundation for relationship building from the behavioral and strategic level of public relations. J. E. Grunig stated that the communication behavior was a useful way to confirm and categorize publics, because publics had some specific communication behaviors before their actions. Publics’ communication behaviors can be understood through measuring how publics perceive situations that affect them (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Based on publics’ communication behaviors, the situational theory of publics provides an important perspective to segment general population into meaningful categories around issues. Meanwhile, the theory is also a useful approach to assessing the effects of public relations campaigns (J.-N.
Kim, Ni, Kim, & Kim, 2012).
The situational theory of publics mainly utilizes three independent variables to predict publics’ communication behaviors, attitude changes, and behavior changes (Aldoory & Sha,
2007). These three independent variables are problem recognition, constraint recognition, and level of involvement. They are also called situational variables, describing “the
109 perceptions that people have of specific situations, especially situations that are problematic or that produce conflicts or issues” (J. E. Grunig, 1989a, p. 54). Voss (2009) stated that the three variables logically connected related concepts and ideas of problems, situations and publics.
Problem recognition refers to the extent to which people detect a problem and consider what should be done to solve it (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984). In other words, people do not stop to think about an issue or situation unless they perceive that something should be done about it
(J. E. Grunig, 1997). Problem recognition could be viewed as individual perceptions that a specific situation is problematic (Voss, 2009). Gallant (2014) considered problem recognition as the primary variable upon which people rely to decide whether or not to engage in an issue. As stated by J. E. Grunig, problem recognition could increase the possibility that publics communicate about a situation and have the requirements for information about the situation (J. E. Grunig, 1980).
Constraint recognition refers to the perceived or actual barriers that inhibit people’s ability to resolve the problem (Aldoory, Kim, & Tindall, 2010). Constraint recognition can influence publics to change their behaviors. High constraints always decrease publics’ communication behaviors. J. E. Grunig (1997) stated that publics had limited communication needs in situations where constraints hindered them from making choices. The effects of public relations are thus influenced by constraint recognition. “For a campaign to move people to develop organized cognitions and perhaps to change their behavior, it must show people how
110 they can remove constraints to their personally doing anything about the problem” (J. E.
Grunig & Ipes, 1983, p. 51).
Level of involvement is the extent to which people feel connected or relevant to an issue or a situation (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984; J. Kim & Sung, 2016). Aldoory and Sha (2007) viewed the level of involvement as the most important independent variable of the situational theory, because it indicated publics’ emotional connections or relevance with issues and influenced likelihood of publics to attend to and comprehend messages. High level of involvement usually leads to problem recognition because publics need to consider organizational consequence as a problem, otherwise, they cannot be affected by the consequence.
Furthermore, high involvement usually decreases publics’ constraint recognition that inhibits publics from doing something about the problem. Involved publics tend to remove constraints to resolve problems (Voss, 2009).
Affected by the three independent variables, two kinds of dependent variables or individual information behaviors were proposed in the situational theory, namely information seeking and information processing (J. E. Grunig, 1997). The former is an active process of searching for related information, whereas the latter is a passive exposure to the information (Yue
Zheng, McKeever, & Xu, 2016). Information seeking is described as “premeditated information seeking,” which is “the planned scanning of the environment for messages about a specific topic” (J. E. Grunig, 1989a, p. 54). Information seeking, as the purposeful search for information on a situation or issue, gains higher priority, because it characterizes the
111 active publics in public opinion issues (Aldoory et al., 2010). This active communication behavior always leads publics to develop organized cognitions, retain attitudes towards a situation, and engage in behaviors to resolve the situation (Aldoory & Sha, 2007).
Information processing is considered as “the unplanned discovery of a message followed by continued processing of it” (Clarke & Kline, 1974, p. 233). Information processing occurs when publics recognize a message and absorb some of it unintentionally (Gallant, 2014).
Publics of this type always passively communicate and do not search for information about a situation. However, they will process information that they encountered without many efforts.
J. E. Grunig (1989a) claimed that publics behaved more actively in information seeking than in information processing. Therefore, information seeking produces communication effects more often than information processing (Voss, 2009).
The close relations between three independent variables and two dependent variables are confirmed by the situational theory of publics. High problem recognition, low constraint recognition, and high involvement always lead to active communication behaviors, such as information seeking. On the contrary, low problem recognition, high constraint recognition, and low involvement often lead to passive communication behaviors, such as information processing (J. Kim & Sung, 2016). Furthermore, J. E. Grunig (1989a) identified that high level of problem recognition and low level of constraint recognition could promote both active information seeking and passive information processing. Level of involvement could increase information seeking but have limited effect on information processing. In other
112 words, publics probably seek information of issues that involve them, but always process information randomly about low-involvement situations.
According to the relations between the independent and dependent variables, J. E. Grunig
(1997) indentified four types of publics: active publics (high problem recognition, high involvement, and low constraint recognition); latent publics (low problem recognition and low involvement); aware publics (high problem recognition, high involvement, and high constrain recognition); and non-publics (unconnected with issues). The situational theory has further categorized active publics into three types: all-issue publics (active on all issues); single-issue publics (active on few issues which influence a minority population); hot-issue publics (active on issues that involve everyone and receive much media attention).
The types and characteristics of publics determine how and what organizations communicate to publics. Active publics, who always have high problem recognition and involvement, and low constraint recognition, are most likely engaged in communication behaviors about related issues. Organizations ought to promote the engagement and involvement of active publics. Communication is especially important for latent publics who are to change their attitudes or behaviors once they recognize a problem (Paul & Sayers, 2015). Communication campaigns always designate latent publics as important targets to enhance their problem recognition and involvement.
Aware publics are less likely to engage in behaviors to resolve problems because of high constraint recognition. However, once constraints are removed, aware publics are more
113 likely to become active (Aldoory & Sha, 2007). J. E. Grunig defined those who did not face or recognize the problem as non-publics (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Although public relations practitioners seek to create active publics through communicating information to non-publics or passive publics, those information always have little effect because non-publics are not exposed to the information and passive publics can reach and remember little of the information (J. E. Grunig, 2009). J.-N. Kim et al. (2012) also found that simple exposure to media information could not draw non-publics into active publics. Therefore, J.
E. Grunig (2011) pointed out that public relations practitioners should indentify and segment active and latent publics from non-publics to confirm stakeholder category and communication strategy. However, he also emphasized that non-publics should be present in the stakeholder category because the segmentation of publics was not permanent or stable.
Publics might vary as situations and organizational consequences change.
The situational theory of publics has been utilized to explain various communication contexts (Yue Zheng et al., 2016). In order to develop this theory, scholars have argued to substitute or add variables in the situational theory. For example, cultural factors such as deference to authority and tolerance of fellow human beings were added to explore publics’ communication behaviors towards customer service in Singapore (Moghan & Sriramesh,
2005). Some cross-situational factors, such as political interest and prior experience, were considered to examine individual situational perceptions in South Korea (J.-N. Kim et al.,
2012). Cultural identity was utilized as an antecedent variable of the situational theory to explore relationships between racial identity and constraint recognition in health campaigns
114 (Turpin, 2013). J.-N. Kim and Grunig (2011) further clarified the differences of information-related behaviors as the outcome variables and confirmed six types of communication behaviors. They named this version of the theory as the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS), which also supplemented the variables of situational motivation and referent criterion. The STOPS was utilized to explore many social issues, such as health and environment (Yue Zheng et al., 2016). However, this research mainly employs the situational theory of publics to examine corporate public relations because of the closer relationships between research objects and theoretical implications of the situational theory of publics.
Overall, this section provides an overview of the situational theory of publics. As an important foundational theory of public relations, the situational theory of publics provides an effective perspective to segment publics. As a result, public relations practitioners can identify those whom they want to communicate most and understand those whom they are most likely to communicate. The next section will further discuss the implications of the situational theory of publics for dialogic public relations.
2.5.5.2 The Implications of the Situational Theory for Dialogic Public Relations
The situational theory provides a useful perspective to segment publics. This is very helpful for public relations practitioners to identify which groups of publics are more likely to communicate, and which publics the organizations should communicate with (J. E. Grunig,
1997). The situational theory is also necessary for corporate dialogic public relations through
115 websites. According to the situational theory, corporations can effectively manage dialogic public relations practice by indentifying specific publics and addressing the needs of targeted publics. Furthermore, the situational theory indicates an effective approach to transforming general people into active publics for corporations. This approach to transformation can be further promoted by Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles (1998), as a result of which, publics’ information behaviors and dialogic relationships with corporations would be facilitated.
J. E. Grunig (2011) claimed that when public relations practitioners scanned environment, the first step was to identify and segment organizations’ publics according to the situational theory. During this process, practitioners can recognize the problems, constraints, and types of involvements of publics. As a result, organizations can plan their communication programs more effectively. With the perspective of situational theory, the primary work of public relations to reach publics is to identify concerns of each group (Paul & Sayers, 2015).
When practitioners confirm and emphasize what information their publics seek from their organizations, they can conduct their strategic communication more accurately and promote relationship building with publics.
Situational theory keeps public relations focused on related information that publics want rather than organizations’ favorable information to communicate, because publics always search and highlight the information that is in their best interests. Penning (2011) also claimed that publics consumed information more systematically when the information was
116 aligned with their currently perceived problems. This is very meaningful for corporations to build proper relationships with their targeted publics through providing tailored and useful corporate information. For example, investors are specific publics for corporations because of their unique interest and problem recognition. They usually seek corporate investment information to facilitate their investing decisions. Therefore, corporations should pay attention to specific qualities of related information on their websites to satisfy their investors. This is an important foundation to promote investors’ problem recognition and build beneficial relationships between corporations and investors.
Besides investors, there are various publics related to corporations, such as customers, journalists, corporate internal publics, and so on. Based on the situational theory, corporations should identify and segment related publics and provide specific information to meet publics’ needs. The information factors, such as viewpoint quality, argument strength, and source credibility, can influence publics’ information behavior, and then the achievement of organizational public relations goals (Aldoory & Sha, 2007).
It is an important implication of the situational theory for corporate websites to identify specific publics and address their information needs for the promotion of problem recognition. This is closely connected with the dialogic principle of usefulness of information, which highlights that websites should provide specially tailored information to address users’ needs. The usefulness of information provides the basis for dialogic relationship building because visitors of corporate websites rely on useful and trustworthy
117 information (Kent & Taylor, 1998). Information on corporate websites is not only to serve corporate public relations goals, but also to address the interests and concerns of publics
(S.M. McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009). Therefore, from the perspective of the situational theory, corporations ought to identify their various publics and employ the principle of usefulness of information to provide specific and useful information, which can further promote publics’ information behaviors and relationships with corporations.
The situational theory indicates an effective approach to transforming general people into active publics for corporations. Turpin (2013) claimed that effective public relations should increase publics’ problem recognition and involvement level, and decrease their constraint recognition to promote publics’ communication behaviors with organizations. This effective approach to transformation can be further promoted by Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles (i.e., usefulness of information, ease of interface, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop). As mentioned above, the principle of usefulness of information can promote publics’ problem recognition. The three independent variables of situational theory (i.e., problem recognition, constraint recognition, and level of involvement) can be further promoted by the rest of dialogic principles to facilitate publics’ communication behaviors. The connections between the situational theory and dialogic principles are shown in the figure 2.4.
118 Situational theory Dialogic principles
Usefulness of information Problem recognition
Ease of interface Constraint recognition Conservation of visitors
Generation of return visits Level of involvement
Dialogic loop
Figure 2.4: The connections between the situational theory and dialogic principles
First, problem recognition can also be promoted by the principle of generation of return visits, which emphasizes that websites should provide features that generate return visits and build foundation for long-lasting relationships. Problem recognition is an important prerequisite of publics’ communication behaviors. Publics will engage in an issue only when they are aware of it and recognize its potential to affect them. However, publics are situational. They are changing as the situation and problem changes. Corporate websites need to create long-lasting relationships with publics through the generation of return visits, the goal of which is to maximize the quality of communication between organizations and publics (S.M. McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009). According to the generation of return visits, websites should provide attractive features for repeated visits, such as updated information and changed issues, which is also beneficial for publics to perceive and recognize problems continually. Furthermore, Werder (2005) claimed that if publics
119 personally connected with an issue or message, then they would more likely attend to and comprehend it. The principle of generation of return visits indicates that websites should offer some connective items, such as bookmarks, subscribed information, and shared links, to attract repeated visits. This is helpful to connect publics personally and promote their problem recognition, especially for those latent publics with low problem recognition.
Second, constraint recognition can be decreased by dialogic principles of ease of interface and conservation of visitors. Constraint recognition refers to the extent to which publics identify barriers to act on the problem. High constraints always reduce the possibility that publics search information about a situation. The principle of ease of interface highlights that websites should provide features to facilitate the easy navigation of users. Based on the ease of interface, corporate websites need to organize contents properly and provide sufficient facilitating design items, such as site map and search engine box, to promote easy navigation.
As a result, corporate websites can appear user-friendly and disseminate information as efficiently as possible. The principle of ease of interface is thus beneficial to decrease publics’ constraints in information seeking or information processing and promote publics’ engagement.
The principle of conservation of visitors implies that websites ought to encourage users to stay on websites rather than “surf” to other sites (Esrock & Leichty, 2000). Conservation of visitors emphasizes the respect for visitors’ time, information needs, and interests (S.M.
McAllister-Spooner & Kent, 2009). Corporate websites should not make barriers for visitors’
120 navigation and waste their time or positivity. Some features, such as important information on the front page and short loading time, need to be provided to keep visitors on corporate websites. This is useful to reduce constraint recognition of publics. Otherwise, publics will be impatient if they cannot efficiently get valuable information from corporate websites.
Their constraint recognition will be increased and information behaviors must be inhibited.
Therefore, both the principles of ease of interface and conservation of visitors are beneficial for corporate websites to decrease constraint recognition of publics and promote users’ information behaviors. The utilization of these two principles is especially important for aware publics, who are less likely to engage in information behaviors because of high constraint recognition. These publics will probably become active once perceived constraints are removed (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984).
Third, publics’ level of involvement can be enhanced through the principle of generation of return visits and dialogic loop. Level of involvement, which refers to the degree of personal connectedness to an issue, is the most important independent variable of the situational theory. High level of involvement can enhance individual problem recognition and lower constraint recognition. Level of involvement highlights the connectedness between publics and related issues or situation. As mentioned above, the principle of generation of return visits requires websites to provide some attractive features for repeated visits and utilize some connective items (e.g., bookmarks and subscribed information) to connect publics personally. Then users can have incentive to return websites repeatedly. The principle of generation of return visits is beneficial for corporate websites to make publics feel connected
121 to corporate information and promote their involvement level.
In addition, the principle of dialogic loop, which means that websites should provide users opportunities to ask questions and respond to their questions, is the essence of dialogic principles. Dialogic loop is not a principle of simple feedbacks between organizations and publics but the framework of dialogic communication. Capriotti and Kuklinski (2012) stated that dialogic loop was an ongoing interaction, during which information, opinions, and ideas were continuously exchanged between organizations and publics. Dialogic loop needs the engagements of corporations and publics rather than sole corporations. Only when publics are involved in two-way dialogues can dialogic loop develop. Corporate feedbacks to public inquiries can further promote publics’ involvement in dialogues, because publics are able to feel valued by corporations and get the information of their interest. Therefore, dialogic loop, which emphasizes the involvement of both parties in two-way dialogues, is also beneficial to promote the involvement level of publics and facilitate dialogic relationship building.
Overall, the situational theory provides an important perspective for corporations to segment publics and address targeted publics’ information needs for dialogic relationship building.
According to the situational theory, general people can be transformed into active publics by increasing problem recognition and level of involvement, and decreasing constraint recognition. This transformation approach can be further promoted by dialogic principles.
Corporate websites should utilize dialogic principles to promote publics’ information behaviors and dialogic relationships with corporations.
122 This section provides an overview of the situational theory. Three important independent variables and two dependent variables of the theory are clarified to categorize publics. The situational theory provides an important perspective for corporations to promote publics’ information behaviors and transform general people into active publics of corporate websites.
According to the situational theory, corporations should properly segment corporate publics and conduct targeted communication. Furthermore, Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles
(1998) should be effectively utilized to promote publics’ information behaviors. As a result, more publics could be active to engage in dialogic relationship building with corporations.
Summary
This chapter reviews literatures related to this research and presents an overview of theoretical framework. Internet communication has been a research focus for a long time.
Interactivity, as the key advantage of internet, is an important factor of corporate communication and relationship management. It is necessary to promote the effectiveness of corporate websites, which are useful to achieve corporate various goals. Corporate websites could also benefit corporate public relations in various ways. However, there is still a gap between practitioners’ perceptions and actual utilization of websites. With a rapid development, Chinese Public relations becomes more and more international and professional. Nevertheless, Chinese public relations practice still has its own characteristics with the influence of Chinese culture. This research also reviews related research on corporate websites in China, which has very different research focus on this issue, thus,
123 could offer a beneficial background and reference for this research. All reviews provide necessary theoretical background to this research.
In this research, five important theories (i.e., two-way symmetrical public relations, personal influence theory, relationship management theory, dialogic public relations theory, and situational theory) are included to serve as the theoretical basis to examine dialogic public relations practice through corporate websites. Four models of public relations, especially the two-way symmetry model, are necessary to examine and describe the central ideas of corporate communication and public relations. The relationship management theory changes the primary task of public relations and aims to build mutual beneficial relationships between organizations and publics. It is beneficial to understand corporate efforts for relationship building on corporate websites. The dialogic public relations theory is the focus of this research. With the perspective of dialogue tenets and dialogic principles, corporate dialogic public relations practice could be fully explored and discussed. The personal influence theory and the situational theory are adopted as supplement to explore corporate specific efforts to promote relationship building with publics. All these theories provide important theoretical perspectives for this research to examine corporate dialogic public relations practice.
124 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the methodology issues adopted in this research. Two methods used for this research are: (i) quantitative content analysis, and (ii) qualitative in-depth interview.
Quantitative content analysis was employed to examine the manifest settings and applications of corporate websites. Qualitative in-depth interview was used to explore underlying reasons for such representation and internal perceptions. In this research, dialogic public relations refers to the utilization of two-way dialogic communication to build and maintain beneficial relationships between organizations and publics. Given the fact that most corporations might conduct insufficient dialogic public relations on websites, the utilization of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations was also examined to extend the scope of dialogic public relations.
In content analysis, approximately 100 manufacturing corporate websites of Chinese Fortune
500 companies were selected as samples for analysis. Based on the results of content analysis and interview guideline, in-depth interviews were conducted among 10 corporations from these 100 content analysis samples. According to the results of both content analysis and in-depth interviews, the characteristics of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations, the characteristics of corporate websites in addressing various publics, and the dialogic characteristics of websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building were summarized and analyzed. As a result, corresponding strategies to
125 promote corporate dialogic public relations were proposed. The outline of research methodology is shown in figure 3.1.
Research methodology
Quantitative Qualitative
Content analysis In-depth interview
Content features Design features Perceptions and of corporate of corporate performance of websites websites practitioners
Manifest settings and Underlying reasons and applications of websites internal perceptions
Characteristics of Characteristics of Dialogic Effective dialogic corporate websites corporate websites characteristics of strategies for in promoting in addressing corporate websites corporate
communication various publics in facilitating websites and public dialogic relationship relations building
Figure 3.1: Outline of research methodology
126 3.1 Quantitative Method: Content Analysis
In this research, quantitative content analysis was adopted to examine the utilization of corporate websites for dialogic public relations. This research firstly examined the content features of corporate websites, and then corporate efforts to address various publics with tailored contents for relationship building were summarized. The design features of corporate websites were lastly examined to explore the setting and availability of corporate websites in facilitating dialogic public relations.
3.1.1 Content Analysis
Content analysis has been extensively applied in the research of social sciences including communication study. Hsieh and Shannon (2005) defined content analysis as a method for the “subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns” (p.1278). Their definition clarifies the principal procedure of content analysis.
There are two kind of content analysis: qualitative content analysis and quantitative content analysis. Qualitative content analysis is usually utilized for studies of narratology and semiotics, which need researchers to fully understand the potential meaning and likely effects of texts (Hijmans, 1996). On the other hand, quantitative content analysis uses
“objective and systematic counting and recording procedures to produce a quantitative description of the symbolic content in a text” (Neuman, 2010, p. 273). Quantitative content
127 analysis could be used as a scientific method and generate reliable findings. For media studies, quantitative content analysis could be used to collect data from media contents, such as topics, issues, key words in context, etc. The quantitative description and some inference could then be produced.
According to the research objectives, quantitative content analysis was used in this research, because it could offer a description or explanation of a phenomenon with minimal bias and subjectivity. As stated by Macnamara (2005), description is the first and most basic role of quantitative content analysis, which could provide insights to messages. The inferential and predictive roles are not conclusive but could facilitate understandings to texts. Therefore, quantitative content analysis is an appropriate research method to examine the characteristics of information, and how the information is presented in communication.
As an exploratory study, this research aims to examine the characteristics of manufacturing corporate websites in promoting relationship building. Quantitative content analysis is a suitable method to examine the content and design features of corporate websites for relationship building, because it can provide a reliable quantitative description and a
“systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of message characteristics” (Neuendorf, 2012, p.
1). Based on quantitative content analysis results, this research could enhance the insights and understandings of webbed dialogues and summarize corporate efforts to build dialogic relationships with publics.
128 Quantitative content analysis has been extensively accepted and applied in dialogic public relations research (Hinson, Madichie, & Ibrahim, 2012; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Madichie
& Hinson, 2014; Theunissen, 2014; S.-U. Yang et al., 2015). There are many research with quantitative content analysis to examine various organizational websites’ dialogic characteristics. However, limited research have been conducted to examine and analyze
Chinese corporate websites from the view of dialogic public relations. Thus, it is meaningful to employ quantitative content analysis to examine Chinese manufacturing corporate websites’ involvements and characteristics for dialogic public relations.
3.1.2 Sampling Process
This research selected manufacturing corporations in Chinese Fortune 500 as samples because manufacturing, as one of the key industries in China’s economy, could be the very representative of various industries. Manufacturing is important for the development of economy and society of China, which has been the largest manufacturing country in the world since 2011. However, Chinese manufacturing has many problems, such as poor profitability, low-level technology, and weak competitiveness. Therefore, transformation is crucial for current Chinese manufacturing. Chinese manufacturers need to improve their effectiveness with the promotion of internet economy.
The effective utilization of corporate websites is an important avenue to promote the development of Chinese manufacturing. It is beneficial to select Chinese manufacturing corporations as research samples in order to provide some useful strategies to promote their
129 effective utilization of corporate websites. The manufacturing corporations in Chinese
Fortune 500, which are the most advanced in the field, stand at the highest level in China.
Most of them have actively established and utilized corporate websites. To explore their websites for dialogic public relations is beneficial to building a model for other Chinese manufacturing corporations. Therefore, the present research has both theoretical and practical significance.
As to the identification of manufacturing corporations, this research mainly used the classification of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), which was established by the
Departmental of Labor of the United States. As an advanced classification, the SIC is considered to be very representative and widely acknowledged in the world. The SIC classified various industries into ten different divisions: A. agriculture, forestry, and fishing；
B. mining; C. construction; D. manufacturing; E. transportation, communications, electric, gas, and sanitary services; F. wholesale trade; G. retail trade; H. finance, insurance, and real estate; I. services; J. public administration.
In the classification of the SIC, the manufacturing division mainly includes “establishments engaged in the mechanical or chemical transformation of materials or substances into new products” (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). The new products of manufacturing corporations should be ready for utilization, consumption or further manufacturing.
According to the SIC, manufacturing division includes twenty different industry sectors, such as transportation equipment, chemicals and allied products, primary metal industries,
130 food and kindred products, etc.
From the features of products, manufacturing can be divided into two types: industrial products manufacturing and consumer products manufacturing. Industrial products, such as materials and machinery, are usually used to produce other products. They are necessary factors in the process of further production. Consumer products, such as clothing and food, are final products for individual consumption. Industrial products are always purchased and utilized by organizations, especially manufacturing plants, while consumer products are usually bought and used by individual consumers.
There are some commonalities between industrial products manufacturers and consumer products manufacturers. For example, products are the most important outcomes of their production. Both of these manufacturers mainly make profits through products or related services sales. Customers, both the industrial customers and individual customers, are the focuses of manufacturing operations. Corporate websites, as online communication and transaction platforms, are necessary and important for both types of manufacturing corporations. To get an overall understanding of their utilization of corporate websites, this research selected research samples from both industrial product manufacturers and consumer product manufacturers.
131 i. Sample Size
The sample size of this research is determined according to the guideline by Gay et al.
(2011), who confirmed that a sample size of 30 was often cited as the minimum for experimental research. For descriptive research, it is common to sample 10-20% of the population, although the range will change with the size of the population studied. In this study, the researcher selected 100 manufacturing corporations from the 2013 Chinese
Fortune 500 companies as samples to make content analysis. According to the arguments of
Gay et al. (2011), the sample size is sufficient and representative for this research.
ii. Procedure
The sampling list of manufacturing corporate websites was obtained from the Fortune China website (http://www.fortunechina.com/), which is officially authorized by Time Inc. The
Fortune 500 list, which is issued annually, is one of the most famous lists to assess large global corporations. The Chinese Fortune 500 list is well accepted in China and plays a significant role in the evaluation of Chinese corporations.
There were totally 276 manufacturing corporations in Chinese Fortune 500 list of 2013.
These manufacturing corporations were coded with the number 1 to 276 in this research.
Then 100 random numbers from 1 to 276 were generated through the software of Excel 2007.
Corresponding to these 100 random numbers, about 100 samples were randomly selected from 276 manufacturing corporations in Chinese Fortune 500 list. The sampling process
132 conformed to the requirement of random sampling. The links of samples were acquired directly from the Fortune China website. Among the samples, three corporate websites could not be used during the time of this research (between May and June of 2014). Therefore, 97 websites were available as research samples. The list of sampled manufacturing corporate websites is reported in Appendix A. With ranking from 25 to 500 in the Chinese Fortune 500 list, the distribution of samples was very representative.
iii. Unit of Analysis
Every sample website, including the homepage and all pages that had the same Universal
Resource Locator (URL) address, was coded as the unit for content analysis. Some sample websites had a few hyperlinks to other websites, such as subsidiary corporations. If the first portion of URL address was different from the parent corporation, the web pages of subsidiary corporations or other departments were not selected in the content analysis. The presence or absence of corresponding items in content categories was examined and regarded as indicators of dialogic characteristics.
3.1.3 Coding Scheme
The content analysis in this research was conducted following Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles (i.e., ease of interface, usefulness of information, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop). As stated by Ingenhoff and Koelling (2009) and Taylor et al. (2001), the principle of usefulness of information could be evaluated in
133 general as well as in specific publics. This research examined content features of corporate websites in addressing specific publics, as a result of which, the principle of usefulness of information could be evaluated. It is beneficial to make this research more specific and explicit. The other four dialogic principles (i.e., ease of interface, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop) were examined through the analysis on the design features of corporate websites.
Therefore, based on some former studies (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Jiang, 2006; Kent &
Taylor, 1998; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014), this research adopted and developed a coding scheme, which included two sections: content features, and design features of corporate websites to facilitate dialogic public relations. The coding scheme to evaluate content features was composed of 6 categories and 25 items. The coding scheme to evaluate design features consisted of 4 categories and 22 items. The categories of both content features and design features had a range of 3 to 8 items with a mean of 4.7 items per category.
According to the coding scheme, this research examined the presence or absence of corresponding items in each category. The presence of corresponding items indicated the occurrence of such a feature on the sample websites. The percentage was calculated to assess the scores of corresponding items of all sample websites, for example, 28.87% of sample websites had the item of “speeches”. Consistent with some previous research of Jiang (2006),
Taylor et al. (2001), etc., category score was adopted in this research to calculate the overall score of each category. The category score was computed through the average of all items’
134 scores. Thus, the representation of each category could be more clear and easy to compare.
3.1.3.1 Content Features
The content features of corporate websites were examined to assess the degree to which website contents address different publics for relationship building. The coding schemes developed by Jiang (2006) and Esrock and Leichty (2000) were mainly applied in this research. Each category was proved to be valid and suitable to examine content features of corporate websites in previous studies. Meanwhile, this research made a few amendments on some specific items, because some new items appeared as the evolution of corporate websites.
All sample websites were coded to examine whether they had corresponding items in the categories of content features. The coding scheme to evaluate content features included six different categories, which indicated the six main publics of corporate websites. They were customer category, investor category, media category, internal publics category, community category (CSR category), and government category. All categories and items are shown in table 3.1.
135 Table 3.1: Categories of content features
Category Items Consumer tips or FAQ Product guide or catalogue Customer category (4items) Links to subsidiary corporations or product sites Membership identification Earnings statement Description of corporate business Corporate history Investor category (7 items) Annual report or financial information Mission statement Special section for investor relations Investor contact people listed Press room provided Press releases Media category (5 items) Media contact people listed Clearly stated position on policy issues Speeches Contents related to employment Internal publics category (3 items) Special section for dealers or suppliers Special section for employees Special section for CSR Community category (3 items) Good deeds No harm Contents related to government policy Contents related to government leaders Government category (3 items) Contents related to the construction of Chinese Communist Party i. Customer Category
In this research, customers consist of existing customers and potential customers of corporations. The customer category includes 4 items: (1) consumer tips or frequently asked questions (FAQ) about corporate products; (2) product guide or catalogue; (3) links to subsidiary corporations or product sites; (4) membership identification.
136 ii. Investor Category
Investors in this research mainly include investors and shareholders of corporations. The investor category is constituted of 7 items: (1) earnings statement; (2) description of corporate business; (3) corporate history; (4) annual report or financial information; (5) mission statement; (6) special section for investor relations; (7) investor contact people listed.
iii. Media Category
In this research, the media refers to media practitioners, mainly the journalists. The media category, which indicates media relations with corporations, includes 5 items: (1) press room provided; (2) press releases; (3) media contact people listed; (4) clearly stated position on policy issues; (5) speeches.
iv. Internal Publics Category
According to the classification of Jiang (2006) and Esrock and Leichty (2000), internal publics mainly include current and potential employees, dealers or suppliers. Accordingly, the internal publics category consists of 3 items: (1) contents related to employment
(employment opportunities); (2) special section for dealers or suppliers; (3) special section for employees.
137 v. Community Category (CSR Category)
In the research of Esrock and Leichty (2000), community category is named as social reputation or image category. This category reflects the emphasis that corporations place on
CSR. In the views of Esrock and Leichty (2000), community here refers to activist publics who are concerned about CSR deeds and reputation. According to the arguments of Jiang
(2006), CSR could be classified into two sections: good deeds and no harm. The first section of good deeds includes some factors such as fair business performances, charity, community engagement, cultural diversity, etc. The second section of no harm includes some factors like harmless to environment, product safety, workers’ health, etc. From the perspective of previous studies, this research employs community category with 3 items: (1) special section for CSR; (2) good deeds; (3) no harm.
vi. Government Category
The last one is the government category, which reflects the corporate relations with governments. The publics of this category mainly refer to government officials and employees. The government category includes 3 items: (1) contents related to government policy; (2) contents related to government leaders; (3) contents related to the construction of
Chinese Communist Party. The last item embodies the characteristics of China’s political system.
138 3.1.3.2 Design Features
Based on Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles (1998) to promote dialogic relationship building, plenty of research utilize content analysis to examine design features of organizational websites that facilitate webbed dialogues. It is inevitable that more design items on websites have developed since Kent and Taylor’s proposal of dialogic principles.
Nevertheless, Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles for dialogic relationship building still hold true (Briones et al., 2011).
Based on Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles and some related research literatures
(e.g., Hinson et al., 2012; Ingenhoff & Koelling, 2009; Jiang, 2006), this research used a coding scheme to evaluate design features of corporate websites, which included 4 categories and 22 items. New and frequent design items for dialogic public relations were taken into account in categories. The four categories of design features are: ease of interface, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop, as shown in table 3.2:
139 Table 3.2: Categories of design features
Category Items Site map Search engine box Ease of interface (5 items) Major links to the rest of the website Possibility to select language Low reliance on graphics Important information available on front page Conservation of visitors Short loading time (less than 4 seconds) (3 items) Date of latest update indicated Explicit statement to welcome users Bookmark now Links to other websites Generation of return visits Downloadable information (8 items) Posting news stories within last 30 days Subscribed information through e-mail Shared links Information service Survey of opinions Real-time interaction service or online chat Social media Dialogic loop (6 items) Corporate e-mail Message board or forum Feedback of corporate websites i. Ease of Interface
The principle of ease of interface requires that websites should be arranged properly so that users can easily navigate the websites. As a pre-condition for webbed dialogues, ease of interface category includes 5 items: (1) site map; (2) search engine box; (3) major links to the rest of the website; (4) possibility to select language; (5) low reliance on graphics.
140 ii. Conservation of Visitors
Conservation of visitors refers to websites’ encouragement for visitors to stay on their sites rather than lead them to other websites. The conservation of visitors category includes 3 items: (1) important information available on front page; (2) short loading time (less than 4 seconds); (3) date of latest update indicated.
iii. Generation of Return Visits
The principle of generation of return visits suggests that websites should provide valuable information and valid features to attract users and encourage their repeated visits. As a result, generations of return visits could establish foundation for long-lasting relationships. The generation of return visits category includes 8 items: (1) explicit statement to welcome users;
(2) bookmark now; (3) links to other websites; (4) downloadable information; (5) posting news stories within last 30 days; (6) subscribed information through e-mail; (7) shared links;
(8) information service.
iv. Dialogic Loop
Finally, dialogic loop is considered as the most important principle of Kent and Taylor’s
(1998) dialogic principles. According to this principle, websites need to create and maintain a dialogic loop, from which publics can query organizations and organizations have opportunities to respond. The dialogic loop category includes 6 items: (1) survey of opinions;
(2) real-time interaction service or online chat; (3) social media; (4) corporate e-mail; (5)
141 message board or forum; (6) feedback of corporate websites.
It should be noted that this research examined the actual dialogic responsiveness of sample websites with the name of “feedback of corporate websites” in dialogic loop category. Some simple information queries were sent to all samples through the dialogic channels on their websites, such as corporate e-mail, message board, and real-time interaction service. If there was not any dialogic channel on the websites, the samples were considered to be incapable to respond. The actual responses of samples within 7 days were counted as the score of
“feedback of corporate websites”. As a result of the investigation, this research accurately examined and assessed the actual dialogic behaviors of samples. After all, websites could not be dialogic enough unless they actually engage in dialogues and respond to requirements.
3.1.4 Intercoder Reliability
In order to measure intercoder reliability of coding scheme in this research, two coders, the researcher and another coder coded 20 sample websites (about 20% of total samples) independently. The coded websites were randomly selected in all the samples. The entire 47 items in 10 categories of content features and design features were examined. The reliability coefficients, which were measured by Scott’s pi formula, ranged from 0.83 to 0.93 (M=0.86).
Therefore, the results sufficiently proved the reliability of the content analysis in this research. After the pre-test for intercoder reliability, all samples were coded by a single coder
(the researcher). After the coding process, data were counted and analyzed by the software
SPSS 20.0. Descriptive analysis was used to answer some research questions.
142 3.2 Qualitative Method: In-Depth Interviews
To get a deeper understanding of this issue, qualitative in-depth interview was also employed to explore the perceptions and performances of corporate public relations practitioners. Their opinions and understandings towards corporate websites and dialogic public relations could be summarized. As a result, the internal factors to influence the dialogic public relations on corporate websites were analyzed.
3.2.1 In-Depth Interviews
Quantitative content analysis method is very useful to examine and identify the content features and design features of websites for dialogic public relations. However, it is difficult for this method to examine the understandings and perceptions of public relations practitioners, which could significantly indicate how much attention corporations pay to dialogic public relations on corporate websites.
Meanwhile, numerous content analyses have proved that many websites are not dialogic enough, but limited research have been conducted to explore public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of dialogic relationship building. As a result, the question why many websites do not maximize their dialogic functions cannot be answered. Therefore, this research applied another method, the qualitative in-depth interview to explore public relations practitioners’ perceptions of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations, especially the dialogic public relations. The mixed method of content
143 analysis and in-depth interviews is sufficient to get a better understanding of how corporations strategically utilize websites to promote corporate communication and relationship building.
Boyce and Neale (2006) defined in-depth interview as a qualitative research method which
“involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation” (p.3). As a main method of data collection in qualitative research, in-depth interview could reproduce a fundamental process by which knowledge of society is constructed through normal interpersonal interaction (Legard, Keegan, & Ward, 2013).
In-depth interview is able to provide a more complete picture of what happened and why, which could hardly be obtained from pure quantitative method (Gill, Stewart, Treasure, &
Chadwick, 2008). In-depth interview is ideal for exploratory research because it could help researchers get a deeper understanding of progress or phenomena from participants’ perceptions (Sommerfeldt et al., 2012). Therefore, in-depth interview is appropriate for this research to explore the internal factors that influence dialogic public relations on corporate websites. In-depth interview is useful to explore the underlying reasons through detailed perceptions from individual participants.
In-depth interview could focus on the actual perceptions and experience of practitioners
(Jahansoozi, 2007). As a result, it could find answers to research questions through
“examining various social settings and the individuals who inhabit these settings”(Berg &
144 Lune, 2012, p. 8). Therefore, it is beneficial to gain deeper insights about the participants’ personal assessment and performance on dialogic public relations, which could also reflect the emphasis level of corporations. Based on the actual perceptions of practitioners and content analysis results, the characteristics of corporate websites in promoting communication and relationship building could be summarized, and internal factors that influence corporate dialogic performance could be analyzed.
3.2.2 Sampling Process
i. Identification of Samples
In order to be consistent with content analysis, this research purposively recruited and identified participants from the 97 sample websites of content analysis. The manifest content features and design features of websites could then be connected with internal perceptions of public relations practitioners to provide a comprehensive understanding.
This research sent e-mails or online messages to all 97 sample websites of content analysis to apply for interviews with their practitioners. Research introductions and interview guidelines were also described in the e-mails or online messages. Unfortunately, most corporations ignored or denied the application of interviews. Only 15 corporations approved the interview requirements. Among these 15 corporations, three corporations were deleted from the interview list of this research due to their partial representativeness. Eventually, 12 manufacturing corporations were purposively selected as interview samples, but two of
145 which, were not informative and normative enough. As a result, the 10 interviews were finally adopted for data analysis of this research.
It is suggested that data saturation should be generally reached between 8 to 22 interviews for this type of research (McCracken, 1993). Moreover, Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggested that “in purposeful sampling the size of the sample is determined by informational considerations. If the purpose is to maximize information, the sample is terminated when no new information is forthcoming from new sampled units; thus redundancy is the primary criterion” (p. 202). After 10 interviews in this research, some responses became repetitive and redundant. Therefore, the sample size of this research is acceptable. The 10 interviews made sufficient data for analysis.
ii. Participants
All participants worked in the headquarters of 10 sample corporations, which were located in six large cities in northern China. They were all full-time employees, who were engaged in public relations or communication-related works. Furthermore, most participants were department directors who took charge of corporate websites, especially the content production and management of websites.
Four participants were male and six were female, with the age ranged from 36 to 55 years, and working experience from 6 to 20 years. All participants were professional in public relations and corporate communication. Participants’ job titles included director of news
146 centre, director of propaganda department, director of corporate culture department, senior manager of brand and public relations department, etc.
All participants gave verbal agreements to join this research. However, to make the interviews more open and objective, most of the participants asked for privacy protection for themselves and their corporations. Therefore, the names of participants and sample corporations were concealed. The list and detailed information of participants and their corporations are described in table 3.3.
Table 3.3: List of participants
Job titles Gender Main business of corporations Code Miscellaneous products of 1 Director of news centre Male S1 petroleum and coal Director of propaganda 2 Female Chemicals and allied products S2 department Deputy director of 3 Male Steel works S3 propaganda department Ship and boat building and 4 Director of news centre Male S4 repairing Director of corporate Agricultural chemicals and 5 Female S5 culture department fertilizers Senior manager of brand Miscellaneous products of 6 and public relations Female petroleum and coal; agricultural S6 department chemicals Director of public Flavoring extracts; industrial 7 Female S7 relations department organic chemicals Staff of public relations Motor vehicles and motor 8 Female S8 department vehicle equipment Director of public 9 Male Electrical industrial apparatus S9 relations department Director of brand Stone, clay, glass, and concrete 10 Female S10 management department products
147 iii. Time Frame
Pilot interviews with two participants were initially conducted in June of 2014. Due to some problems during the pilot interviews, the interview questions were further improved. Formal interviews with 10 corporations were conducted and completed in July of 2014.
All 10 interviews were face to face. Researcher went to the above ten corporations in six cities of China and conducted face-to-face interviews with the participants. Semi-structured topics were utilized in the interviews to explore public relations practitioners’ perceptions towards corporate website and dialogic public relations. The interviews lasted 20 minutes to
76 minutes, with the average of 45.6 minutes. All interviews were taped for data collection.
3.2.3 Interview Guideline
Semi-structured interviews were conducted in this research. They not only define the areas to examine, but also allow participants to diverge to pursue some specific ideas in detail (Gill et al., 2008). In the interviews, participants were asked a series of open-ended questions about their perceptions and performance. The open-ended questions are beneficial to emphasize the focus on research topics, and allow the participants to express their personal viewpoints.
Some key questions were employed as study instruments and interview guideline for the interviews. These questions were mainly designed according to research questions stated in chapter 1. Some questions were proposed based on the results of content analysis.
Preliminary questions were further improved after the pilot interviews. As a result, the
148 interview guideline was more targeted and valid to examine research questions. The interview questions, which served as the interview guideline, are shown in table 3.4 below.
Table 3.4: Interview guideline
Interview guideline 1 What is the organizational structure to manage your corporate website? What’s the number of staff to operate corporate website? How about the visitor volume? Who are the main publics of your corporate websites? 2 What are the main usages of your corporate website? What is the role of corporate website in your corporation? 3 How could your corporation to make communication or public relations activities through your corporate website? What are the effects? Do you have any typical examples? 4 How could your corporate website attract users to visit? How does your website address various publics? 5 Have you heard about dialogic public relations? What do you think about the dialogues with publics through corporate websites? Is that useful? 6 Does your corporate website provide some interactive functions or dialogic functions? What are them? How about the application? 7 What factors influence your corporate website to dialogue with publics? 8 How can your corporate website promote dialogic relationship building? 9 What are the advantages and the disadvantages of your corporate website? How to improve?
3.2.4 Analysis Process
All interview records were firstly transcribed verbatim. The data of the interviews were analyzed according to Strauss and Corbin’s (2014) procedure of qualitative data analysis.
The software of Nvivo 10 was utilized to analyze the data.
The interview results were initially analyzed with open coding. Data were broken down into small units for observation and examination. All comments in every interview related to practitioners’ perceptions towards the utilization of corporate websites for communication
149 and relationship building were checked and coded to categorize information. After preliminary data categorization, results were compared and analyzed to find similarities and differences. Similar categories were grouped to form themes. The emerged themes could include all related categories and provide answers to the research questions.
Summary
This chapter presents the methodology of this research. Quantitative content analysis and qualitative in-depth interview were used as mixed method to examine dialogic relationship building through corporate websites. The characteristics of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations were also examined to extend the scope of dialogic public relations. These issues are closely connected with each other. Approximately
100 manufacturing corporate websites from Chinese Fortune 500 were randomly selected for content analysis. Based on previous studies, this research applied a coding scheme to examine content features and design features of corporate website for dialogic relationship building. The coding scheme was identified to be reliable through the measurement of intercoder reliability in the pilot study. In-depth interviews were further conducted with 10 participants to examine public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards corporate websites and dialogic relationship building. The results of both content analysis and in-depth interview provided sufficient information to answer the research questions.
150 CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
This research employs quantitative content analysis and qualitative in-depth interviews as mix method to examine the characteristics of manufacturing corporate websites. This chapter presents the results and findings of both methods. It consists of two sections. Section one introduces the results of content analysis to describe content features and design features of corporate websites. Section two demonstrates the results of in-depth interview and provides four themes for this research.
4.1 Content Analysis on Content and Design Features of Websites
This section applied content analysis to examine manufacturing corporate websites in two aspects: the content features and the design features. First, this research analyzed the content features of corporate websites in addressing various publics with tailored contents. The results of content features could indicate the priorities given to different publics by corporate websites. Second, this research examined design features of corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations. Corporate employment of dialogic principles on corporate websites was examined and analyzed. As a result, this section provides a broad picture of how
Chinese manufacturing corporate websites address their publics and employ dialogic principles.
151 4.1.1 Content Features
To explore the characteristics of corporate websites in addressing various publics, this research initially examined the number of publics that corporate websites addressed. Then the level of priority given to specific publics was further explored. As mentioned in the chapter of methodology, six content categories (customer category, investor category, media category, internal publics category, community category, and government category) were employed to examine content features. Corporate websites were coded according to their relevant content items to specific publics. The results could be an indicator of the prominence that corporate websites give to different publics.
Table 4.1: Number of publics addressed by the contents of websites
Publics addressed Frequency Percentage 6 29 29.90% 5 44 45.36% 4 14 14.43% 3 7 7.22% 2 2 2.06% 1 1 1.03% Total 97 100%
The results of content analysis indicated that most corporate websites addressed multiple publics with related contents. As shown in table 4.1, only one website (1.03%) targeted a single type of publics. Most corporate websites addressed five types of publics (45.36%), followed in order by six types of publics (29.90%), four types (14.43%), three types (7.22%), and two types (2.06%). It was obvious that the contents of most corporate websites were arranged to address as many publics as possible. This seemed to be the basic content feature
152 of corporate websites. The majority of corporate websites tended to make full use of their websites to address various publics.
Table 4.2: Frequency of public combinations
Combination of publics Frequency (%) Customer/investor/media/internal publics/community/government 29(29.90%) Customer/investor/media/internal publics/community 23(23.71%) Customer/investor/media/internal publics/government 17(17.53%) Customer/investor/media/internal publics 10(10.31%) Customer/investor/media 6(6.12%) Customer/investor/media/community/government 4(4.12%) Customer/investor/media/government 3(3.09%) Investor/media 2(2.06%) Customer/investor/media/community 1(1.03%) Investor/media/community 1(1.03%) Investor 1(1.03%) Total 97(100%)
To identify specific combinations of publics addressed by websites’ contents, further analysis was carried out. As shown in table 4.2, there were actually 11 different combinations of publics addressed by corporate websites. The most frequent combination of publics comprised customer, investor, media, internal publics, community, and government (29.90%).
For this combination, all types of publics could find their interested contents respectively in corporate websites. The second one was the combination of customer, investor, media, internal publics, and community (23.71%), followed by customer, investor, media, internal publics, government (17.35%), and customer, investor, media, internal publics (10.31%). The top four frequent combinations accounted for 81.45% of all types of combinations. Each of the rest of combinations accounted for less than 10%. The investor seemed to be a very important type of publics for websites, because it appeared in every combination. Media and
153 customer publics also seemed to be emphasized by manufacturing websites. The exact results of the degree to which publics were prioritized would be further examined in the following sections.
This research utilized six content categories to assess the specific degree to which websites targeted different publics. The six content categories included 25 items in total. Every website was examined for the presence or absence of all items. The scores of all categories were calculated by the percentages of present items. Meanwhile, the mean score of each category was generated to exactly measure how much priority corporate websites targeted specific publics with tailored contents. The overall ranking of six publics categories is shown in figure 4.1. The overall content features for various publics are revealed in table 4.3.
89.40% 90% 80% 70% 61.24% 60% 52.32% 47.08% 45.70% 50%
40% 27.49% 30% 20% 10% 0% Customer Investor Media Internal Community Government publics
Figure 4.1: Ranking of six publics categories
154 Table 4.3: Overall content features for various publics
Categories Percentage (%) Customer category (4items, M=52.32) Consumer tips or FAQ 30.93 Product guide or catalogue 90.72 Links to subsidiary corporations or product sites 69.07 Membership identification 18.56 Investor category (7 items, M=89.40) Earnings statement 95.88 Description of corporate business 98.97 Corporate history 87.63 Annual report or financial information 95.88 Mission statement 87.63 Special section for investor relations 94.85 Investor contact people listed 64.95 Media category (5 items, M=61.24) Press room provided 92.78 Press releases 95.88 Media contact people listed 10.31 Clearly stated position on policy issues 78.35 Speeches 28.87 Internal publics category (3 items, M=47.08) Contents related to employment 73.20 Special section for dealers or suppliers 18.56 Special section for employees 49.48 Community category (3 items, M=45.70) Special section for CSR 50.52 Good deeds 52.58 No harm 34.02 Government category (3 items, M=27.49) Contents related to government policy 21.65 Contents related to government leaders 45.36 Contents related to the construction of Chinese Communist 15.46 Party
As indicated by figure 4.1 and table 4.3, there was a large variance of the scores in each category, which meant that websites paid quite a different attention to various publics. With a mean score of 89.4%, the investor seemed to be the most important targeted publics of
155 corporate websites. Most items in the investor category scored highly. For example, about
98.97% of websites had the item of “description of corporate business” and 95.88% of websites had the section of “earnings statement”. Although only 64.95% of websites clearly listed contact people for investors, investors were best addressed by website contents.
The second most important type of targeted publics was the media, which had a mean score of 61.24%. Most corporate websites paid much attention to addressing the media. For example, 92.78% of websites provided press room, namely the special section for the media.
About 95.88% of websites set the section of “press releases”. However, some items in the media category were apparently ignored. Only 28.87% of websites clearly showed corporate speeches, and 10.31% of websites provided a list of media contact persons. This was rather limited compared to investor contact people lists. It seemed that corporate websites placed very different weights on various items in the media category.
The customer was supposed to be a very important type of publics for corporate websites.
However, results of the content analysis indicated that customers were just the third primary publics of corporate websites. Most websites indeed provided customers with product information (90.72%) and extended links to subsidiary corporations or product sites
(69.07%). However, they failed to offer customers sufficient information, such as consumer tips or FAQ (30.93%) and membership identification (18.56%). It seemed that corporate websites just provided customers with some basic product information instead of further information to promote mutual relationship.
156 The internal publics category had the fourth highest score (47.8%). As shown in table 4.3, there were actually three special sections, i.e. employment section, dealers or suppliers section, and employees section. The results indicated that websites provided relatively more contents (73.20%) to potential employees. Most corporations released special employment information on their websites. Corporate website could be a convenient and economical channel to recruit new employees. Furthermore, excellent treatment and broad space for development were always shown in the current employees section of websites. It could be considered as an important attraction for potential employees. Therefore, potential employees seemed to be the most important publics in this category. Meanwhile, some websites offered current employees internal administrative service, which could improve efficiency. Corporate websites did not pay much attention to dealers and suppliers. Only a few websites’ contents (18.56%) targeted these publics. It appeared that corporate website was not a valued platform for corporate dealers and suppliers.
Corporate websites paid less attention to the community category (CSR category). Only
50.52% of websites set special section for CSR, which was an important part for corporate image building in the community. About 52.58% of websites showed their good deeds (e.g., charity, fair business, safe production, community engagement, etc.) to build a responsible corporate image. However, only 34.02% of websites clearly declared that their products and process of production were not harmful.
157 The government category had the lowest mean score of 27.49%, which meant that corporate websites paid the least attention to this category. It appeared that websites put different weights on the items in this category. About 45.36% of websites had some contents related to government leaders, especially the leaders who were concerned with the corporations. About
21.65% of websites released some contents about government policies on industry. Only
15.46% of websites set contents about the construction of Chinese Communist Party. It was not an important part in this category.
From the results of content analysis, it was obvious that most corporate websites addressed multiple publics rather than limited types of publics. However, manufacturing corporate websites gave quite different priorities to various publics with tailored contents.
4.1.2 Design Features
This research also explored the design features of manufacturing corporate websites for dialogic relationship building. Based on Kent and Taylor’s dialogic principles (1998) and some previous research (e.g., Hinson et al., 2012; Ingenhoff & Koelling, 2009; Jiang, 2006) to promote webbed dialogues, this research employed a coding scheme of 4 categories and
22 items to assess design features of corporate websites. The presence or absence of all items were calculated in terms of percentage, then the design features were evaluated from the statistic results. The category score was the mean score of items in each category.
158 77.32% 71.96% 80% 70% 60% 50% 36.34% 40% 25.95% 30% 20% 10% 0% Ease of Conservation of Generation of Dialogic loop interface visitors return visits
Figure 4.2: Ranking of four design features to promote dialogic public relations
As shown in figure 4.2, although many corporate websites applied some principles to facilitate dialogic public relations, they treated different principles with varying emphases.
The score of conservation of visitors (77.32%) was the highest, followed by ease of interface
(71.96%), generation of return visits (36.34%), and dialogic loop (25.95%). It was obvious that corporate websites paid more attention to conservation of visitors and ease of interface than generation of return visits and dialogic loop. Corporate websites seemed to emphasize the fundamental design features for an easy interface and the conservation of visitors rather than actual dialogues with visitors and the generation of return visits.
159 Table 4.4: Overall design features to promote dialogic public relations
Categories Percentage (%) Ease of interface (5 items, M=71.96) Site map 51.55 Search engine box 56.70 Major links to the rest of the website 98.97 Possibility to select language 82.47 Low reliance on graphics 70.10 Conservation of visitors (3 items, M=77.32) Important information available on front page 72.16 Short loading time (less than 4 seconds) 86.60 Date of latest update indicated 73.20 Generation of return visits (8 items, M=36.34) Explicit statement to welcome users 4.12 Bookmark now 13.40 Links to other websites 81.44 Downloadable information 44.33 Posting news stories within last 30 days 65.98 Subscribed information through e-mail 12.37 Shared links 9.28 Information service 59.79 Dialogic loop (6 items, M=25.95) Survey of opinions 3.09 Real-time interaction service or online chat 8.25 Social media 24.74 Corporate e-mail 62.89 Message board or forum 50.52 Feedback of corporate websites 6.19
Corporate websites’ specific employment of each design category is shown in table 4.4. It seemed that the majority of corporations considered the conservation of visitors as the most important design feature. Most of items in this category had high scores. About 86.6% of websites provided a short loading time (less than 4 seconds), which was very important for conservation of visitors. It was believed that visitors would be impatient if the loading time exceeded 4 seconds (Ha & James, 1998). About 72.16% of websites clearly showed
160 important information on the front page, which was the initial information portal for visitors.
However, some websites failed to provide enough information on their front pages. Several websites merely set some large decorative pictures on front pages without sufficient information. Some other websites provided a few headlines of contents without specific information. Visitors needed to further click links to get more information, which was a test for visitors’ tolerance. Moreover, about 7.22% of websites applied the splash screen on their front pages, which was considered to be out of style. Last, about 73.2% of websites clearly indicated the date of the latest updates. It was beneficial to conserve visitors and increase the attraction of websites, because visitors prefer reading up-to-date information.
The category of ease of interface had the second highest score (71.96%). Most corporate websites sought to provide some convenient items to facilitate visitors’ interface. For instance, about 98.97% of websites set major links to the rest of the website. Around 82.47% of websites allowed visitors to select languages (mainly Chinese and English).
Approximately 70.1% of websites had a low reliance on graphics, which could improve loading speed of websites. However, some websites did not make enough efforts to facilitate easy navigation. Only 56.7% of websites provided search engine box. The score of the “site map” item was even lower (51.55%). The lack of search engine box and site map undoubtedly influenced the efficiency of web surfing.
Most corporate websites paid insufficient attention to the category of generation of return visits (36.34%). There was a wide variance (ranging from 4.12% to 81.44%) in the scores of
161 related items. Most items in the generation of return visits category had very low scores. For instance, corporate websites provided very limited design items such as explicit statements to welcome users (4.12%), shared links (9.28%), subscribed information through e-mail
(12.37%), bookmarks (13.4%), and downloadable information (44.33%). The lack of these items was disadvantageous for websites to build a sustainable relationship with visitors, who might easily forget corporate websites without bookmarks and shared links.
Subscribed information could not only offer visitors useful information related to corporations, but also work as a reminder for constant concerns of visitors. Downloadable information might satisfy specific information needs and promote visitors to notice updated information on corporate websites. Likewise, some information services (e.g., real-time stock information, anti-counterfeit check for products, traffic information, etc) could provide visitors with convenient information assistance, which attracted return visits. Corporate websites attached relatively more attention to the item of “information service” (59.79%) than “downloadable information” (44.33%) and “subscribed information” (12.37%).
The item of “links to other websites” was well accepted by corporate websites (81.44%), which could be considered as an extended service. Through these links, visitors could find related websites of similar industries or related departments of government. Only 65.98% of websites updated their news regularly within 30 days. Many websites failed to update contents timely, which discouraged the return visits because few visitors liked a freezing website. The item of “explicit statement to welcome users” had the lowest score (4.12%).
162 Obviously, it was not considered as an important item by most websites, although it could bring visitors with some pleasure.
The principle of dialogic loop is very important for dialogic public relations. Corporate websites should provide sufficient dialogic channels to promote dialogic public relations.
Dialogic channels on websites are functional prerequisites for dialogic relationship building.
Moreover, according to the principle of dialogic loop, websites should engage in actual dialogues with publics. However, the score of the dialogic loop category was disappointing.
Among the four categories, the dialogic loop category got the lowest score (25.95%), which meant that websites paid quite limited attention to this principle.
In the dialogic loop category, there was a wide variance ranging from 3.09% to 62.89%.
Corporate websites provided some dialogic channels, such as corporate e-mail (62.89%), message board or forum (50.52%), social media (24.74%), real-time interaction service
(8.25%), and survey of opinions (3.09%). These items worked as the basis and prerequisites for webbed dialogues. Without sufficient dialogic channels, dialogues through websites could hardly come true. However, dialogic channels alone were not enough for dialogic relationship building. Corporations should engage in actual dialogues with publics. However, most corporations failed to engage in actual dialogues on their websites. This research examined the availability of dialogic channels on websites through sending a simple question.
Finally, only 6.19% of corporations gave a feedback to the question, which indicated that most actual dialogues with publics were ignored. Although some corporations provided
163 several dialogic channels on their websites, they seemed to be quite passive to reply actual information queries.
This section examined the content features and design features of corporate websites for dialogic relationship building. Corporate website is not merely a gathering of various items.
Behind the website, there is always something of corporate value, purpose, and attention.
From the results of content analysis, it was significant that corporate websites addressed various publics with different priorities. Although most corporations employed dialogic principles in website design to facilitate dialogic relationship building, they also placed varying weights on different principles.
4.2 In-Depth Interviews on the Perceptions and Performance of Public Relations
Practitioners
This section utilized in-depth interviews to examine the public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards their corporate websites as communication and public relations tools. Their viewpoints and practice towards dialogic public relations through corporate websites were also summarized and analyzed. According to the results of in-depth interviews, the underlying reasons and internal perceptions on this issue were explored to offer this research sufficient insights to achieve research objectives.
All in-depth interviews were carried out with the semi-structured questions illustrated in the research methodology of chapter four. After preliminary data categorization and analysis, the
164 results of interviews formed four important themes related to research objectives. This section presents these themes in four parts: (i) corporate websites as communication tools, (ii) corporate websites as public relations tools, (iii) corporate websites in addressing various publics, and (iv) dialogic characteristics of corporate websites.
4.2.1 Corporate Websites as Communication Tools
Corporate website can play an important role in corporate communication. In the interviews, most participants confirmed that corporate websites were indispensable for corporate strategic communication. They utilized corporate websites for corporate communication in various ways. However, in many participants’ opinions, corporate websites were not crucial communication tools, which usually got low priority and insufficient resources from corporations. This section consists of three parts: (i) the importance of corporate websites, (ii) multiple usages, and (iii) corporate websites acting as the secondary roles.
4.2.1.1 The Importance of Corporate Websites
In the interviews, the importance of corporate websites was widely acknowledged. Most participants viewed their websites as beneficial platforms for corporate communication.
Some participants claimed that a corporate website was the symbol of corporate image and competitiveness. The participant S2 supported this viewpoint by saying that:
The corporate website is like the face of a corporation. Through information dissemination, it could give a good impression of the corporation for publics. For example, a person is kind in nature and nice to others. However, if someone says that he is a bad guy, then publics will doubt whether it is true or not. If publics do not
165 know much about the person, they may follow the negative comments and make wrong judgments. The corporate website is useful to introduce corporation and establish good impressions to publics.
The symbolic effect of corporate websites was confirmed by some other participants. For instance, the participant S4 stated that:
The corporate website is a brand to symbolize the corporation. When many people are not familiar with your corporation, they could visit your website, which may give them a good impression and promote possible cooperation. Our corporate website is like the window, platform, mouthpiece, eyes and ears, and brainpower.
Although some new media forms, such as social media and mobile websites, had a rapid development and provided more choices for corporate communication, the majority of participants still considered corporate websites indispensable. The participant S10 described corporate website as “final destination” of some other new media forms. She said:
The corporate website is our brand and integration of corporate information. We usually utilize some other forms of new media to attract publics to our corporate website. Here our corporate website works as the final destination of corporate communication.
The participant S3 expressed the similar viewpoints towards corporate websites. Moreover, he highlighted the important role of corporate websites and explained the relationship between corporate websites and other new media through an interesting parable. He stated that:
In current new media environment, the corporate website plays the role of lead ship. Other forms of new media are our frigates. It is like an aircraft carrier fleet. Among the fleet, the corporate website is the aircraft carrier. Micro blog, interactive platform, and online post bar, are other ships in this fleet. Our website is viewed as the mainstay coupled with other media platforms.
166 It was obvious that most participants gave high marks on the importance of corporate websites. Corporate websites were indispensable for corporate communication in current new media environment.
4.2.1.2 Multiple Usages
Most participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites for corporate communication. Corporations always had multiple usages of corporate websites in corporate communication. The results of interviews indicated three main usages of corporate websites:
(i) building corporate image, (ii) display of products and services, and (iii) internal communication.
(i) Building Corporate Image
Building corporate image through corporate websites was most frequently mentioned by participants. Some participants considered that corporate websites represented the image and competitiveness of corporations. Corporate website was a visible and appreciable platform to give publics some impressions of corporations. The participant S1 pointed out that they always utilized corporate websites to enhance corporate reputation and improve corporate influence. The participant S4 agreed with this viewpoint by saying that:
The corporate website could help us build proper corporate image, including corporate spirit. As an important window and platform, the corporate website is the most efficient carrier to present current situations and core features of our corporation. In this digital era, traditional media such as newspaper, magazins, and television, are not so efficient as websites, which can provide a convenient and continuous channel to disseminate corporate information.
167 It seemed that positive propaganda was the focus of building corporate image through corporate websites. Corporations introduced corporate information and publicized positive contents to establish good public impressions. Many participants confirmed this viewpoint.
The participant S7 stated that:
The corporate website is a brand of our corporation. People could learn more about our corporation through our corporate website. We plan to build the corporate website as a window of corporate high-end image, which could give the opportunity for the establishment of a closer relationship with publics.
As to specific methods to building corporate images through corporate websites, many participants expressed their emphasis on corporate news release, which was useful to demonstrate the corporate philosophy and culture. The participant S2 said that:
In my opinion, the news, especially corporate important news, attracts the most public attention. Of course, our corporate philosophy can be conveyed through some regular columns on the website, such as corporation introduction. However, those columns are not enough. Actually, the belief of “content is king” still holds true in internet environment. The most important content for corporate image is corporate significant news related to important events, trends, and crucial decisions, which is indispensable to attract public attention. The corporate image will be gradually built in the process of news communication.
It seemed that the participant S2 considered the news release on corporate websites as an important method to build corporate images. Her viewpoints were supported by some other participants. The participant S6 claimed that their purpose was to convert corporate news on corporate websites to reports on mainstream media. As a result, more publics could learn about their corporation.
168 Many participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites in corporate image building. Most of them considered news release as the main method to promote corporate images through websites. However, the participant S10 gave a different and stereoscopic thinking about image building through corporate websites by saying that:
It is systematic to build corporate images through corporate websites. There are many elements on the website, influencing the public perceptions towards the corporation. It is a collection of appearance (e.g., design style, color), information (e.g., timely update, normative contents), and philosophy (e.g., corporate values, corporate culture). Of course, websites’ contents are very important for image building. You could build a specific corporate image through related contents on the website. However, it is a systematic and stereoscopic project to build a proper image through the corporate website.
Most participants preferred news release through corporate websites to build corporate images. However, as stated by the participant S10, corporations should have a systematic and stereoscopic utilization of corporate websites for image building.
(ii) Display of Products and Services
Many participants considered the corporate website as an important platform to display corporate products and services. As stated by the participant S6, the primary task of corporate websites was to introduce corporations and corporate products. In her opinion, corporate website was a visible platform to show corporate products, which could promote customers to purchase or cooperate with corporations. Many participants identified their emphasis on the display of products and services through corporate websites. The participant
S8 expressed that:
169 For our corporate website, it is very important to show products. We want to offer customers some precise perceptions of our products so that we could leave customers’ good impressions of our high-quality products. Furthermore, we could promote customers’ attention to our corporation through our products.
The corporation of S8 is an automobile manufacturer, whose products directly face individual customers. They wanted to show their products to customers precisely. Some other participants, whose customers were big dealers or industrial customers, also confirmed the importance to display products on websites. The participant S7 expressed the same opinions by saying that:
Our customers are mainly big industrial customers, such as Unilever and Nestle. We provide them with products of amino acid. Although most of our products are not sold directly to common consumers, we still need to show our major products and productive technology on the corporate website, especially the scale and technology of new products. It is concerned by our big customers.
Although most of participants believed that it was necessary to display corporate products and services on corporate websites, there was one corporate website without product information. The corporate website of S1 merely provided some general corporate introductions without specific information of products. The participant S1 explained that:
Our corporation is a large one with many subsidiaries, which are the subjects of practical operation. There are some introductions of products on their websites. Our corporation as the head office cannot concentrate on some specific sections. Furthermore, our corporate website provides some links to subsidiaries websites, where visitors can find specific product information. After all, the website of our corporation is not an e-commerce website. It does not need to make profits through online sales.
The specific information on subsidiary websites can supplement corporate websites through the links between them. However, the problem is whether visitors have enough tolerance to
170 click those links to get specific information they want. Although corporations might have a large amount of specific business, they should introduce their products on corporate websites, which could provide convenience to visitors.
(iii) Internal Communication
Many participants pointed out that corporate websites were important channels for corporate internal communication, which could promote internal information exchange and enhance the cohesion within corporations. The participant S4 believed that corporate website was a bridge between corporate leadership and employees. Corporate websites could work as an important channel to convey instructions from higher management to their employees and report true conditions from employees to higher management. He stated that:
Corporate leaders could gather the voice of common employees through our corporate website. Such voice is helpful for the corporation to make decisions. Common employees can also receive the requirements from the corporate leadership through website’s contents, such as speeches and corporate trends. The corporate website can promote the interaction of corporate leadership and common employees to increase the cohesion and boost morale.
The participant S9 held the similar opinion and stressed that corporate website was a public platform to share corporate information. He stated that:
All staff in our corporation from the chairman to employees would like to learn about corporate information through our website. The website can facilitate the spreading of corporate news within our corporation. In my opinion, our corporate website is an important platform to share information and enhance employees’ participation.
171 Corporate websites can also promote communication within various departments or subsidiaries in the corporation. The participant S1 expressed that:
There is always some information about our subsidiary corporations on the corporate website. Through the website, information could be shared and communicated in our various departments. As a result, our subsidiary corporations can learn from each other and make proper interactions for their own development.
On the other hand, corporations can benefit from the utilization of office automation systems on corporate websites. Some participants considered that the office automation system on corporate websites could significantly improve corporate operational efficiency. The participant S7 stated that:
The office automation system is an important part of our corporate website, and can improve our corporate informatization level and provide a convenient service. As a result, corporate operational efficiency is obviously enhanced. For example, if we want to offer some customers accommodations and dinners, we will accomplish the working process through the system on our corporate website, which can save much time and improve the efficiency.
According to the interviews, corporate websites always performed as important internal communication channels. Corporate leaders and employees could share information and interact positively through corporate websites. Various departments or subsidiary companies in the corporation could also benefit from the information dissemination on corporate websites. The office automation system was a useful function on corporate website, which could significantly improve corporate efficiency. Corporations could utilize corporate websites to promote communication in various ways.
172 4.2.1.3 Corporate Websites Acting as the Secondary Roles
Although corporate websites could benefit corporate communication in various ways, many corporations failed to pay much attention to their websites. The majority of corporate websites acted as the secondary roles in corporate communication. They could not get a high priority from corporations. This problem is reflected in two aspects. First, corporate websites were always managed by various corporate departments without efficient coordination.
Second, many corporations did not allocate sufficient resources to corporate websites.
(i) Managed by Various Departments Without Coordination
The results derived from the interviews indicated that many corporate websites were simultaneously managed by various corporate departments without a dominant unit to coordinate. Various departments, such as production departments, marketing departments, human resources departments, information departments (technology departments), and public relations departments, could update websites for corporate communication. In this research, there were three types of management patterns for corporate websites, as shown in table 4.5.
173 Table 4.5: Departments in charge of corporate websites
Competent Corporation Duty Pattern department Contents production and information News centre release S1 Pattern 1 Information Technical support management centre Propaganda Contents production and information S2 department release Pattern 1 Information centre Technical support Propaganda Getting other departments to update S3 department contents Pattern 2 Information centre Technical support Contents production and information News centre S4 release Pattern 1 Information centre Technical support Corporate culture Getting other departments to update S5 department contents Pattern 2 Information centre Technical support Brand and public Getting other departments to update S6 relations department contents Pattern 2 Information centre Technical support Public relations Contents production and information department release S7 Pattern 1 Information Technical support department Public relations Contents production and information department release S8 Pattern 1 Information Technical support department Public relations Contents production and information department release S9 Pattern 1 Information Technical support department Technical support and information S10 IT department Pattern 3 release
174 As shown in table 4.5, there were three types of management patterns for corporate websites.
Pattern one was most frequently used. In this pattern, the public relations departments (or some other names) took charge of the content production for corporate websites. They released their original contents or contents from other departments on corporate websites.
The information departments, which were not responsible for contents, provided technical supports to corporate websites. In pattern two, the public relations departments seldom produced contents for corporate websites. They relegated this task to other departments, which could even release information on websites without the approval of the public relations departments. The information departments were also in charge of technical supports for websites. In pattern three, special departments (e.g., IT department) provided technical supports and released information on corporate websites. All other departments, including the public relations departments, produced their contents separately before sending them to the competent departments.
In pattern one, the public relations departments worked as “gatekeeper” and could control website contents. They produced original contents or edited contents from other departments.
It was advantageous for the strategic utilization of corporate websites. The public relations departments could communicate their requirements about functions or visual layout of corporate websites with information departments. However, both departments were paralleled in corporations, and sometimes needed coordination. Pattern one was explained by the participant S7:
175 It is impossible for anyone or any department to release information on the corporate website without my department. We only release identified and appropriate contents on the website. If some departments in the corporation intend to release information on website, we will make an exact requirement, according to which they provide us with complete information. For example, if some departments want to release production information, we shall ask for complete and detailed information for the release. Moreover, we usually ask the information department to design related functions on our website when we have requirements.
For pattern two, corporate public relations departments did not have sufficient time to produce website contents. They had to get some other departments, such as marketing departments and production departments, to produce contents for corporate websites. The participant S3 described that every related department should take the responsibility of updating their sections on corporate websites. He added that:
We distribute all sections of our corporate website to related departments. For instance, corporate introduction is accomplished by corporate office. We get them to release and update related contents. Otherwise, our propaganda department cannot fulfill so much work.
The problem was that other departments could release contents without the approval of the public relations departments, which might make the website lack proper arrangement.
Moreover, other departments always ignored the requirements of the public relations departments. The participant S5 complained that:
Almost nobody cares about our website except our department. Some business departments should pay attention to the website because it is such a good propaganda platform. However, they do not have the awareness. My department has the duty to manage them, but the fact is that we do not have the authority to punish them if they do not update relevant contents timely. Moreover, we are always too busy to remind them.
176 Actually, pattern three was found only in one corporation. The information department, which gave technical supports to the website, also took charge of information release. It released contents from different departments including the public relations departments.
However, the information department usually did not review the content before it was posted, because it was not regarded as a professional responsibility to do so. As a result, the contents on corporate websites lacked effective management. The participant S10 made a complaint by saying that:
As the competent department, the IT department is merely familiar with technology rather than contents. For example, the brand management department wants to promote corporate brand image on our website. However, the IT department does not have a deep understanding about that. As a result, the effectiveness of corporate website is reduced.
Overall, pattern one seemed better than the other two patterns, because the public relations departments could organize websites’ contents. This was beneficial to achieve their purpose of corporate strategic communication. However, pattern one lacked a unit to coordinate the public relations departments and the technical departments. Because of the professional knowledge, the technical departments sometimes could not completely understand and achieve the purpose of public relations departments. In pattern two, the public relations departments relegated some other departments, such as marketing department, to produce contents for corporate websites. However, other departments always ignored the requirements of public relations departments. As a result, these corporate websites were not effective. As to pattern three, the public relations departments could not organize website contents, so it became difficult for technical departments to manage the contents effectively.
177 (ii) Insufficient Corporate Resources for Developing Corporate Websites
Many participants expressed their frustration because they failed to get sufficient corporate resources, such as staff, time, and budget, to develop their websites. Some participants stated that they did not have enough staff to manage contents. The number of staff who were responsible for website contents is listed in table 4.6.
Table 4.6: The number of staff in charge of website contents
Corporation Human resources Work pattern S1 2 Full-time S2 1 Full-time S3 1 Part-time S4 3 Part-time S5 2 Part-time S6 1 Part-time S7 4 Part-time S8 3 Full-time S9 4 Full-time S10 2 Part-time
As shown in table 4.6, the biggest number of staff is 4, and the average is 2.3. For most corporations, this was not sufficient for daily content management of corporate websites. The participant S2 complained that:
There is only one staff taking charge of the website contents in our large corporation. Every day she has to edit contents from other departments and make news reports to update the website. One staff is not sufficient at all for our website.
Mover, many staff for corporate websites were not full-time. The management of corporate websites was just a small part of their busy jobs. Without deadlines, corporate websites needed continuous concerns. Many public relations practitioners were too busy to update
178 websites. This was confirmed by the participant S5:
We even do not have a full-time staff for our corporate website. All of us have multiple duties. We are always very tired with our business and have no time to update the website. We would like to maintain the present status of website without any development. The mere reason for that is we are too busy.
Most of the corporations did not allocate enough budgets to develop corporate websites.
Many participants stressed their shortage of funds for corporate websites. As the participant
S3 said:
When I took charge of this department in 2008, the first thing I wanted to do was to redesign our corporate website. However, I could not get a financial support from the corporate leaders. We once considered closing the website for the lack of funds. Honestly speaking, the fund is not the prime restriction for our large corporation at all. The problem is only the corporate leaders’ allocation of the fund.
In contrast, a limited number of corporations gave comparatively more resources to corporate websites because their corporate leaders valued websites. As a result, these corporations utilized corporate websites more effectively. The corporation of S9 was one of such cases. There were four full-time staff responsible for the corporate website and social media. It was convenient for them to have an overall coordination for both the website and social media. The participant S9 confirmed their emphasis of the corporate website and stated that:
Comparatively speaking, our corporation pays more attention to the corporate website. For example, many corporations do not have so many full-time staff for corporate website. Some corporations outsource the work of websites to outer companies. My corporation gives the website more supports. However, four staff are still not enough to produce sufficient contents on website. We plan to increase the human resources for the website in future.
179 Actually, the corporate website of S9 was very efficient, which was inseparable from the emphasis of corporation. Unfortunately, there was very limited number of corporations that gave sufficient supports to their websites. Most corporations allocated limited resources to corporate websites, as a result, the effectiveness of websites was influenced.
Although most participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites, the majority of corporations failed to pay much attention to corporate websites. Insufficient resources were bound to influence the effects of corporate websites in corporate communication.
In brief, this section presents the value of corporate websites for corporate communication.
From the interviews, many participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites.
Corporations always benefited from multiple usages of corporate websites, such as building corporate image, display of products and service, and promoting internal communication.
However, most participants claimed that corporate websites acted as the secondary roles in corporate communication. Most corporations did not give a high priority to their websites.
4.2.2 Corporate Websites as Public Relations Tools
It is widely accepted that corporate website is an important tool for public relations.
Corporations could utilize websites to practice public relations in various ways. Through the interviews, this research explored corporate frequent usages of websites for public relations.
Key factors to influence corporate public relations through websites were also presented.
This section comprises four parts: (i) cooperation with mainstream media, (ii) special-topic
180 information setting, (iii) destination of public relations activities, and (iv) lack of evaluation on effectiveness of corporate websites.
4.2.2.1 Cooperation with Mainstream Media
Many participants believed that corporate websites were not effective to attract journalists’ attention. Some traditional media were still necessary to release corporate news. In their opinions, propaganda remained one of the most fundamental parts of public relations. They considered that corporate websites were more efficient for corporate propaganda and public relations when connected with some mainstream media. Corporate websites could be important supplementary tools for mainstream media. The participant S4 gave some examples by saying that:
We often cooperate with some mainstream media. We had planned a corporate activity to display corporate development progress. We released related news through some mainstream media like Xinhua News Agency and Economic Daily. This brought extensive social influence. We also released the news on our website, which further promote communication effects. The combination of mainstream media and corporate website are better to disseminate corporate news.
The participant S10 held some similar opinions and stressed that there were some length limits of traditional media, such as newspaper, magazine, television, and broadcasting.
However, corporate websites could release massive amounts of corporate information. This was an important advantage of websites to supplement traditional media. Corporate news could be more complete with the supplement of corporate websites. The participant S10 gave an example by saying that:
181 Recently we operated a large charitable activity. We had plenty of information to release, such as news reports, photos, and videos. Although journalists made many reports, the traditional media could not release so much information and pay continuous attention to the activity. Our website became a perfect supplementary platform, where we could release all information. It is very practical and efficient. We had very good impacts with the communication of both traditional media and corporate website.
Besides traditional media, some corporate websites were also connected with popular portal websites. Some participants believed that it was effective to attract publics and promote corporate propaganda. The participant S2 confirmed the effects by saying that:
We seldom publicize important events merely through our corporate website. We cooperate with some mainstream portal websites, such as Sina and CEInet. When there are some corporate events, we will release the news on both portal websites and our corporate website. For the former, we make some hyperlinks or floating windows, which could connect with our corporate website. We make use of portal websites to improve communication effects.
Most participants believed that the relationships between corporate websites and mainstream media could effectively improve public relations effects. Corporate websites were merely supplementary tools that needed promotion. In public relations practice, corporate websites played a secondary role, even dispensable role. Many corporations still considered the news reports on mainstream media as the main standard to assess public relations practice. News release on corporate websites was not a criterion or requirement for public relations practitioners, which might lead to the neglect of corporate websites. Without the supplement of corporate websites, the communication effects of mainstream media might be decreased.
After all, mainstream media could not pay continuous attention to corporate activities and make too many reports as corporate websites did. The participant S3 complained that:
182 We usually release corporate reports through mainstream media. It is also corporate criterion to evaluate public relations practice. Every year we have to release some reports on popular media like Network News of CCTV. I do not think it is very significant. Information release on our corporate website is not an assessment criterion. Our working focus is still on mainstream media instead of the corporate website.
It seemed that the coverage on mainstream media was still the focus of public relations practice. Some corporations ignored the utilization of corporate websites for public relations.
It was not beneficial to maximize the influence of corporate websites. As to the reasons why some corporations still held on to outdated standard for public relations practice, the participant S7 explained that:
It is because our corporate leaders want to see the practical results of public relations. It is hard to find actual benefits of information release on the corporate website. However, we believe news reports on mainstream media have an important social influence upon corporate reputation. Therefore, we emphasize news reports on mainstream media rather than our corporate website.
Some participants also confirmed that their corporations paid more attention to mainstream media than corporate websites. However, the effects of corporate websites should not be ignored, even though websites were not crucial tools in corporate public relations
4.2.2.2 Special-Topic Information Setting
Except for news release on both mainstream media and corporate websites, many participants frequently released some special-topic information on their websites, such as product information, corporate public relations activities, and corporate significant events.
They considered special-topic information release as an effective way to promote corporate
183 public relations. Furthermore, corporate websites could utilize various forms in special-topic information setting. This could improve the effects of communication. Microsites were considered as a special form of special-topic setting, which could greatly attract public attention.
Special-topic information setting here means that corporate websites intensively release some important information with the same topic. Most of special-topic information has some special columns on corporate websites. Many participants confirmed the efficiency of special-topic information setting. The participant S5 explained that:
We consider special-topic information setting on the corporate website as a valid way to disseminate corporate information. It is beneficial for corporate agenda setting. For example, we have set some special columns of new products on the website. We intensively released product information and related news reports on these columns. It is quite efficient.
In many participants’ opinions, special-topic information setting could be used to focus on some special topics and highlight the emphases of corporate public relations. Through the intensive information release on corporate websites, some important topics could get extensive attention.
Another advantage of special-topic information setting was that corporate websites could flexibly utilize various forms rather than simple text information. Various forms of special-topic information could complement each other and enhance communication effects.
The participant S8 agreed with this viewpoint by saying that:
184 We usually set some special-topic information on our website. For instance, we propagandized our participation in the World Rally Championship through special-topic contents on websites. The special-topic contents comprised the text reports of match, photo reports, video highlights, behind-the-scenes glimpses, etc. Various forms significantly enhanced the communication effects.
Furthermore, some participants highlighted the importance and efficiency of microsites for releasing special-topic information on corporate websites. The microsite is an individual webpage or a small cluster of webpages, which supplement primary websites or offline activities. Microsites are always used for releasing thematic contents, which concentrate on some special topics or issues, such as corporate products, corporate news, and corporate performances. Microsites can have their own domain names or subdomains. Most of microsites have clear hyperlinks with primary websites. Microsites can behave as the supplementary tools for corporate websites.
Some participants claimed that microsites could attract more attention than corporate websites. Meanwhile, microsites were more prominent than special columns on corporate websites. They could promote the effects of special-topic information setting. The participant
S3 expressed some similar views by saying that:
We always utilize microsites for some special publicity campaigns through our corporate website. For example, we hold working conference annually. We always establish a microsite to introduce conference situation and interpret conference spirit. On the microsite, we utilize various forms for communication, such as briefing news, news letters, photo reports, and in-depth reports. We make full use of microsites for corporate propaganda.
Compared with formal and serious corporate websites, microsites were more active and concentrated. It was effective for corporate public relations and propaganda. That might be
185 the reason why many participants expressed their preference on microsites. The participant
S1 stated that:
Although microsites are not so comprehensive as corporate websites, they could focus on specific topic and behave more active. We could adjust microsites in line with the situation of public relations. Microsites are good supplements for corporate websites. They are like flexible light weapons to promote public relations.
Overall, most participants confirmed the importance and practicality of special-topic information setting on corporate websites. They considered it as an effective channel to release information and attain their public relations goals. Meanwhile, many participants paid much attention to microsites, which could focus on specific topics and supplement corporate websites. Many corporations paid much attention to special-topic information setting to improve corporate public relations and propaganda.
4.2.2.3 Destination of Public Relations Activities
Some participants believed that corporate websites could be the destination of public relations activities. As a result, corporations could reach new publics and build beneficial relationships with them. Public relations activities could also promote corporate websites.
The participant S10 had a deep understanding on this:
Public relations activity is a good carrier, through which corporations could interact with the society, offer customers experience with corporation, and deepen public understanding of corporate brand. Activity itself is not the destination. Through public relations activities, we provide some clues connected with corporate website. As a result, publics would visit our website because of successful activities. Then it is possible to build further relationships with them.
186 The participant S10 stressed the utilization of public relations activities, which could conduct short-term communication. However, corporate websites could provide a lasting platform for publics to connect with corporations, and perform as the destination of public relations activities. As a result, publics could easily find corporations through corporate websites.
Many participants considered corporate websites as a reliable platform to introduce corporations and form good public impressions. Corporate websites could work as effective business cards of corporations.
Some participants claimed that corporate websites could also promote public relations activities positively. Both corporate websites and public relations activities complemented and benefitted each other. The participant S9 gave an example by saying that:
Our corporation is a major sponsor for the World Cup Brazil in 2014. The corporate advertisement appears in all football matches, which could significantly enhance our corporate reputation. Our corporate website has a very large amount of visits during the World Cup. Besides corporate introduction, we also release some contents related to the World Cup on our website. These contents could promote our public relations activities, for instance, our website provides some sections of interactive quiz and lottery to enhance the participation of football fans.
From the example of S9, it was obvious that corporate websites provided an important channel for publics to learn about corporation. It was especially convenient for a distant communication. Meanwhile, corporate websites could provide some related contents to supplement and promote public relations activities. As a result, corporations could maximize the influence of activities and achieve corporate goals of public relations.
187 4.2.2.4 Lack of Evaluation on Effectiveness of Corporate Websites
In the interviews, most participants admitted that corporate websites were beneficial tools for corporate public relations. However, many corporations did not fully utilize their websites to promote public relations. There was a widespread doubt about the value of corporate websites for public relations. An important reason for such problem was that the majority of corporations lacked adequate evaluations on effectiveness of corporate websites.
The results of interviews indicated that many corporations could not find the effects of websites in public relations practice. Therefore, they were not sure about the value of corporate websites. The participant S10 described their frustration by saying that:
At the beginning, many departments paid much attention to our corporate website. After a period of operation, we could not see sufficient responses on the website. Some departments thus became passive. As a result, visitors were unable to get up-to-date and high-quality contents from the corporate website. Then a vicious circle appeared. The key is that we cannot see exact benefits from the website, especially immediate benefits.
It seemed that the corporation of S10 could not find the benefits from the corporate website.
As a result, they did not pay attention to their website. It was an important reason that influenced the utilization of corporate websites for public relations. In this research, there was a lack of formal evaluations on effectiveness of corporate websites, although evaluations could eliminate the doubts of practitioners. The participant S2 complained that:
We do not have statistics of page views (PV) for our website because the maintenance of this function costs money, which cannot be permitted by the corporate leaders. For them, it is not a necessary business in corporate operation. We can only speculate the effects of our website, which necessarily influence the utilization of website.
188 In contrast, some corporations had statistics of PV on websites. However, they seldom displayed the results on corporate websites. The participant S5 stated that:
We have the statistics of PV in the backend database of corporate website. However, we do not care about it. We do not display the results on the website because it may be a shame if we have limited PV. To tell the truth, the PV of our website are not many at all.
Most corporations failed to make statistics of PV on websites, although the statistics of PV was still not enough to evaluate the effectiveness of corporate websites. Only one participant claimed that their evaluations on corporate websites considered the feedback of visitors. The majority of corporations did not conduct effective evaluations on the effectiveness of corporate websites. However, there was an exception. The participant S9 stated that they made some primary statistics and analysis of the PV on their website. He said that:
We have made some statistics of PV since 2010, when we began to sponsor the FIFA World Cup. The increasing PV urged us to make research on visitors. Based on some primary analysis, we figured out the basic types of visitors and fixed some communication strategies for addressing various publics on the website.
It seemed that the corporation of S9 utilized the corporate website more effectively. However, the participant S9 pointed out the importance of corporate leaders’ perceptions on corporate websites. His corporate leaders paid more attention to the corporate website. As a result, his department could get more resources to develop the website. Although the corporation of S9 made some primary evaluations and analysis on corporate websites, corporate leaders’ perceptions played an important role in website’s development. Many participants expressed similar viewpoints that the evaluations on corporate websites’ effectiveness were influenced
189 by the comments of corporate leaders. The development of corporate websites were based on corporate leaders’ perceptions rather than effective evaluations. There was still a long way for most corporations to utilize corporate websites effectively for public relations.
In conclusion, corporate websites could play an important role in public relations. This research explored the frequent usages of corporate websites as public relations tools. The interviews indicated that the corporate website was not a primary tool of corporate public relations, but it could supplement corporate communication on mainstream media. Moreover, public relations practitioners preferred to set special-topic information on corporate websites to enhance communication effects. They liked to utilize microsites to attract more attention.
Corporate website could perform as the destination of corporate public relations activities. It was helpful to reach new publics. Corporate public relations could benefit from corporate websites in various ways. However, many public relations practitioners were in doubt about the effectiveness of their websites, because they did not conduct adequate evaluations on the effectiveness of corporate websites. It seemed that corporations should make more efforts to utilize corporate websites effectively for public relations.
4.2.3 Corporate Websites in Addressing Various Publics
The results of content analysis indicated that most corporate websites addressed multiple publics rather than limited types. However, corporate websites paid very different attention to various publics. In the interviews, this research examined public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance in utilizing corporate websites to address six types of publics.
190 This section thus consists of six parts: (i) investors, (ii) the media, (iii) customers, (iv) internal publics, (v) the community (CSR), and (vi) the government.
4.2.3.1 Investors
In the content analysis, the investor seemed to be the prime publics of corporate website.
There were comparatively more contents for investors on corporate websites. In the interviews, some participants confirmed the importance of investment information on corporate websites to address investors. However, some participants seemed reluctant to address investors through corporate websites.
In the interviews, some participants considered investors as important publics of corporate websites. They usually released some investment information on corporate websites to address investors. The participant S9 stated that:
Our corporate website should address the needs of investors. As a listed company, our corporation usually release some important investment information on the website. Thus, investors pay much attention to our website. If there is some favorable news on our website, the PV will increase immediately. After all, the important news on corporate website could influence the stock price obviously.
The participant S9 emphasized the importance of releasing investment information on corporate websites for investors. However, some participants were not quite positive. They did not consider investors as prime publics of corporate websites. Sometimes they even performed reluctantly to release information for investors. As Chinese listed companies, they actually had some external requirements from related departments of the government.
191 Sometimes they “have to” rather than “would like to” set some contents for investors. The major requirements were from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The participant S5 confirmed the pressure to release information for investors and said that:
We must release some investment information, such as annual reports and important corporate activities. It is required by the CSRC. There are some tight requirements on information release of listed companies. However, there are not specific requirements to release investment information on corporate websites. We need to report investment information to the CSRC and make some announcements on some specific media. Compared with other media, the corporate website is a convenient channel to release investment information.
The participant S5 highlighted the influence of governmental requirements on investment information release. However, she admitted that the corporate website was an efficient channel to release investment information. This viewpoint was supported by most participants. That may be the reason why the majority of corporate websites provided more contents to investors.
There were some problems caused by the tight requirements from the CSRC. Although some corporations released investment information on corporate websites, they were somewhat cautious and passive. These corporations would rather provide some necessary and fundamental investment information than release sufficient information to address investors.
As the participant S7 said:
We admit that there is not sufficient investment information on our corporate website. Because we always have some cautious consideration on information release in order to avoid strong influence on stock market. We fear to make some mistakes on the corporate website to influence our investment.
192 The same anxiety appeared in the interview with S2. Her corporate website only provided investors with some basic sections without specific contents. She explained that:
Of course, the investment information is fundamental for investors. In fact, we contract out the work to some professional security companies. They take charge of investment information release for our corporation, such as listing announcement. It is convenient for us to reduce workload and avoid mistakes.
It seemed to be a shortcut for S2 to release investment information. However, if corporate websites cannot address the basic needs of investors, it would be difficult to attract investors and build proper relationships with them.
In brief, listed companies had to offer more investment information on their corporate websites to address investors. With the tight requirements from the government, some corporations behaved reluctantly or passively to address investors. However, most participants admitted that the corporate website was a convenient channel to release investment information and build proper relationships between corporations and investors.
4.2.3.2 The Media
Many participants believed that news release was very important for corporate image building. The results of content analysis demonstrated that the media was the second primary publics of corporate website. It seemed that most corporate websites gave high priority to the media and journalists. In the interviews, this research explored public relations practitioners’ perceptions to address the media on websites. The results indicated that although corporate websites could provide news sources to journalists, websites were only used to supplement
193 media relations. This section is composed of two parts: (i) news source, and (ii) supplement for media relations.
(i) News Source
Many participants confirmed the media as the important publics of corporate website. They believed that the media could give support to corporate propaganda. As for the ways to promote media relations through corporate websites, some participants emphasized that timely news release was necessary and important for addressing the media. The participant
S3 stated that:
We try to update corporate news on our website as soon as possible. We seldom delay the news release. For example, if there is some important corporate conference, we will release the news soon on the website, no matter how late the conference finally finishes. We do not delay the news release to the next day, because we want to build a good interactive relationship with the media through the corporate website. The media always need news. We satisfy them with timely updated news. As a result, our corporate news could spread widely in time.
Except for the timely update of corporate news, many participants believed that corporations’ significant events could provide the media with news sources. The participant S8 gave some examples by saying that:
As an automobile manufacturer, my corporation is the No. one in the SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) market of China. My corporation pays much attention to world rally races. For example, we are the only Chinese team to take part in the Dakar Rally. We release related news on our corporate website, which is also a rich source for journalists. After all, the important news of races could help the media attract lots of audience.
194 From the statement of S8, corporate websites could offer some important news sources to journalists. However, some corporations could not offer the media sufficient news. They failed to update news frequently on corporate websites. Some corporate websites jumbled different sections together to address the media. This might be a possible answer to the result of content analysis, which indicated that some corporate websites did not set special section for the media. The participant S5 explained:
It is good and necessary to classify the sections of corporate news on the website, such as dynamic news of leaders, speeches, corporate important trends, etc. However, in my view, I am unwilling to classify them, because we usually do not have sufficient news. It is unaesthetic and embarrassing to leave a blank on the website, so we would rather jumble sections together.
It seemed that many corporations confirmed the utilization of corporate websites to address the media. However, some corporate websites cannot provide enough news to the media and classify corporate news clearly. Journalists might be impatient with jumbled sections of corporate news.
(ii) Supplement for Media Relations
From the interviews, it was indicated that many corporations doubted the effectiveness of corporate websites to attract journalists’ attention and promote corporate propaganda. The majority of participants stated that journalists seldom converted corporate news on corporate websites into news reports on mainstream media. Most participants still held on to a belief that website communication was just a supplement to address the media and build beneficial relationships with journalists. It was not practical to conclude that corporate website could
195 attract journalists alone. Traditional means like interpersonal communication was still the focus of corporate public relations. The participant S2 supported this view and said that:
Although we release corporate news on our website, I do not think the website plays an important role in corporate propaganda. I still rely on relational communication. I have many familiar journalists, who have a good relationship with us and like to make some positive reports for my corporation. I have hundreds of journalist friends in my QQ group (a popular Chinese internet instant message software which is similar with MSN) and micro blogs. I believe most of them get our corporate news from my QQ group or micro blogs rather than the corporate website.
The viewpoint of S2 was supported by many participants. They still depended on traditional means to build relationships with the media. Although they utilized some internet tools like
QQ or micro blogs, these tools were just substitutes for traditional telephone or email. Many participants preferred to release corporate news on mainstream media through their journalist friends. They did not like to wait for journalists’ attention passively on corporate websites, because they considered it was not efficient. Corporate websites seemed to be supplements for media relations. The participant S1 stated that:
We always keep a good communication channel with mainstream media. We always utilize some traditional means to communicate corporate news. For instance, our working process is to search news sources from corporate events, and then release related news on both mainstream media and our corporate website.
Therefore, many participants still employed traditional means to address the media. They paid much attention to so-called relational communication, namely communication through journalist friends. Many public relations practitioners always had some collaborative media and a list of journalist friends. It could explain the results of content analysis that few corporate websites provided media contact people lists, because the list seemed dispensable.
196 In the opinions of many participants, it was not urgent and practical to utilize corporate websites to address the media and build beneficial relationships with journalists.
4.2.3.3 Customers
Many participants considered customers as important publics of corporate websites.
However, the results of content analysis indicated that most corporate websites did not give the highest priority to customers. In the interviews, most participants lacked explicit and systematic methods to address customers through corporate websites. Some corporate factors hindered the utilization of websites to address customers. This section consists of two parts:
(i) lack of understanding on customers’ needs, and (ii) management implemented by different departments.
(i) Lack of Understanding on Customers’ Needs
In the interviews, most participants frequently mentioned customers as important publics of corporate websites. They believed that customers especially the direct customers were more likely to visit their websites than other publics.
On how to address the needs of customers through corporate websites, the majority of participants did not give an explicit and systematic answer. They usually speculated the needs of customers on websites and lacked strategic arrangement of website contents. The participant S3 believed that production information was the most important content for customers. He stated that:
197 The most important thing for customers is our products, especially the price of our products. The price of our products is an important barometer, which could greatly influence markets. Our marketing department releases price information on our corporate website every week. However, there is only some basic information. If customers want to learn more, they should contact with our marketing department.
It was obvious that the participant S3 considered product information on websites as the main contents to address customers. However, most participants lacked an explicit understanding of customers’ needs. They speculated that most customers paid attention to every aspect of corporations. As the participant S2 said:
Our business customers pay close attention to our website. The contents they are concerned with include every aspect of our corporation, such as corporate activities and corporate news. Sometimes they pay more attention to new products, but sometimes they just want to learn about recent activities of corporation. They always get our operational information through the corporate website.
To some extent, most participants lacked systematic utilization of corporate websites to address customers. Their understandings of customers’ needs were a little vague. However, there was an exception that the participant S6 had a deeper understanding on how to address customers, though her corporate website failed to achieve her ideas. She stated that:
The core principle for our future corporate website to address customers is the customer-oriented. We should design our website pages and release information according to the needs of customers. We need to arrange and show the contents which customers mostly want to read on websites. This is a fundamental requirement.
Although the participant S6 emphasized the importance of customers’ needs for corporate websites, most participants failed to propose some explicit projects to address customers through corporate websites. In their opinions, providing corporate information, especially product information, was the best way to address customers through websites. That might be
198 the reason why many corporate websites did not have any special section or tailored contents for customers. Many corporations failed to provide customers with tailored contents, even though they considered customers as important publics for websites.
(ii) Management Implemented by Different Departments
The management from different corporate departments influenced the effectiveness of corporate websites in addressing customers. As mentioned by the participant S3 in last section, the marketing department was in charge of product information release on websites.
The public relations department was not responsible for product information or market information. The relationship management with customers was always the duty of the marketing department rather than the public relations department.
It was actually a double-edged sword. On one hand, the marketing department was more similar with corporate products and customers’ needs. They could communicate customers with related information more effectively. On the other hand, the marketing department might not be good at information communication through corporate websites, which influenced the effectiveness of corporate websites. Furthermore, the functions of public relations were paralleled with those of marketing in most corporations. As a result, the public relations departments did not have enough authority to control the marketing departments. It was necessary to build efficient communication channels between the two departments. The viewpoint was confirmed by the participant S2 by saying that:
199 Relationship management with customers on our corporate website is the responsibility of the marketing department. My department is connected with the marketing department. When I get some important requirements from customers on the website, I convey them to the marketing department, which will make response. My department usually cannot solve the problems from customers, so we often play the role of bridge. Of course, synergistic collaboration is needed and important.
Efficient coordination seemed to be necessary for the public relations departments and the marketing departments to address customers. In the interviews, although most public relations practitioners considered customers as important publics of corporate websites, they took limited actions to address customers. The participant S7 stated that:
In my opinion, the corporate website is just a corporate business card, from which customers can find out related information and learn about our corporation. As for possible business contacts, customers should make further connections through contact methods listed on the website, such as contact phone numbers.
The participant S7 was not quite positive to address customers through websites.
Corporations should take more actions to address customers through websites. It was important to build beneficial relationships between corporations and customers. Without sufficient tailored contents on corporate websites, customers would not have interest to visit corporate websites.
4.2.3.4 Internal Publics
The results of the content analysis indicated that most corporate websites paid more attention to potential employees than other internal publics, such as dealers or suppliers, and current employees. From the interviews, most participants considered potential employees as important publics of corporate websites. Moreover, many corporations had another
200 communication channel to address current employees. This section comprises two parts: (i) potential employees, and (ii) corporate intranet.
(i) Potential Employees
It seemed that corporate websites provided more contents to potential employees than other internal publics. In the interviews, many participants considered corporate websites as important recruitment channels for potential employees. The participant S9 stated that:
The corporate website is an important channel for our recruitment. We always release some employment information on our website, such as excellent treatment and broad development space. It is useful to attract potential employees. Actually, we have recruited many employees through our corporate website. Specific employment information is regularly released on our website. Job seekers could submit their resumes through related functions on the website. It is rather convenient.
Based on the statement of S9, corporate websites provided convenient channels to corporate recruitment. The participant S7 believed that many potential employees, especially some job-seeking undergraduates, often visited the corporate website to seek the latest recruitment information. However, S7 added that the recruitment through corporate website was only a part of corporate recruitment activity, because the corporation also had some other recruitment channels.
As for dealers or suppliers, the content analysis indicated that many corporate websites failed to provide sufficient contents to them. Only a minority of participants offered related contents to dealers or suppliers on corporate websites, for instance, the corporation of S10 released some tender information on the website. Most corporations did not pay much
201 attention to addressing dealers or suppliers through corporate websites. The participant S5 gave an explanation by saying that:
Some other departments are in charge of the relationship management with dealers or suppliers, instead of our public relations department. These departments have some specific channels to communicate with dealers or suppliers. Sometimes there may be some basic information for dealers or suppliers on the website. However, further connections come from other channels rather than corporate websites. Our corporation has some centralized procurements from regular suppliers. It is not necessary to provide related information on the website.
According to the viewpoints of S5, some corporations had other channels such as e-mails and telephone contacts, to communicate with dealers or suppliers. It was not necessary to release related information on corporate websites. The public relations departments were always not responsible for the relationship management with dealers or suppliers, which led to limited contents for dealers or suppers on corporate websites.
Overall, many participants confirmed the utilization of corporate websites for corporate recruitment. They provided more employment information on their websites. However, it seemed that the information for dealers or suppliers was not important for corporate websites.
Besides websites, corporate departments had other specific channels to convey their information to dealers and suppliers.
(ii) Corporate Intranet
Many participants considered corporate websites as an important channel for internal communication. They believed that corporate websites could promote internal
202 communication and enhance corporate cohesion level. However, the results of content analysis indicated that most corporate websites did not provide sufficient contents to employees. From the interviews, this research found that there was another important online platform for corporate employees, namely corporate intranet.
In this research, all corporations had corporate intranet. Most participants considered the corporate intranet as a main platform for internal communication instead of the corporate website. The corporate website, which was also called corporate extranet, indeed provided corporate employees with some information to promote internal communication. However, most corporations paid more attention to corporate intranet to communicate with corporate employees. The majority of the participants confirmed the importance of corporate intranet for internal communication. As the participant S6 said:
Our work on website construction includes two aspects: the extranet and the intranet. Corporate intranet is only open to corporate employees. It is the homestead of our employees. There is much more information in our corporate intranet than the extranet. Corporate information, such as notices and announcements, business activities, and employee training, is always released on the intranet. Moreover, every employee has a personal portal, through which they could check their personal information, working performance, backlog items, etc. Employees could also interact with each other through interactive forums on the intranet.
According to the statement of S6, corporate intranet was a platform that focused on the needs of corporate employees and promoted internal communication. Many participants confirmed the same viewpoints. There was always much more internal information on the corporate intranet than corporate websites. Some participants explained the reasons for such phenomenon. First, corporations had less control on corporate intranet, because the intranet
203 was not open to the society and could hardly play a negative role. Second, nearly every corporate department and every employee could release information through the intranet.
Everybody became the contents producer rather than a mere receiver.
Sufficient information on the corporate intranet was also helpful for corporate websites.
Some participants expressed that they always picked some useful information from corporate intranet and released them on corporate websites. Corporate intranet performed as an important information source for corporate websites.
According to the interviews, corporate intranet offered corporations a practical option to conduct internal communication. This is why many corporations did not provide sufficient contents for employees on corporate websites since they preferred to emphasize internal communication.
Overall, most participants confirmed that they always utilized corporate websites for recruitment and provided more information to potential employees. The relationship management with dealers or suppliers was always not the duty of the public relations departments. As a result, there was limited information for dealers or suppliers on corporate websites. Many participants emphasized the internal communication with employees through corporate intranet, as another channel to address employees, rather than corporate websites.
204 4.2.3.5 The Community (CSR)
The results of content analysis indicated that the community category (CSR category) had a lower score, for instance, only half of websites set special section for CSR. CSR is beneficial to promote corporate image. However, most participants, more or less, ignored the importance of CSR. As a result, although there were some special sections for CSR on corporate websites, the majority of participants did not pay much attention to this issue.
Nevertheless, the participant S6 stressed the importance of CSR contents on websites to promote corporate image. She stated that:
We show our CSR activities on the corporate website. It is helpful to promote our corporate image in society. Our CSR activities could give customers good impressions of our corporation. We believe that CSR activities are beneficial for our establishment of international reputation.
In S6’s opinion, CSR was helpful to enhance corporate reputation. The participant S9 confirmed the importance of CSR contents from another perspective. He considered the CSR contents on corporate websites as the symbol of corporate strength. For some corporations,
CSR seemed to be an extra honor, which could demonstrate corporate strength. It indicated that corporations had the power to help vulnerable groups. This might be the reason why many corporations in the content analysis showed more good deeds than harmlessness in the
CSR sections. Many corporations had their own understandings of CSR.
However, many participants expressed their doubts on CSR for corporate image building.
The participant S7 doubted the effectiveness of CSR by saying that:
205 We always doubt the influence of CSR on our customers. Is that useful? In my opinion, CSR is not an urgent topic for our corporation, as least for current Chinese corporations. CSR is not efficient and indispensable for corporate image building. However, sometimes it is related to social trend. If a corporation seldom performs some activities of CSR, the corporate morality may be doubted. There is a significant example. In 2008, some corporations were criticized because of their limited charitable donation for the WenChuan violent earthquake. Sometimes CSR is kidnapped by public opinions in China.
The participant S7 expressed her doubts and unwillingness on CSR. In her opinion, CSR was not efficient for corporate image building, but sometimes necessary to avoid public criticism.
Some corporations were compelled to practice CSR activities. The participant S1 also doubted the practicability of CSR, even though there were some CSR contents on his corporate website. He stated that:
As a productive and operative entity, the manufacturing corporation should focus on practical and concrete issues. The important issue concerns effectiveness, convenience, simplicity, etc. This is the reason why we do not set sufficient CSR contents on our corporate website.
It can be concluded that many participants underestimated the effectiveness and practicability of CSR, although some of them released CSR contents on corporate websites.
Some participants liked to release corporate good deeds to demonstrate corporate strength.
Actually, CSR comprised many aspects. It still seemed a long way for some Chinese corporations to understand CSR and engage in CSR activities. In this case, corporate websites might provide more CSR contents to address the needs of community and build good corporate image.
206 4.2.3.6 The Government
According to the content analysis, the government category received the lowest score in all six categories of publics. Many corporate websites paid the least attention to the government.
Some participants preferred to release corporate news related to government leaders.
Government policies and contents related to the construction of Chinese Communist Party were another two focuses in the government category. A minority of participants considered these contents to be important for corporate websites.
Most participants failed to pay much attention to the government. They did not consider the government as very important publics for corporate websites. The participant S10 stated that:
Government officials sometimes browse our corporate website to assess corporate strength. However, the visits from governments are not too many because of government’s characteristic. Except for some related contents on our corporate website, we also deliver some documents of corporate introduction to targeted governments.
Corporate websites released more contents related to government leaders than some other contents in the government category. Participants considered the information related to government leaders as a big honor, because it indicated that government leaders paid attention to their corporations. If some government leaders visited a corporation, it would be significant news for this corporation. The participant S2 stated that:
The government leaders’ activities related to our corporation are very important for our corporate website. It can be regarded as a big honor for us. I believe it is helpful to enhance our corporate reputation.
207 Some other participants expressed similar viewpoints. They considered the information related to government leaders as the recognition from the government. It could also display corporate strength. The participant S9 stated that:
We release some corporate news related to government leaders on the corporate website to show that we are recognized by the government. It could demonstrate the important status of our corporation in the industry. On the other hand, the government could probably be pleased to see such information on our corporate website, because it is also an important propaganda for them.
Many participants considered corporate news related to government leaders as important contents for corporate websites. Corporations could benefit from the political news release, which could also satisfy the government.
The government policy was another focus in this category. Corporate websites released some government policies, especially industry policies, to show their emphasis and observance.
After all, the government policy was the guideline for corporate operation. The participant
S4 confirmed the importance of government policy contents for websites by saying that:
A vice-chairman of Tibet told me that he always visited our corporate website, because there was so much information related to industry policies. Thus, he could get an overall understanding about this industry. Furthermore, the industry policy as our guideline is very important for corporate operation. For example, if the government makes related policies to confine some productions in our industry, we would immediately adjust development directions.
The corporate website of S4 provided an overview of industry policies. This was beneficial for corporate operation. Moreover, the industry policy on corporate websites could propagandize and popularize government policies, from which the government could benefit.
208 The construction of Chinese Communist Party is among Chinese political characteristics.
The Chinese Communist Party usually proposes some important guidelines or core spirits, which need Chinese people to learn and put into practice. Sometimes corporations also received related requirements from the government. They released some contents on the construction of Chinese Communist Party through websites to respond to the government.
The participant S1 introduced their performances and stated that:
There are always some requirements of corporate communist party committee. We need to implement and publicize the central spirit, such as "scientific development", “education and practice of party’s mass line”. We made some special pages on the corporate website to display central files and the actual situation of learning and enforcement in our corporation. They are political tasks from the government.
Some participants confirmed the viewpoints of S1. Corporations released related contents on their websites to achieve requirements of the government. However, it was not a big part of website contents. After all, corporate websites were different from government websites.
Overall, most corporate websites did not pay much attention to the government category.
Participants believed that government officials and employees did not frequently visit their websites. Some participants emphasized the contents related to government leaders. These contents were beneficial to display corporate strength and the recognition from the government. Some participants paid attention to the industry policy contents on corporate websites. The website contents related to the construction of Chinese Communist Party, which could be regarded as Chinese characteristic culture of socialism, were always the results of governmental requirements.
209 In this section, the research examined public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance in addressing various publics through corporate websites. Although the content analysis showed some results on this issue, the interviews revealed some deeper understandings. Many participants considered customers as prime publics of corporate websites. However, their websites provided the most contents to investors according to governmental requirements. Most participants failed to propose specific and explicit projects to address customers through their websites. The majority of participants considered the media as important publics of corporate websites. They provided some important corporate news to journalists through websites. However, many participants considered corporate websites as supplementary tools for corporate propaganda and relationship building with the media.
As to the internal publics, corporate websites placed more weights on potential employees than dealers or suppliers. Corporations always utilized corporate intranet for internal communication with employees rather than corporate websites. CSR contents were largely ignored by most corporate websites. An important reason was that many public relations practitioners doubted the effectiveness of CSR. The government received the least attention from corporate websites. However, some corporations indeed benefitted from the contents related to government leaders or industry policies. These contents also promoted the propaganda of the government.
210 4.2.4 Dialogic Characteristics of Corporate Websites
Dialogic public relations through corporate websites is the focus of this research. Through the content analysis, this research examined the content features and design features of corporate websites to promote dialogic relationship building. In the interviews, this research explored public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards dialogic public relations. Then some barriers to dialogic public relations were summarized. This section comprises three parts: (i) public relations practitioners’ perceptions of dialogic public relations, (ii) corporate performance to employ dialogic principles, and (iii) barriers to dialogic public relations.
4.2.4.1 Public Relations Practitioners’ Perceptions of Dialogic Public Relations
The perceptions of public relations practitioners are important factors to influence corporate dialogic efforts through corporate websites. Meanwhile, participants’ understandings of dialogue could reflect corporate emphasis on dialogic relationship building. The interviews demonstrated that there were two main viewpoints towards dialogic public relations. The majority of participants considered that webbed dialogues had various advantages to benefit corporations. However, a few participants had negative perceptions of dialogic public relations through websites.
211 (i) Advantages of Webbed Dialogues
Most participants confirmed the importance of dialogic public relations through corporate website. They believed that webbed dialogues were necessary and beneficial for corporate communication and relationship building with publics. Participants proposed some specific advantages of webbed dialogues.
First, webbed dialogues reflected the requirement of new technology. Some participants believed that the webbed dialogue was an important advantage from new technology.
Corporations could greatly benefit from webbed dialogues with publics. The participant S3 stressed that:
I believe interactivity is one of the most important characteristics of internet. Dialogues, which derive from interactivity, are rather important for corporate image building. This should be the direction of internet in future. I think the effects of dialogues must be excellent.
The participant S4 also claimed that dialogues would be the focus of websites in future. He considered webbed dialogues to be inevitable and stated that:
We could make new consensus with publics through dialogues on website. Dialogues will be important sources to promote websites’ attraction. I think dialogue could improve our services and promote corporate marketing. It is the tendency that nobody can ignore in future.
Many participants confirmed the advanced technical characteristic of webbed dialogues. In their opinions, dialogues on websites would be a tendency in future. If corporations managed their websites without dialogues, they would lose a basic advantage of new technology.
212 Second, webbed dialogues could help corporations gather various opinions and improve corporate operations. Many participants considered that corporate websites were important to release corporate information and respond to public questions. Corporate websites could gather various opinions through dialogues with publics. Webbed dialogues were beneficial for corporate sustainable development. The participant S2 expressed similar viewpoints by saying that:
Nowadays, no corporation could stand high above the mass and pretend to be perfect. A corporation, like an ordinary person, has some shortcomings. If a man rams up his ears and rejects other opinions, then he will not develop. So does a corporation. For example, we stopped the production of a Chinese traditional medicine, which could treat gastrointestinal disease. Before long, many customers expressed their needs of the medicine through our corporate website. As a result, we produced the medicine again.
The participant S2 believed that webbed dialogues were beneficial for corporations to gather public opinions, which must promote corporate development. The participant S8 pointed out that webbed dialogues with publics could benefit corporations in many aspects. She stated that:
Dialogues reflect the fair and equal relationships between corporations and publics. Dialogues could make information more transparent. It is convenient for corporations to get customers’ requirements. For instance, we could immediately respond to the problems of products’ quality. It is beneficial for corporate growth. Through webbed dialogues, consumers could harvest the sense of respect. Then good corporate reputation could arise and spread in society.
According to the understanding of S8, corporations could receive public requirements and opinions from webbed dialogues. Corporations should adjust corporate operations in accordance with public opinions. This was helpful for corporate sustainable development.
213 Third, webbed dialogues could promote emotional communication between corporations and their publics. Some participants pointed out that webbed dialogues could not only promote the communication of opinions, but also help corporations create emotional connections with publics. This was helpful for corporations to build beneficial relationships with publics. The participant S10 stated that:
Dialogues through the website are indispensable. As a large corporation, we have a big amount of customers. They have limited channels to communicate with our corporation. Most of the channels are one-way, such as advertisements. The corporate website offers an applicable platform of communication between the corporation and customers, especially emotional communication. For example, customers could complain through the website, which is helpful for them to release negative emotions. Dialogues could reflect our openness.
As the participant S10 said, corporate websites provided an applicable channel for corporate communication with customers. Besides information interaction, webbed dialogues could also promote emotional communication. The participant S9 highlighted that webbed dialogues were important for emotional communication of internal publics. He said that:
We have an internal forum named Sunshine Forum on corporate intranet. In the forum, corporate employees can release personal information and post some questions to the corporation. Our administrators answer the questions every day. It is very useful to promote the exchange of internal emotions. It is proved that dialogues with employees in the forum could make a good effect.
The views of S10 also proved that webbed dialogues could help corporation respond quickly to negative information and resolve practical problems of publics. Moreover, the emotional communication through webbed dialogues was a valid means of building close relationships.
214 Overall, the majority of participants confirmed the importance of dialogues on corporate websites. They believed that webbed dialogues could benefit corporations in various aspects.
(ii) Practitioners' Negative Perceptions of Webbed Dialogues
Some participants had negative perceptions of dialogic public relations. They doubted the practicality and necessity of dialogues through corporate websites. A few participants merely confirmed webbed dialogues’ theoretical meaning rather than practical value. The participant
S1 expressed that:
Yes, we admit that dialogue is undoubtedly important. Without dialogue and interactivity, the corporate website is not complete. It is necessary for publics to exchange opinions through webbed dialogues. The problem is that if we were engaged in webbed dialogues, there would be too much negative information, which must bring us lots of troubles. I believe that dialogue is unworkable.
Some participants could not find out the practical value of dialogic public relations. They pointed out that webbed dialogues were not urgent at all. As a result, they failed to practice dialogues on corporate websites. Several participants believed that webbed dialogues were harmful in practice, because dialogues might bring some risks to corporations. The participant S5 stated that:
We designed some dialogic functions on our previous website. It was proved a wrong way. As a large corporation, we fear too much negative information, which can damage corporate reputation. However, some visitors always released too much negative information on our website. It is harmful for our corporate image. We had to delete the negative information constantly. As a result, we cancelled most of interactive functions on our corporate website.
215 As the participant S5 stated, her corporation had to face too much negative information on the website. The staff seemed tired to deal with negative information so that they cancelled most of dialogic channels on the website. In her opinion, webbed dialogues did not benefit corporation significantly, but became detrimental to corporate image. The participant S1 also confirmed the risks of dialogues by saying that:
We are not engaged in dialogues on our corporate website because of too much negative information. We admit there are some rational users and normal comments. However, I think irrational comments seem to be more. Sometimes there are a few malicious attacks or rumors towards our corporation on websites. If we open interactive channels for dialogues, there will be much more troubles for us.
Overall, a minority of participants had some negative perceptions of webbed dialogues. They believed that webbed dialogues were not useful and practical, but detrimental to corporations.
They feared the possible negative information from webbed dialogues, which might damage corporate images. Then they denied webbed dialogues because of obvious or potential risks.
This section describes public relations practitioners’ perceptions of webbed dialogues. Most participants confirmed the importance of dialogues. They believed that corporations could benefit from webbed dialogues in many aspects. Dialogues were beneficial for corporate communication and relationship building. However, a minority of participants had negative perceptions of webbed dialogues. They doubted the practicality and necessity of dialogues.
In their opinions, dialogic public relations was merely valuable in theory but harmful in practice. Although there were some different viewpoints towards webbed dialogues, it was apparent that most of participants took notice of dialogues on corporate websites.
216 4.2.4.2 Corporate Performance to Employ Dialogic Principles
The content analysis results indicated that corporations paid different attention to dialogic principles, namely conservation of visitors, ease of interface, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop. Through in-depth interviews, this section examines corporate performance to employ dialogic principles on corporate websites, and then the underlying reasons and internal perceptions for corporate dialogic performance could be explored. This section comprises three parts: (i) conservation of visitors and ease of interface, (ii) generation of return visits, and (iii) dialogic loop.
(i) Conservation of Visitors and Ease of Interface
The content analysis results demonstrated that corporate websites had a better performance in principles of conservation of visitors and ease of interface. These two principles had the highest and second highest scores in the content analysis. In the interviews, participants described their perceptions and performance of these two principles. The majority of participants had a consensus that corporate websites should provide reasonable layout and facilitating design items to promote visits. Website redesign was necessary to update and improve the appearance, functions, and contents of corporate websites. However, most corporations seldom redesigned their corporate websites. This had an influence on the corporate performance to employ dialogic principles of conservation of visitors and ease of interface.
217 First, the majority of participants believed that reasonable layout and facilitating design items were necessary for corporate websites.
Most participants pointed out that the reasonable layout of contents was one of the most fundamental requirements for corporate websites. In their opinions, corporate websites should classify various contents into specific columns. This could facilitate visitors to grasp their concerned information on websites. The front page of corporate website should take more responsibility to attract visitors. It ought to provide important information and major links to the rest of the website. The participant S10 expressed that:
Website contents, which include introductions of subsidiary corporations and products, are very comprehensive. The proper layout is important for visitors. We arranged our website contents clearly. Our front page offers sufficient linkages to the rest of our website. I believe visitors could have an easy browse on our website.
The participant S6 held similar opinions and emphasized that the layers of corporate website should be reduced so that visitors could get more information from fewer layers. After all, few visitors were tolerant enough to click many links for specific information. The participant S6 stated that:
Most of all, we should always optimize our corporate website. We need to make the corporate layouts more reasonable and highlight some important contents. Actually, we reduced the layers of the website. Thus, visitors can read their interested information quickly. It is indispensable for mobile users, who do not have so much tolerance to click many layers.
Except for optimizing websites’ layout, some participants believed that corporate websites should provide some facilitating design items, such as site map, search engine box, language
218 selection, and high speed loading. These items could improve the efficiency of visits. The participant S8 stated that:
It is important to provide some facilitating functions on corporate website. No one can make over-consumption of public tolerance in this new media era. We made efforts to improve visitors’ experience, for example, we enhanced loading speed by improving server computer performance and reducing unnecessary photos and videos. Moreover, we offer site map and search engine box on our website to facilitate information retrieval.
It was evident that most corporate websites provided some design items to facilitate easy interface and conservation of users. The interviews revealed a possible reason for this phenomenon. In fact, most corporate websites were created by some external tech-companies or internal tech-departments, which had some fashionable modes or universal standards for websites. As a result, many corporate websites had some similar design features. The participant S5 stated that:
Although there are some shortages of our corporate website, the basic functions are present. The layout and structure of our website are complete and efficient. There is nothing more than these basic items in every corporate website. It is nothing special. We pay external tech-companies to build our website according to corporate requirements. These tech-companies are more familiar with frequent design features of websites.
Several participants claimed that corporate websites were established according to the requirements of various corporate departments. However, tech-companies or corporate tech-departments played an important role in the website design. The participant S10 introduced the process to establish the corporate website by saying that:
219 Our IT department takes charge of website design and management. At the beginning, corporations held some meetings to gather requirements from various departments. According to the requirements, IT department designed our corporate website. Some fashionable design items like site map and search engine were added to the website by the IT department.
It seemed that some design items on websites, such as site map and search engine, mostly depended on the decisions of tech-departments. Although corporate requirements took effects on the website design, tech-departments usually designed corporate websites with facilitating items according to fashionable website modes.
Second, most participants considered that their corporations seldom conducted website redesigns, which brought many problems to the design features of corporate websites.
The majority of participants believed that corporate websites should provide some design items to facilitate easy interface and conservation of users. However, some websites failed to offer an excellent user experience of website design. Some participants explained the reasons for such a problem. The most frequently mentioned reason was that corporations seldom redesigned their websites. As a result, some up-to-date design items did not appear on corporate websites, whereas some outdated design items still existed. The participant S7 added that:
Our corporate website was redesigned five years ago. It was more advanced than the former website in functions and appearance. However, after five years operation, our website seems to be outdated. For example, the network server sometimes cannot work properly, which always lead to a slow loading speed.
220 The corporation of S7 did not redesign corporate website for a long time, which made their website outdated. However, she did not offer recent redesign plans of the website. Some participants pointed out that the outdated design items influenced the communication effects of corporate websites. The participant S1 said that:
There are some outdated design items on our corporate website, for instance, the splash screen is an old-fashioned design item, which could reduce loading speed. Moreover, visitors cannot find out our corporate news through search sites like Google and Baidu, because the splash screen blocks search results. It should be cancelled in the future version of the website.
Some participants were aware of the design problems on corporate websites. They hoped to improve their websites in future website redesigns. It was ideal for corporations to redesign corporate websites frequently. However, most participants admitted that they had not redesigned corporate websites for a long time. The participant S4 considered corporate high-speed development as main reason for design problems on corporate website. She stated that:
Corporate website falls behind our corporation because of corporate high-speed development. The website cannot cover the newest corporate business. In 2010, we redesigned our corporate website and employed some new design items. After years of development, the website could not achieve all functions to address corporate needs. After all, we cannot redesign the corporate website frequently to match corporate development.
A few corporations seldom redesigned their websites because they did not pay attention to websites. It was not important for them to utilize corporate websites effectively. They refused to redesign corporate websites frequently and ignored the design items on corporate websites to facilitate visits. The participant S3 complained that:
221 I nearly lose heart because nobody in our corporation cares about the corporate website except our department. I have no idea about website redesign. It would be good for our corporate website to maintain the status quo. We are too busy to redesign the website. After all, the task on our website is only a small part of my job.
The viewpoint of S3 indicated that corporations should pay attention to corporate websites.
Otherwise, corporate websites could hardly be redesigned, and some outdated design items must influence the efficiency of visits.
Overall, most participants acknowledged the importance of reasonable layout and facilitating design items on corporate websites. Conservation of visitors and ease of interface have become fundamental requirements for corporate websites. Many websites had good performances in these two principles because the tech-departments had added some fashionable design features to websites. However, some websites still had outdated design items, which influenced visitors’ experience of websites. An important reason was that many corporations seldom redesigned their websites. They did not pay much attention to their websites. As a result, their websites became outdated for visits.
(ii) Generation of Return Visits
The content analysis results revealed that most corporate websites did not provide enough design features to promote the generation of return visits. Many corporate websites seemed to lack attraction for visitors to return. In the interviews, this research examined public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of promoting return visits on corporate websites. Some participants indeed made efforts to improve the attraction of corporate
222 websites, however, it was still not enough. Based on the interview results, there were mainly two factors to promote return visits: timely updated information, and connective items.
First, many participants considered that timely updated information on corporate websites was important to attract visitors. Corporate websites should regularly release corporate news and important information to get more attention.
Although participants proposed many methods to promote websites’ attraction, most of them emphasized the importance of timely updated information on corporate websites. The participant S1 considered that websites should frequently update corporate news. He pointed out that:
We could release information through our corporate website at any time. There is no deadline for the website, which is thus a proper platform to release corporate news. We strive to update corporate news timely on our website, because I believe that corporate news is very attractive for visitors.
According to the opinion of S1, timely corporate news could attract visitors’ attention and promote return visits. However, many corporate websites failed to update corporate news regularly. Some had not released news for more than one year. It was difficult to attract visitors with very outdated news. The participant S7, whose corporate website had not updated corporate news for a long time, stated that:
We admit to have some faults in our work. We seldom update corporate news. There are two reasons for that. First, we do not have too much corporate news. Second, we always assess news value carefully. We do not release some unnecessary or worthless news on the website. However, it cannot be denied that we neglect news release on our website. We have not updated news on the website for half a year.
223 Although the participant S7 gave some explanations, she admitted to having faults in news release through websites. This certainly influenced the generation of return visits. Thirty days is actually a long time for news release. Corporate websites should update news every day to attract visitors.
Except for corporate news, there was various information attracting publics on corporate websites, such as investment information, which was interested by investors. The results of content analysis showed that most corporate websites provided sufficient information for investors. A few corporate websites offered investors some convenient information services such as real-time stock information. However, a minority of corporate websites did not update investment information frequently. The corporate website of S2 was a typical example. The participant S2 stated that:
We do not often update investment information on the corporate website. We have some cooperative security companies to release our investment information. However, I believe it is fundamental to update investment information on our website regularly. Otherwise, visitors should search related information through some other channels. It is not convenient for visitors.
Some participants proposed that subscribed information through e-mail was a better way to provide information, which was of public concerns. Subscribed information could tailor corporate information personally and keep constant connections with publics. Moreover, subscribed information usually included linkages to corporate websites, which were beneficial for return visits. Although a few participants spoke highly of subscribed information, most corporate websites performed poorly in this function. The participant S3
224 explained that:
We failed to apply RSS subscriptions on our corporate website. At the beginning, I planned to add this function to the website. Moreover, I intended to connect the corporate website with mobile phone as a micro-platform, through which we could provide subscribed information to mobile users. Finally, the plan did not come true for the lack of funds.
Limited corporations provided information subscription through websites. The corporate website of the participant S4 offered RSS subscription through e-mail. The participant S4 confirmed the importance of subscription function. He stated that visitors could subscribe concerned information by ticking off corresponding content items in the subscription list of website. Except for information subscription through websites, several corporations had other channels to provide subscribed information. The participant S9 gave an example by saying that:
We provide information subscriptions through various channels. Corporate website is merely one of them. We also built mobile platform to provide subscribed information. For example, we utilize mobile news APP to release corporate information and offer subscribed information to users.
The corporation of S9 provided subscribed information through many channels. This was suitable for publics with various media habits. However, very limited websites had good performance in information subscription.
Second, it was believed that corporate websites could benefit from some connective items to build sustainable connections with publics. These connective items made corporate websites marked and shared by visitors so that websites could keep a continuous touch with publics.
225 Some participants proposed that corporate websites should set a few connective items in websites design, such as bookmarks and shared links. These items could effectively promote long-term connections between corporate websites and publics, and help corporate websites to touch new publics. Therefore, these connective items were beneficial to promote return visits on corporate websites. The content analysis results demonstrated that most corporate websites did not provide enough connective items such as bookmarks in website design.
Bookmarking was a very simple but useful function to get return visits. It could provide convenience to repeated visits.
Shared links have become very popular due to the effects of social media. Through shared links, visitors could directly visit corporate websites and easily connect to their social media.
The utilization of shared links was effective to promote corporate communication and attract new visitors. However, most corporate websites did not pay attention to this connective item.
The corporate website of S8 was an exception. She introduced the usage of shared links on her website:
We make use of shared links to practice some marketing activities. For example, we organized an activity of Father's Day on our corporate website and social media. We encouraged visitors to share our activity web pages and expressed their love to fathers. It is a big promotion for our corporate website.
It seemed that the item of shared links was useful for corporate strategic communication and marketing activities. The corporation of S9 also emphasized the importance of shared links on corporate websites. S9 stated that:
226 Our corporation, as a main sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, conducted some systematic communication on corporate website, for example, we practiced an activity named “watch the World Cup with us together”. We selected some lucky ones from the visitors who shared the links of our activity pages. They could get the prize of the World Cup tickets. The activity significantly attracted public attention and enhanced public involvement.
Although most corporate websites ignored the connective item of shared links, several websites took advantage of this item and had excellent social effects. It was helpful to enhance the attraction of corporate websites.
It can be concluded that most corporate websites performed poorly in the generation of return visits. Some participants realized the importance of timely updated information on corporate websites to attract visitors. However, many corporate websites failed to update corporate information regularly. It was detrimental to the generation of return visits because publics seldom paid attention to freezing websites. Some connective design items on websites, such as bookmarks and shared links, were useful to keep a continuous connection with publics. However, the majority of corporate websites failed to provide sufficient connective items, which might influence the attraction of corporate websites.
(iii) Dialogic Loop
The content analysis results indicated that corporate websites paid the least attention to the principle of dialogic loop. The principle of dialogic loop can be divided into two aspects: dialogic channels and engagement in dialogues. Dialogic channels on websites are the prerequisites for dialogic public relations. Without sufficient dialogic channels, webbed
227 dialogues cannot come true. Engagement in dialogues is the essence of dialogic public relations. Without actual engagement in dialogues, it is still far from genuine dialogic public relations. This section explored public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of dialogic loop. Their understandings and practice to provide dialogic channels and engage in actual webbed dialogues were examined. Thus, this section comprises two parts: dialogic channels and engagement in dialogues.
First, the majority of corporations failed to provide sufficient dialogic channels on corporate websites. Many dialogic channels were not available.
Most corporate websites did not perform well in dialogic channels, such as corporate e-mail, message board or forum, and social media. As a result, publics were unable to have dialogues with corporations through websites. The participant S2 was aware of this problem and stated that:
We provide few dialogic channels on our website. Our corporate website is a platform of corporate image. We only communicate what we like. User experience is not important for us. In my opinion, our website is like a soliloquy without essential significance.
The website of S2 did not offer any dialogic channel except some corporate phone numbers.
Some participants claimed that they had cancelled some dialogic channels on websites. The corporation of S4 cancelled corporate e-mail on the corporate website, because they did not actually use corporate e-mail. Some participants considered dialogic channels on websites as useless decorations. As a result, some dialogic channels were not available at all. The
228 participant S5 stated that:
The message board on our corporate website does not work at all. Although visitors could leave some messages on the board, the information actually cannot enter the backend database of corporate website. Thus, we will never read the messages. We display the section of FAQ to substitute dialogic functions.
The corporate website of S5 seemed to display the message board as a decoration without actual utilization. This may be the reason why this research sent questions through dialogic channels of websites but received limited replies. Although some corporate websites provided a few dialogic channels, many channels were actually unavailable.
The majority of corporations did not offer sufficient dialogic channels on corporate websites.
However, some participants claimed that they had some dialogic channels on social media instead of corporate websites. They considered social media more dialogic than corporate websites. It seemed to be another way to facilitate dialogues. The participant S8 stated that:
We do not provide many dialogic channels on the corporate website because we pay more attention to social media. We display corporate social media clearly on the website. Thus, visitors can easily find our micro blogs and dialogue with our staff there. We believe that dialogues through social media are very important for corporate interaction with publics.
The viewpoints of S8 were supported by the participant S9, whose corporate website also provided hyperlinks of social media. He stated that:
Although we provide some dialogic channels on the website, recently we pay more attention to corporate social media. Now we have five platforms in social media, including Wechat (a Chinese popular mobile communication app, which works as a social media platform), Sina micro blogs, Tencent micro blogs, Sohu micro blogs, and Netease micro blogs. All of them are popular platforms in social media. We gather public feedbacks and dialogue with visitors through these corporate social media.
229 The viewpoints of the participant S8 and S9 indicated another way for corporations to provide dialogic channels. This is also effective to promote dialogic public relations.
Corporations should display their social media on corporate websites, which could be a convenient entrance and valid promotion for corporate social media. However, only a minority of corporations displayed their corporate social media on websites.
Overall, the basis of dialogic public relations was damaged because most corporate websites failed to provide sufficient dialogic channels. Moreover, some corporations did not actually utilize the dialogic channels on corporate websites. Corporate social media could also provide efficient dialogic channels. The problem was that the majority of corporations did not display their social media on corporate websites.
Second, the majority of corporations had limited engagement in actual webbed dialogues with publics. Most corporations did not reply public inquiries on corporate websites.
In the content analysis, this research sent a simple question to corporations through their websites. Limited corporations (about 6.19%) gave valid feedbacks within seven days. The majority of corporations seemed to ignore actual dialogues with publics. This research applied interviews to further explore public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of webbed dialogues. Then corporate actual engagement in webbed dialogues was examined. From the participants’ statements, this research summarized three modes of corporate dialogic engagement on websites, as shown in table 4.7.
230 Table 4.7: Three modes of corporate dialogic engagement
Mode Characteristic 1 Complete neglect of dialogues 2 Selective dialogues with special publics 3 Dialogues under corporate management
In the first mode of dialogic engagement, corporations completely ignored dialogues with publics on corporate websites. As stated above, the majority of corporations did not provide enough dialogic channels on their websites. Moreover, some dialogic channels on corporate websites performed as decorations without actual utilization. The corporate website of S3 was a typical example. His corporate website provided a message board but failed to manage it. There were several thousand pages of message, most of which were junk information. On the first several pages, the corporation had some dialogues with publics and answered some inquiries. Later, the corporation completely ignored the message board. Public inquiries could not get replies. Junk information accumulated on the website. There were some similar examples. The participant S5’s corporate e-mail was seldom utilized. The participant S5 stated that:
Our corporate website provides corporate e-mail, which is the responsibility of the president’s office. It is required to examine mails regularly. As far as I know, nearly nobody cares about it. We indeed provide some dialogic channels on the corporate website, but we seldom use them. We are too busy to dialogue with publics and reply their questions.
Most corporations did not conduct webbed dialogues with publics. Although some of them provided dialogic channels on corporate websites, they seldom engaged in actual webbed dialogues.
231 The second mode of dialogic engagement indicated that some corporations made selective dialogues with special publics rather than all publics, for instance, some corporations mainly had dialogues with investors on websites. The participant S7 stated that:
Investors are primary publics for our webbed dialogues. We often have some interactions with investors, who care about our corporation or buy our stocks. Investors often propose some questions through dialogic channels on our website. Our staff regularly answer these questions. From dialogues with our corporation, investors get useful information and build proper relationships with us.
The corporation of S7 mainly conducted webbed dialogues with investors. They ignored dialogues with other publics through the website. The corporation of S4 paid close attention to dialogues with internal publics. The participant S4 stated that:
We have some forums in corporate intranet, where our employees usually release information and interact with others. They also raise some questions to our corporation. Their questions are timely answered by specialized staff. Through frequent dialogues with our employees, we could enhance corporate competitiveness.
Both the participants S7 and S4 focused on special publics for webbed dialogues, which were not open to all publics. Their dialogic performance on websites was beneficial to build relationships with special publics.
As for the third mode of dialogic engagement, webbed dialogues were conducted under corporate management. Corporations provided opportunities of dialogues to all publics.
However, they tightly controlled webbed dialogues. These corporations conducted selective dialogues with publics according to specific dialogue topics. Some participants believed that corporate management was necessary in actual dialogues. The participant S7 stated that:
232 Our corporate website provides some dialogic channels, such as corporate e-mail and message board. However, we do not give feedbacks to all dialogic requirements. For example, we filter emails and make selective replies. If the emails are valuable, we will reply them immediately. Some useless emails are neglected. Similarly, we selectively answer questions on message board based on message contents.
Besides selective dialogues with publics, some participants claimed that they merely opened some favorable contents of webbed dialogues to publics. As a result, they could guide public opinions properly. The participant S2 emphasized that corporations should examine dialogue contents and make positive contents prominent on corporate websites. She stated that:
Webbed dialogues should base on the precondition of corporate management. I do not think we should release all dialogue contents on the website. Some significant and positive dialogue contents could be displayed, but some sharp comments or malicious criticisms must be deleted. Otherwise, these information is harmful for corporate image. We released some selected dialogue contents on our corporate website. I believe that most of corporations perform similarly.
It seemed that the practice of webbed dialogues was also a part of corporate propaganda.
Some corporations intended to disseminate positive information and eliminate negative information in the process of dialogues. They considered corporate control indispensable for webbed dialogues with publics.
Overall, the majority of corporations did not provide sufficient dialogic channels on their websites. Moreover, most corporations had limited engagement in webbed dialogues with publics. Public dialogic requirements seldom got corporate response. Although a minority of corporations conducted some webbed dialogues with publics, they usually set a few conditions for dialogues. As a result, they could control dialogues and make positive dialogue contents dominant on corporate websites.
233 4.2.4.3 Barriers to Dialogic Public Relations
Although some corporate websites provided a few dialogic channels, most corporations did not pay much attention to actual engagement in webbed dialogues. The content analysis results could not explain such a phenomenon. This research applied interviews to explore deeper reasons for this problem. The results of interviews revealed four barriers to dialogic public relations on corporate websites. This section comprises four parts: (i) negative information, (ii) insufficient resources, (iii) potential security risks, and (iv) lack of business requirements. The four barriers to dialogic public relations are shown in table 4.8.
Table 4.8: Barriers to dialogic public relations
Negative emotions (i) Negative information Malicious attacks and rumors Barriers (ii) Insufficient resources (iii) Potential security risks (iv) Lack of business requirements
(i) Negative Information
In the interviews, the risk of negative information was most frequently mentioned by the participants. It seemed to be the primary barrier to dialogues on corporate websites. For most participants, the corporate website was still a propaganda platform, through which corporations optimized information and communicated good images. They cannot tolerate excessive negative information on websites. The participants mainly confirmed two types of negative information in webbed dialogues: negative emotions, and malicious attacks or rumors.
234 First, some participants considered public negative emotions as important negative information. These participants stated that plenty of publics released their negative emotions on corporate websites, which harmed corporate images. Compared with tradition media, websites provided visitors with free platforms, where publics could release personal opinions with limited gatekeeping. As a result, some visitors released too much irrational and negative emotions on corporate websites. This problem was more prominent during some corporate crises. The participant S2 shared her experience by saying that:
There is always some negative emotional information towards our corporation on internet, especially when we have some crises. For instance, some years ago, we had a good business performance. There were many positive comments on the website. However, in recent years, our corporations have some difficulties in corporate operations. Some promises for employees cannot be fulfilled. Thus, there is plenty of negative emotional information against our corporation on the website. You can find that the message board on our website is filled with scolds. It is harmful for corporate image.
The participant S1 also confirmed the risk of negative emotions. He expressed his frustration by saying that:
We do not pay attention to dialogues on corporate website. To be honest, I am very conflictive about dialogues. You know, we have so many employees. I worry about the influence of negative emotions. We need to weigh the pros and cons. I fear that we cannot control the negative emotions in dialogues.
The participant S1 feared that negative emotions on websites would influence the performance of corporate employees. In his opinion, webbed dialogues might do more harm than good. Due to negative emotions on corporate websites, the participant S5 doubted the significance of dialogues. The corporate website of S5 had earlier provided some dialogic
235 channels, which were later cancelled because of negative emotions. She explained that:
There was too much negative emotional information on our corporate website. We found that limited normal visitors dialogued with us. Many axe-grinding visitors released messy negative emotions in dialogic channels of the website. Our website became a punching bag.
In S5’s opinion, dialogues lost the significance because there were few normal dialogues on corporate websites. Some participants also considered that negative emotions damaged meaningful dialogues between corporations and publics.
Second, some participants feared that malicious attacks and rumors might appear in webbed dialogues. In their opinions, normal criticisms might be inevitable in webbed dialogues.
However, there might be plenty of malicious attacks and rumors in webbed dialogues. The participant S3 confirmed the risks by saying that:
In my opinion, there are some conflicts in the cyberspace. Some visitors are employed to release negative information or rumors to damage corporate reputation purposely. Therefore, many corporations do not provide dialogic channels on corporate websites to avoid potential troubles.
In S3’s opinion, malicious attacks and rumors, which might be disguised as common dialogic information, could damage corporate reputation and interests. Some participants mentioned several criminal cases related to malicious attacks and rumors on Chinese internet.
For instance, in 2010, a senior project manager of Mengniu Dairy Group, which is the second largest dairy producers in China, was arrested because of his online malicious attacks to Chinese largest dairy producer, Yili Dairy Group. Malicious attacks and rumors always appear in Chinese cyberspace. The participant S8 stated that:
236 We do not often dialogue with publics on the website for the fear of negative information. The negative information maybe includes normal complaints from customers and malicious attacks from our adversaries. If our corporate website is filled with too many malicious comments, corporate image and products reputation will be definitely damaged.
According to S8’s understanding, malicious attacks and rumors could badly threaten normal dialogues on corporate websites. Corporations had to consider the risk of malicious information before their engagement in dialogues. The participant S5 believed that rumors were especially harmful for listed companies. She explained that:
It is very important for listed companies to disclose corporate information precisely. We must carefully utilize corporate websites to disclose corporate information. If some rumors enter our dialogic channels of the website, it will harm our stock price and investors’ interest. Sometimes Chinese cyberspace is disordered. Some visitors perform unscrupulously to earn money. We must beware of various risks.
Overall, negative information seemed to be the biggest barrier to dialogues through corporate websites. Many participants believed that negative information could damage corporate image. Negative emotions made webbed dialogues meaningless. Moreover, malicious attacks and rumors could badly damage normal dialogues and corporate interests. Negative information on websites has become a test of corporate determination for webbed dialogues.
As stated by the participant S6, they did not have such a big heart to allow too much criticism on the website.
(ii) Insufficient Resources
The majority of participants stated that they could not get sufficient resources to conduct webbed dialogues. In their opinions, most of corporations allocated limited resources to
237 corporate websites. It was another important barrier to dialogic public relations. The participants proposed two aspects of insufficient resources: insufficient staff to deal with negative information, and insufficient corporate resources to address dialogue needs.
First, most participants complained that they did not have enough staff to manage corporate websites and conduct webbed dialogues with publics.
This research found that most of corporations did not have enough staff to manage corporate websites. The average number of staff for websites was 2.3, which was not sufficient for daily contents management. Many participants highlighted that if they were to be fully engaged in webbed dialogues, they would need more staff to deal with negative information.
However, according to the corporate focus, this was nearly impossible. The participant S3 held similar opinions and stated that:
If we practice more dialogues on our corporate website, we would need more staff. Our corporation cannot support that. I believe there would be too much negative information in webbed dialogues. What should we do without enough staff to deal with negative information? Thus, I have to cancel most dialogues on our website.
The participant S1 expressed similar frustration, although his corporation had more than
130,000 employees. He stated that:
We have ever considered dialogues on our corporate website. The problem is that we do not have enough staff to dialogue with publics. Everyday our website has hundreds of visitors. We need more staff to reply their questions and deal with negative information. Current staff are far from enough to dialogue with publics. If we do not have enough staff to deal with negative information, I would rather maintain the status quo.
238 According to the participant S1 and S3, the lack of staff became an important barrier to webbed dialogues. They feared that they could not deal with negative information without sufficient staff. However, their corporations did not support their requirements of human resources for websites. As a result, they could not have sufficient webbed dialogues with publics.
Second, many participants emphasized that they did not have sufficient corporate resources to address public dialogue needs.
Except for the lack of human resources, some participants also claimed that they could not get enough corporate resources to dialogue with publics. They did not have sufficient time, training, and budget for webbed dialogues. Most corporate websites were managed by limited staff, who were too busy to dialogue with publics. In this research, no staff for corporate websites had any training of webbed dialogues. It seemed that public relations practitioners could not fully engage in dialogues without sufficient corporate supports. The participant S8 expressed that:
A key problem for us is the lack of resources. If we fully engage in dialogues through corporate website, there will be many dialogic requirements of visitors. We would like to have a good performance. However, we do not have enough corporate supports to achieve that. In my opinion, if we are not able to perform dialogues well, it will be better to cancel dialogues. Bad dialogue is worse than no dialogue.
The participant S10 held the similar viewpoints. Although she was in favor of webbed dialogues, she admitted that dialogues could not play a real role without corporate supports.
The participant S2 stated that she could not redesign corporate website due to the lack of
239 budgets. She stated that:
We planned to redesign our corporate website for a long time. The redesign plan for our website has been proposed for two years. As long as we get corporate approval and budget support, we will redesign our website and provide more dialogue opportunities with publics. Our corporation has enough budgets. The key is that corporation does not allocate sufficient funds to our website.
To some extent, dialogic public relations was dependent upon corporate supports. In consideration of bad users’ experiences from poor dialogues, some participants would rather refuse dialogues. In this research, most corporations did not allocate sufficient resources to their websites. It has become an important barrier to dialogic public relations.
(iii) Potential Security Risks
Another barrier was the potential security risks of webbed dialogues. Although all participants were from public relations departments rather than technical departments, some participants emphasized that webbed dialogues might bring security risks to corporate websites. The participant S5 expressed her viewpoints by saying that:
Webbed dialogues might bring threats to the security of our website. Some hackers could break into the corporate websites through dialogic channels. A few visitors could also make use of dialogic channels to upload illegal information or virus. It will be a big trouble if virus invades our background database of the corporate website.
Compared to a closed system, dialogic channels provided external users with some entrances to corporate websites. This might bring potential technical risks to corporate websites. The participant S1 confirmed the security risks of dialogues by saying that:
240 From a technical point of view, one of the biggest pressures from webbed dialogues is the security risk. Dialogic system could provide entrances to information input, which might bring some pressures on information security. However, it is not the prime problem, if we could have got sufficient corporate resources.
As the participant S1 stated, dialogic channels could bring some security risks to corporate websites. However, he admitted that security risks were not the fundamental problems for webbed dialogues. They could resolve these risks as long as they received corporate supports.
The participant S3 also considered that security risks were secondary problems for webbed dialogues. He stated that:
There may be some technical risks from webbed dialogues. However, that is not the key. There are so many electronic commerce websites full with interactive functions and dialogic channels. They have never emphasized the technical risks as important barriers to interaction. All potential technical risks from dialogues can be prevented and resolved. The key is whether corporations provide sufficient resources and effective management.
Overall, potential security risks from webbed dialogues should be considered by corporations. However, security risks could be controlled. The key was whether corporations provide more supports for webbed dialogues.
(iv) Lack of Business Requirements
The last barrier frequently mentioned by the participants was that corporate business had no need for dialogues. Some participants did not find visible values of webbed dialogues for corporations. Based on their perceptions, webbed dialogues were not necessary for corporate business. The participant S1 expressed his views by saying that:
241 At the beginning, we indeed considered setting dialogic functions on the website. We need to arrange corporate website according to corporate requirements. We did not find any requirement for webbed dialogues. As a result, our website works as a one-way propaganda platform rather than two-way communication platform. It is more convenient for our management.
It was obvious that the participant S1 had not realized the potential value of webbed dialogues. In his opinion, dialogues did not promote corporate business practically. His corporation utilized corporate website for propaganda rather than interaction. The participant
S7 also believed that dialogues were not urgent tasks for her corporation. She stated that:
We have not considered dialogic public relation on the website, because it lacks priority. It is not an urgent task. Most of corporate departments do not have requirements of webbed dialogues. If there were any requirements in future, we would perform dialogues immediately. However, I cannot see the feasibility in a short term.
It seemed that some participants could not find corporate requirements for webbed dialogues.
Some participants speculated that there were few visitors to dialogue with corporations through websites. Thus, dialogues were not effective for corporate business. The participant
S6 said that:
We do not consider the dialogue as an effective business. It is related to the characteristics of visitors. In my view, visitors always have explicit objectives on corporate websites. They will leave the website as soon as they finish browse. They have no interest to dialogue with us. Therefore, dialogue is not very significant for visitors and corporate business.
In S6’s opinion, webbed dialogues were not effective because most visitors just wanted to visit corporate websites rather than dialogue with corporations. As a result, webbed dialogues became dispensable. The participant S7 also confirmed that webbed dialogues were not efficient because of corporate characteristic. She stated that:
242 As I mentioned, some big industrial customers are our main customers. I guess there are few individual consumers to dialogue with our corporation through the website. Our website mainly faces key accounts. Thus, we do not need to do much on individual terminal, because I fear that the more information we communicate, the more mistakes we will make. Some troubles may appear from webbed dialogues.
In fact, there might be less individual customers to visit the website of S7. However, there might be other publics to dialogue with her corporation besides individual customers.
Various publics could benefit from constructive dialogues with corporations. Moreover, her corporate performance of dialogues was mostly based on estimation rather than adequate investigation and analysis.
According to participants’ viewpoints, four barriers to dialogic public relations have been confirmed, namely negative information, insufficient resources, potential security risks, and lack of business requirements. Many participants believed that webbed dialogues could bring various risks, such as negative information and potential security risks. The risks would damage corporate images and information security. Many corporations were unable to find corporate requirements for webbed dialogues. As a result, they allocated limited resources to dialogic public relations. Most participants admitted that they could not get sufficient staff, time, training, and funds to dialogue with publics. All of these barriers hindered webbed dialogues. As a result, the majority of corporations performed badly in dialogic relationship building through corporate websites.
From the interview results, this section examined public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of dialogic public relations. The majority of participants confirmed the
243 importance of webbed dialogues. Only a minority of participants doubted the practicality and necessity of dialogues. Most corporations paid different attention to dialogic principles. They performed better in the principles of conservation of visitors and ease of interface than generation of return visits and dialogic loop. Although corporate websites provided more convenience to facilitate visits, they did not provide sufficient connective design items to generate return visits. Moreover, the majority of corporations failed to offer enough dialogic channels on their websites. They always had limited engagement in webbed dialogues with publics. Also from the interviews, four barriers have been confirmed to explain corporate poor performance in webbed dialogues.
Summary
This chapter presents two sections of results and findings. From the results of content analysis, section one introduces the content features and design features of corporate websites. It seemed that corporate websites gave different priorities to various publics with tailored contents. Although most corporations employed dialogic principles on their websites, they placed varying weights on different principles. Through in-depth interviews, section two examines public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards corporate websites and dialogic public relations. Four important themes appeared to indicate the underlying reasons and internal perceptions on this issue. Although most corporations utilized websites for corporate communication and public relations in various ways, they did not pay enough attention to corporate websites. The results of interviews revealed some
244 deeper understandings of corporate efforts to address various publics through websites. This research also examined practitioners’ perceptions towards dialogic public relations and their actual performance to employ dialogic principles on corporate websites. The results indicated that although most participants confirmed the importance of webbed dialogues, they performed poorly in dialogic relationship building on corporate websites. At last, four barriers to webbed dialogues were proposed to understand the poor performance of corporations in dialogic public relations.
245 CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This chapter discusses the findings relating to the objectives of this research. Through both content analysis and in-depth interviews, this research has acquired some findings on how
Chinese manufacturing corporations utilized their websites for communication and dialogic relationship building. This research applied the combination of two-way symmetrical public relations, personal influence theory, relationship management theory, dialogic public relations theory, and situational theory to discuss the overall findings and accomplish research objectives. The discussion is further connected with related literatures in order to have a deeper understanding on this issue before conclusions are made. Lastly, this chapter proposes research implications, research limitations, and recommendations for future research. The objectives of this research are listed below:
1. To examine and analyze the characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations.
2. To examine and analyze the characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in addressing various publics with tailored contents.
3. To examine and analyze the dialogic characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building.
246 4. To provide strategies for Chinese manufacturing corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations.
5.1 Discussion on Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Promoting Communication and Public Relations
The importance of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations has been extensively confirmed (AbuGhazaleh et al., 2012; Shi, 2012). This section discusses the overall characteristic of manufacturing corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations. It consists of four parts: (i) beneficial platform for corporate communication, (ii) secondary communication tools, (iii) supplementary tools for public relations, and (iv) underestimated effectiveness of corporate websites.
5.1.1 Beneficial Platform for Corporate Communication
This research finds that corporate website is a popular communicational platform and accepted by most manufacturing corporations in Chinese Fortune 500. About 97% of 100 corporations have corporate websites that can be utilized by visitors. Only three corporate websites cannot be visited during this research. This extensive utilization is consistent with some previous research on corporate websites (Esrock & Leichty, 1998; Jiang, 2006; Y. Li &
Li, 2014). Moreover, there seems to be a rise in the utilization of corporate websites.
All 10 participants acknowledged the importance of corporate websites as a beneficial communication platform. They confirmed that corporate websites could symbolize corporate
247 images and competitiveness. Other than symbolic function, corporate websites could also benefit corporate communication in various ways.
The first benefit is that the corporate website provides a visible platform to build corporate images. As suggested by Jiang (2006), corporate websites can significantly enhance organizational images. In this research, most corporations sought to create a positive image through corporate websites. They usually disseminated positive corporate information on websites in order to form good public impressions.
The most frequent method to build corporate images through websites is to release corporate news. It is a beneficial way to display corporate events and communicate corporate philosophy and culture. Most participants identified the significance of corporate news for image building. Some participants stated that the belief of “content is king” still held true in the cyberspace. They believed that specific corporate news was more efficient than abstract propaganda or corporation introductions. The advantages of corporate websites, such as mass storage and immediate information release, are beneficial for corporations to release continuous and enormous information for corporate image building (Hinson et al., 2012).
One out of ten participants argued that it was a systematic work to build corporate images through corporate websites. Many elements of websites could influence public perceptions towards corporations. It is a systematic project to build corporate images through corporate websites.
248 The second benefit is that the corporate website is an important platform to display corporate products and services. In this research, most corporate websites (90.72%) offered customers product information. The majority of participants considered corporate websites as an ideal platform to introduce corporate products and services. The result is consistent with the research of Deng and Yang (2008). As stated by Hyojung Park and Reber (2008), organizational websites can significantly promote the public understanding of organizational products and services. In this research, most participants agreed with this viewpoint and paid attention to the introduction of products and services on websites. This is also identified by the investigation report of Chinese corporate application of internet (CNNIC, 2015b).
Corporate websites are appropriate to introduce corporate products and services. Compared with traditional advertisements of products, the cost of corporate websites is not high. Some participants further claimed that customers could get precise perceptions of corporate products via multiform introductions on corporate websites. Products are the most important outcomes of manufacturing corporations. It was significant that most corporations emphasized the display of products through corporate websites, as a result, they could conveniently utilize their websites to promote publics to purchase corporate products and services.
The third benefit is that corporate websites provide corporations with important channels for internal communication. Many participants believed that corporate website worked as a bridge between corporate leadership and employees, thus, internal information exchange and
249 corporate cohesion could be promoted. Moreover, corporate websites could perform as public space for different corporate departments and staff to share and exchange information to increase employees’ participation.
Hill and White (2000) found that most Fortune 500 companies utilized websites for communication rather than direct sales or revenue generating activities. In this research, most corporations utilized corporate websites to disseminate information. According to the three orientations (i.e., informative orientation, relational orientation and transactional orientation) proposed by Soto-Acosta and Merono-Cerdan (2008), Chinese manufacturing corporations emphasized the informative orientation to utilize corporate websites. This section discusses some prominent usages of corporate websites to promote corporate communication. Although corporate websites were beneficial for corporate communication, they played a secondary role in corporate communication and did not get sufficient corporate resources.
5.1.2 Secondary Communication Tools
In this research, although corporations benefitted from multiple usages of corporate websites, most corporations did not pay much attention to corporate websites. The majority of participants expressed their frustration because most corporate websites acted as secondary roles in corporate communication. The finding is consistent with the argument by
Sommerfeldt et al. (2012), who found that organizational website was a secondary communication tool, and appeared as a passive form of organizational communication.
250 On the management level, corporate websites were always managed by various departments.
However, there was no specific unit to coordinate the works of these departments on websites. The lack of coordination became a barrier to the efficiency of corporate websites.
Most public relations departments could not manage corporate websites alone for corporate communication. The efficiency of corporate websites mostly depended on the positivity of other departments, such as the IT department, the marketing department, and the production department. In a corporation, the IT department took charge of corporate website, but they could not update websites efficiently because of their profession area. The lack of efficient management has influenced the effectiveness of corporate websites for communication.
On the resource level, most corporations did not allocate sufficient resources to develop corporate websites. They did not assign enough staff to work on corporate websites. In this research, the average number of staff for website contents was 2.3. It was not sufficient for regular content management of websites. Most of the staff were not full-time. They did not have enough time to update websites timely. The finding is consistent with the research of
Hill and White (2000), who stated that many public relations practitioners always felt overwhelmed by large workload and no time to promote websites frequently.
Despite insufficient staff, most corporate websites could not get enough budgets from corporations. A prominent phenomenon was that many public relations departments could not redesign corporate websites regularly due to the lack of fund. It seemed that most corporations did not allocate sufficient resources for corporate websites. This had an adverse
251 influence on the communication effects of corporate websites.
In conclusion, the fast development of new technology has promoted corporations to pay more attention to the utilization of corporate websites to achieve multiple purposes. In this research, many participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication, but in their opinions, corporate websites seemed to be useful rather than crucial. Most corporate websites played a secondary role in corporate communication and did not receive sufficient corporate resources. The majority of participants believed that it was harmful for corporations not to have corporate websites.
However, the quality and influence of corporate websites were not regarded as so important for many corporations.
5.1.3 Supplementary Tools for Public Relations
Most participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites in promoting public relations. However, participants always utilized one-way propaganda approach to promoting corporate public relations through corporate websites. The majority of participants considered their websites as supplementary tools rather than primary tools for public relations. They proposed a few efficient usages of corporate websites to promote public relations, but their focus was still on communication management rather than relationship management through corporate websites.
252 5.1.3.1 One-Way Propaganda Approach
A website is an excellent platform which allows the application of all four public relations models by J. E. Grunig and Hunt, especially the ideal two-way symmetry model (Alfonso &
Miguel, 2006). However, this research found that corporations primarily utilized corporate websites to disseminate one-way propaganda information for public relations.
The content analysis results indicated that corporations paid more attention to information dissemination than interaction with publics through websites. The dialogic loop category scored the lowest in all categories. Corporations were passive to interact or dialogue with their publics on websites. The results were further confirmed by the in-depth interviews.
Most participants emphasized the one-way communication approach of corporate websites rather than the two-way approach. They sought to disseminate corporate positive information and eliminate negative information for corporate image building. It seemed that propaganda was an important focus of corporate websites. Corporations mainly introduced corporate information and publicized positive contents to establish corporate images through websites.
Corporate management and control were considered indispensable for corporate websites.
Based on the four models of public relations by J. E. Grunig and Hunt (1984), in this research, the one-way model (press agentry model and public information model) was dominant in corporate public relations through websites. Most corporations employed the press agentry model to make use of their websites. Public relations practitioners aimed to promote corporate propaganda through information release on corporate websites. Other than
253 corporate propaganda, some corporate websites offered publics truthful but favorable corporate information, which embodied the characteristics of the public information model.
The favorable information was usually of value and interest to publics, for instance, some investment information for investors. Most corporations conducted few research on targeted publics for corporate websites. Their communication strategies on websites were based on corporate intention. As one participant argued, “we communicate what we like without regard to public feelings”. The emphasis of information release on corporate websites confirms the argument of Kent and Taylor (1998) that simply updating information represents the one-way model of public relations.
The two-way model (two-way asymmetry model and two-way symmetry model) was secondary in corporate websites. The results of content analysis showed that a few websites provided some two-way dialogic channels, such as corporate e-mail (62.89%), message board or forum (50.52%), and real-time interaction service (8.25%). However, only a minority of corporations gave feedback to public inquiries (6.19%). The dialogic channels on websites could support two-way interaction so that information could flow between both corporations and publics (J. E. Grunig & Hunt, 1984). However, many corporations had limited positivity to interact or dialogue with publics on corporate websites.
The goal of the two-way asymmetry model is a scientific persuasion that makes publics accept and support organizations. In this research, some participants confirmed their two-way asymmetrical activities on websites. Several corporations did some investigations
254 on visitors. Based on the results, some specific communication strategies were made for various publics. Their aim was still propaganda or persuasion. In contrast, the goal of the two-way symmetry model is mutual understanding through which organizations and their publics adjust to each other. The minority of participants emphasized their efforts to practice two-way symmetrical public relations. A corporation promoted emotional communication with publics on corporate websites to facilitate relationship building. There were some similar examples of two-way symmetrical public relations in this research. The consequence of two-way symmetry model is always a mutual compromise or solution, which could benefit both organizations and publics (Laskin, 2009).
The findings confirm the statements of J. E. Grunig and Grunig (1992) and Ki and Hon
(2006) that two-way model (two-way asymmetry model and two-way symmetry model) does not perform as the dominant form in public relations practice. In this research, the majority of corporations paid more attention to one-way model than two-way model on corporate websites. Many participants considered propaganda as an important focus of their websites.
As stated by Taylor and Kent (2014), propaganda is a one-way communication model, or a two-way asymmetry model, through which the message senders control communication channels and information contents. In this research, most corporations preferred a one-way propaganda model. They always released positive information on websites without consideration of public requirements. Although two-way symmetry model is considered as the major component of excellence public relations (J. E. Grunig & Grunig, 1992), most corporations paid limited attention to this model.
255 The findings in this research are consistent with some former research in China. Meng (2007) found that the model of press agentry was still prevalent in Chinese public relations practice and the ideal two-way symmetry model was considered as unrealistic by many practitioners.
N. Chen (2008) stated that although there was some two-way communication in Chinese corporations, the communication effects were still asymmetrical and unbalanced. Likewise, corporate public relations practitioners in this research sought to attain corporate objectives through one-way propaganda or two-way asymmetry model rather than two-way symmetrical communication. They paid more attention to the dissemination of positive information than two-way communication.
Information dissemination through corporate websites can also benefit relationship building between corporations and publics. However, as argued by Waters and Jamal (2011), one-way communication is inclined to lead a lopsided relationship. From the perspective of relationship cultivation strategies, corporations mainly focused on the openness of corporate information to get public understandings. Although a few corporations provided communication channels on websites to promote the strategy of access, most of them did not show enough assurance to publics because they seldom responded to public requests.
Corporations should symmetrically communicate with publics through their websites to build high-quality and long-term relationships (J. E. Grunig & Grunig, 2008).
256 5.1.3.2 Frequent Usages by Public Relations Practitioners
Although most public relations practitioners acknowledged the importance of corporate websites, they did not regard websites as primary public relations tools. They always utilized corporate websites to supplement corporate communication on mainstream media. In their opinions, traditional media were still important and necessary for corporate public relations.
Corporate websites were efficient only when connected with other popular media. The result is consistent with the findings of Sommerfeldt et al. (2012) that website is a support tool rather than a crucial one for public relations.
Many participants confirmed some advantages of corporate websites in promoting public relations. For instance, corporate websites could pay a continuous attention to corporate news. Different from traditional media, corporate websites did not have length limits, and could work as a large storeroom to reserve and release immense corporate information. By working in conjunction with mainstream media, corporate websites could be more efficient and popular. Nevertheless, many corporations ignored the effects of corporate websites because they still held outdated standards to assess public relations practice, such as using the number of corporate reports on mainstream media as a gauge. Their working focus was still on mainstream media rather than corporate websites. News release on corporate websites was not a criterion or requirement for corporate public relations, thus, leading to the neglect of corporate websites.
257 This research confirms three frequent usages of corporate websites in promoting public relations. First, special-topic information setting is efficient for corporate websites to release information. Special-topic information setting means that corporate websites intensively release some important information with the same topic in some special columns on corporate websites. Special-topic information highlights the important topics of corporate communication. It is an effective way to attract public attention and promote corporate agenda setting. Furthermore, corporations can utilize various forms flexibly to set special-topic information on corporate websites, which can significantly improve communication effects.
Second, many participants preferred to use microsites to release corporate specific-topic information. Microsites are thematic web pages, which concentrate on special topics or issues. Compared with corporate websites, microsites appear more active and concentrated.
Therefore, microsites are usually more prominent than corporate websites in attracting visitors. With the promotion of some popular portal websites, microsites can receive more attention and perform as the bridge between special-topic information and corporate websites.
As a result, microsites can significantly enhance the communication effects of special-topic information. The finding confirms the arguments of Sommerfeldt et al. (2012) that microsites can promote the efficiency of organizational public relations.
Third, corporate websites can function as corporate business cards and destinations of public relations activities. Corporate websites are efficient business cards for visits from anywhere
258 and anytime. They provide the possibility for occasional relationship-building between corporations and new publics. Compared with e-mail advertisements, corporate websites offer publics more options to connect with corporations. As suggested by Hill and White
(2000), websites have the ability to reach isolated publics that organizations normally cannot reach and connect. Through corporate websites, corporations can reach new publics and build proper relationships with them.
Furthermore, corporate websites can work as the destinations of corporate public relations activities. Some participants gave a few successful examples that they performed public relations activities to promote corporate images and lead publics to further connect with corporations through corporate websites. Corporate websites offer publics a visible platform to introduce corporations and build beneficial relationships. Additionally, corporate websites can also promote public relations activities through sufficient information release. As a result, corporate public relations activities and corporate websites supplement each other and systematically promote corporate public relations.
This section summarizes the frequent usages of corporate websites in promoting public relations. It seemed that most corporations paid more attention to communication management than relationship management on websites. They utilized corporate websites to promote corporate communication to achieve public relations goals. The frequent usages of websites for public relations embodied corporate efforts to improve communication effects rather than relationship management. Cutlip et al. (2006) defined public relations as the
259 management function to build and maintain beneficial relationships. Ledingham (2003) emphasized that the primary task of public relations had shifted from communication management to relationship management. In this research, many corporations had not accomplished the shift of public relations focus. Their usages of corporate websites for public relations reflected that their focus was still on communication management.
On the other hand, the characteristics of Chinese public relations are embodied by corporate frequent usages of corporate websites. As mentioned in the section of public relations in
China, many Chinese practitioners hold on to a pragmatic approach to conducting public relations and emphasizing the management of publics’ perceptions through skillful news publicity and media communication. The pragmatic characteristics of Chinese practitioners are also reflected in this research. Public relations is always considered as a management method and valid communication skill rather than a relationship management vehicle.
Overall, most corporations utilized corporate websites to promote public relations practice.
They preferred one-way propaganda approach to practicing corporate public relations through websites. Two-way models were still secondary on corporate websites. Most participants did not consider websites as primary public relations tools. They always utilized their websites to supplement corporate communication on mainstream media. Although participants confirmed some efficient usages of corporate websites for public relations, their focus was still on communication management rather than relationship management.
260 5.1.4 Underestimated Effectiveness of Corporate Websites
In this research, there was a contradictory phenomenon. Most participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations. However, the majority of corporations did not pay enough attention to corporate websites. As suggested by Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner (2009), there is an inconsistency between what practitioners perceive websites and how they actually utilize websites to facilitate relationship building.
The results derived from in-depth interviews showed that the main reason for this contradictory phenomenon might be corporate doubts on the effects of corporate websites in corporate communication and public relations. As a result, many corporations underestimated websites’ effectiveness and ignored the utilization of websites. As argued by
Sommerfeldt et al. (2012), websites have a lower priority because there are some doubts about the value of websites in organizations. Their argument is also prominent in Chinese manufacturing corporations.
The main cause of corporate doubts is the lack of evaluations on the effectiveness of corporate websites. Corporations failed to see the effects of corporate websites. Furthermore, many corporations still held outdated assessment criterion for public relations, such as using the amount of corporate reports on mainstream media as a gauge. The utilization of corporate websites was usually not included in the standards for evaluating public relations practice.
Therefore, many public relations practitioners paid little attention to corporate websites.
261 Only a minority of participants stated that they had some statistics of PV. However, it was still far from enough to evaluate the effectiveness of corporate websites. Most corporations evaluated corporate websites without feedbacks of their targeted publics. The finding is consistent with the argument of Theunissen and Noordin (2012) that most corporate websites lack adequate evaluations. Although there were numerous research on how to evaluate and promote the effectiveness of websites, most corporations failed to apply any efficient evaluation method.
It is difficult to judge the value of corporate websites without adequate evaluations. As a result, most corporations underestimated the effectiveness of corporate websites. They paid less attention to their websites. This might be the reason why many corporate websites failed to get sufficient corporate resources, although most participants confirmed the importance of websites. Corporate doubts on the effectiveness of corporate websites influenced the utilization of websites for communication and public relations.
From the findings on corporate websites’ characteristics in promoting communication and public relations, it was indicated that most public relations practitioners acknowledged the importance of corporate websites. Corporations usually utilized corporate websites to promote corporate communication and public relations in various ways. However, most corporations regarded corporate websites as useful rather than crucial tools. Corporate websites were still secondary tools in corporate communication and public relations without sufficient corporate supports. The majority of corporations employed the one-way
262 propaganda approach to practicing public relations on websites. The two-way models, especially the ideal two-way symmetry model, were still secondary on websites. Corporate goals of public relations seemed outdated. Most corporations utilized corporate websites to promote communication management rather than relationship management. The majority of corporations failed to make adequate evaluations on the effectiveness of corporate websites.
They were in doubt about the effects of corporate websites. This might be the reason why many corporations did not allocate sufficient resources to their websites.
5.2 Discussion on Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Addressing Various Publics
As mentioned in the literature review, Kent and Taylor (1998) proposed five excellent dialogic principles to promote dialogic relationship building through websites. These dialogic principles are ease of interface, usefulness of information, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop. The principle of usefulness of information means that websites should offer specially tailored information to address various publics. As stated by Ingenhoff and Koelling (2009) and Taylor et al. (2001), the principle of usefulness of information could be evaluated in general but also in specific publics. Given that each type of publics has distinctive needs for information, this research explored the usefulness of information in six types of publics, namely customers, investors, the media, internal publics, the community, and the government.
This research examined the content features of manufacturing corporate websites to address six types of publics. Content analysis was initially utilized to evaluate how much attention
263 corporate websites paid to different publics. Then in-depth interviews were conducted to further explore public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance of addressing various publics through corporate websites. Based on the results of both research methods, this research summarizes and discusses the characteristics of corporate websites in addressing different publics with tailored information. This section comprises two parts: (i) targeting various publics, and (ii) varying weights on various publics.
5.2.1 Targeting Various Publics
In this research, most corporate websites addressed various publics with specific contents.
The content analysis results indicated that the majority of websites provided tailored information to as many publics as possible. This research confirmed six main publics of corporate websites. About 75.26 % of corporate websites addressed five or six types of publics. Only 10.31% of websites addressed less than three types of publics. Only one corporate website addressed single publics (investors). Investors, the media and customers frequently appeared in most of combinations. Corporate websites tended to address the information needs of various publics rather than limited publics. The result is consistent with the findings of Esrock and Leichty (2000) and Jiang (2006) that most corporate websites simultaneously address several publics.
As stated by Kent and Taylor (1998), corporate websites should target various users, not just customers or the media. They suggested that corporate websites should offer audience-specific information because publics visited websites to seek useful and
264 trustworthy information. Providing tailored information to publics is the basis to build relationships between corporations and publics. Jiang (2006) agreed with this viewpoint and considered it as the best public relations strategy to develop OPRs. In this research, corporate websites performed as a platform for most publics.
From the perspective of the situational theory, the primary work of public relations to reach publics is to identify the concerns of each group (Paul & Sayers, 2015). When practitioners confirm and emphasize what information their publics are seeking from their corporations, they will be able to practice strategic communication more accurately and promote relationship building with publics. Penning (2011) also stated that publics consumed information more systematically when the information was aligned with their perceived problems. In this research, most corporate websites sought to provide tailored and useful corporate information to their targeted publics. This is beneficial to promote publics’ information behaviors and relationships with corporations. Furthermore, corporations can effectively manage dialogic public relations by indentifying specific publics and addressing the needs of their targeted publics.
It is significant that corporate websites are capable of providing various information to address different public needs, which can make corporate communication and public relations more efficient. Especially, the public needs and identities might be complex or overlapped. For instance, investors may be interested in corporate products and seek product information on corporate websites. Customers perhaps want to get corporate annual reports
265 from corporate websites. Corporate websites can make dynamic or overlapped public needs become possible to address because they always have multiple sections to target specific publics (Hinson et al., 2012). On the contrary, it is difficult for traditional media to address multiple public needs with sufficient tailored information.
To confirm and address various public needs is the important precondition for corporations to build relationships with publics. This could be connected with the relationship cultivation strategy of openness. Corporations should provide enough information transparently to address public needs. It is beneficial for various publics to understand and support corporations. In this research, most corporations paid attention to this strategy and addressed various publics on websites, although they put varying weights on various publics.
5.2.2 Varying Weights on Various Publics
From the findings of this research, various publics were targeted by most corporate websites with very different priorities. This might have an influence on the effects of corporate communication and relationship building between corporations and publics. The results have confirmed the argument of Taylor et al. (2001) that organizational websites often address various publics but target certain publics more often.
The content analysis results indicated that investors seemed to be the most important targeted publics of corporate websites. The second most important publics were the media, followed by customers, internal publics, the community, and the government. The results are different
266 from the research of Esrock and Leichty (2000), who found that investors and prospective employees were the most important publics of Fortune 500 websites. The different research objects and research periods may be the possible reasons for such a difference.
There was a contradictory phenomenon that some participants’ perceptions could not match their actual performance to address publics on corporate websites. Many participants confirmed customers as the most important publics of corporate websites, but the customer category merely received the third highest score in the content analysis. This research found that corporate performance to address various publics through websites was influenced by internal and external requirements. This section analyzes and discusses the degree to which corporate websites targeted six types of publics with tailored contents, namely investors, the media, customers, internal publics, the community, and the government.
5.2.2.1 Investors
In the content analysis, the investor category had the highest score of 89.4%. Investors seemed to be the most important targeted publics of corporate websites. The result is consistent with the findings of Jiang (2006) and Hyojung Park and Reber (2008) that investors are the primary publics addressed by corporate website contents. Most websites provided sufficient information to investors. Nearly all items in the investor category received high scores.
267 In contrast, many participants did not consider investors as the primary publics of corporate websites. It seemed to be a compulsory task for corporate websites to address investors. As listed companies, sampled corporations received some external requirements from supervision departments of the government. They had to release sufficient investment information for investors. Most of them utilized corporate websites to release investment information because corporate websites were convenient information channels. Although most corporations followed governmental requirements to address investors’ needs through websites, some of them performed passively or reluctantly. Some corporations did not show enough positivity to cultivate relationships with investors. This is indicated in two aspects.
First, some corporations just provided fundamental rather than sufficient investment information to investors. They performed passively to avoid risks. As one participant stated, his corporation feared to make mistakes on investment information release, which must bring negative influence to the stock market. Second, some corporations contracted out the work of investment information release to professional security companies. In their opinions, this could reduce their workload on corporate websites and avoid mistakes. It seemed to be an easy shortcut to release investment information this way. However, it was difficult for corporate websites to attract investors without sufficient investment information. These corporations lacked positivity to address investors.
Based on the relationship cultivation strategies, corporations mainly applied strategies of access, assurance and openness to build relationships with investors. They provided some
268 communication channels and sufficient investment information on websites to confirm the concerns of investors. Some corporations did not show much positivity to build relationships with investors. They reluctantly addressed investors according to the requirements of governments.
Overall, the majority of participants believed that corporate websites were efficient tools to release investment information. Providing sufficient investment information on corporate websites is essential to build proper relationships between corporations and investors.
Corporations should show more positivity to address investors through corporate websites.
Corporate internal positivity is as important as external requirements of the government.
5.2.2.2 The Media
From the content analysis, the media seemed to be the second most important publics. Most corporate websites provided relatively more information to the media. Most items in the media category received high scores. However, some items such as the media contact people list (10.31%), were ignored and had very low scores.
The participants proposed some important methods to address the needs of the media through corporate websites. First, it is important to update corporate news timely on corporate websites. Without latest corporate news, corporate websites cannot attract journalists. Second, corporate websites should provide the media with corporate significant events, which can become important news sources. However, a minority of corporations
269 seldom updated corporate news on websites. Some corporations jumbled different sections of websites together for the media because they lacked corporate news. All of these become barriers to addressing the media through corporate websites. The finding is consistent with the content analysis results of Jiang (2006).
The majority of participants considered corporate websites as supplementary tools to address the media and build proper relationships with journalists. They believed that corporate websites could hardly attract journalists alone. Many participants doubted the efficiency of corporate websites in addressing journalists. They could figure out few instances that journalists converted corporate news on corporate websites into news reports on mainstream media. However, as claimed by Reber and Kim (2006), more and more journalists are using internet and websites to search information to supplement news stories. It is necessary for corporate websites to offer sufficient tailored information to address journalists.
Many participants claimed that the traditional means to mange media relations was still the focus of their public relations practice. They paid much attention to so-called relational communication, namely communication through their journalist friends. This might be the reason why few corporate websites provided lists of media contact people. The finding confirms the argument of Hill and White (2000) that websites cannot replace traditional means of public relations, though websites can benefit public relations in various ways.
Corporate practitioners paid much attention to so-called relational communication with journalists, which was actually the communication through guanxi. As mentioned in the
270 section of the personal influence model for Chinese public relations, guanxi, as the Chinese version of personal influence model, plays an important role in Chinese public relations practice. Chinese public relations practitioners always place more weights on building interpersonal relationships with influential individuals, such as journalists and government officials. Practitioners’ powerful and personal networks are helpful to achieve organizational goals. Guanxi has become an important resource for Chinese organizations and public relations practitioners. Schriner (2008) stated that personal influence was important for public relations practitioners to maintain beneficial relationships with journalists and have ability to influence mass media. The findings of this research confirm his argument.
Corporate practitioners viewed the guanxi communication with journalists as an important approach to corporate public relations. They believed that they could increase corporate positive media reports and lower negative media coverage through their personal networks with journalists.
Some participants preferred to utilize interpersonal tools to manage relationships with journalists, such as telephone, email, QQ, and Wechat. They shared important corporate news or activities to familiar journalists through interpersonal tools. These journalists made some positive corporate reports on mainstream media. To some extent, many corporations liked to build proper networking with the media and share tasks to familiar journalists for corporate communication. It is the specific application of networking and sharing of tasks in relationship cultivation strategies.
271 Sommerfeldt et al. (2012) considered that organizational public relations always paid more attention to traditional media tactics than web-based strategies. In this research, most participants still considered corporate websites as supplementary tools to address the media.
Their focus was still on traditional means to mange relationships with journalists.
5.2.2.3 Customers
The results of content analysis showed that customers were the third primary targeted publics of corporate websites. Corporate websites offered more information of products and services
(90.72%) than customer-concerned information, such as consumer tips (30.93%) and membership identification (18.56%). Most corporate websites failed to fully address customers with tailored information. They paid more attention to investors than customers.
The result is consistent with the research of Hyojung Park and Reber (2008) on Fortune 500 corporations. They found that corporate websites offered more information to investors than customers. In their research, most corporate websites provided essential information to investors but ignored some fundamental information for customers. Similarly, in this research, most corporate websites gave higher priority to investors than customers.
In contrast, many participants considered customers as one of the most important publics of corporate websites. As suggested by Yimin Zheng and Guan (2008), corporate websites should be a proper communication platform with customers. In this research, many participants realized the importance of customers for corporate websites. However, most of them could not give any definite and systematic projects to address customers through
272 websites. They speculated customers’ needs and failed to organize website contents effectively for customers. Many public relations practitioners considered corporate general information, especially product introductions, as the main contents to address customers on websites. This might be the possible reason for the low score of the customer category in content analysis.
There was another barrier to addressing customers on corporate websites. Corporate marketing departments usually took charge of relationship management with customers.
Although they were more familiar with customers than the public relations departments, some of them did not master website communication. Sometimes both the public relations departments and the marketing departments organized website contents for customers without a unit to coordinate. This has influenced the efficiency of corporate websites to address customers.
Although most participants confirmed the importance of customers, they failed to take explicit and sufficient actions to address customers on websites. From the perspective of relationship cultivation, many corporations did not show enough openness, positivity, and assurance to build relationships with customers. They did not offer sufficient customer-concerned information. As a result, customers’ concerns were not assured on corporate websites.
Shi (2012) suggested that corporate websites should offer customers more consumer-oriented information to promote their understandings of corporate products, services, and
273 philosophies. In his opinion, corporate websites should emphasize the assessment of customers’ needs and provide specific sections and contents to customers. In this research, most corporations could not fully understand customers’ needs on corporate websites. It is necessary to improve corporate actual performance to address customers on corporate websites. After all, doing is more important than saying.
5.2.2.4 Internal Publics
In the content analysis, the internal publics category ranked fourth in all six categories.
Corporate websites paid more attention to potential employees than employees and dealers or suppliers. Corporate websites offered much employment information (73.2%) to potential employees. Although 49.48% of websites provided special section to current employees, they always showed excellent treatment and broad development space in this section to attract potential employees. The result is consistent with the argument of Hyojung Park and
Reber (2008) that many corporate websites offer potential employees current benefits and future direction.
Jiang (2006) stated that most corporate websites had contents related to employment and gave different priorities to potential employees and employees. The results of this research confirm her findings. Corporate websites paid more attention to potential employees than employees and dealers or suppliers. Many corporations utilized their websites as convenient recruitment channels. Some participants believed that employment information on websites could attract and address visitors, especially visitors with job intentions. They considered
274 recruitment on corporate websites as an important part of corporate recruitment.
As for dealers or suppliers, some participants pointed out that the relationship management with dealers or suppliers was always responsible by some other departments rather than the public relations departments. These departments always had some specific channels to connect with dealers or suppliers. This might be the possible reason for the lowest score of dealers and suppliers section (18.56%) in the internal publics category.
In this research, few corporations utilized the employee sections of corporate websites as internal communication channels. Many corporate websites failed to address employees sufficiently. However, many participants emphasized the importance of corporate websites for internal communication. It seemed that the performance of corporate websites did not match the high remarks of participants. This research found that most corporations always utilized corporate intranet to address employees. Corporate websites, namely the corporate extranet, often took charge of external communication. Corporate intranet usually worked as the main platform for corporate internal communication. Without tight management, corporate intranet always had much more information and active interactions than corporate websites. It could perform as a substitute for corporate websites to address employees.
However, corporate intranet is not the scope of this research, although it could offer insights on how corporations address employees through their websites.
The majority of corporations focused on relationship cultivation with potential employees on corporate websites. They mainly utilized the strategies of positivity, assurance, and openness
275 to nurture relationships with potential employees. Corporate websites positively offered information of employment and excellent treatment to address potential employees. They opened related information to assure that the concerns of potential employees were emphasized by corporations.
Overall, most corporate websites paid more attention to potential employees than employees and dealers or suppliers. Corporate websites were always considered as important recruitment channels. The majority of corporations utilized corporate intranet rather than corporate websites for corporate internal communication.
5.2.2.5 The Community (CSR)
Compared to the categories of investor, media, customer, and internal publics, the community category (CSR category) received less attention from corporate websites. As mentioned in research methodology, based on the argument of Esrock and Leichty (2000), the community here mainly refers to activist publics who are concerned about CSR deeds and reputation. Although CSR is important for corporations, in this research only half of corporate websites (50.52%) set special CSR sections. Many corporate websites ignored
CSR contents to address the community. The result is consistent with the findings of Jiang
(2006) that corporate websites pay less attention to CSR, and corporate image building in the community seems to be secondary.
276 Many participants lacked proper recognition of CSR. Some of them considered CSR as a useful method to show corporate strength that corporations had the power to help vulnerable groups. This might be the possible reason why more corporate websites showed corporate good deeds (52.58%) than no harm (34.02%). Some corporations utilized CSR contents to show their strength and seek public praises.
Actually, CSR is beneficial for corporate operation in many aspects. Esrock and Leichty
(1998) proposed that the essence of CSR was humane corporation, which meant to build a corporate citizenship by benefiting the society. Numerous research have identified the positive effects of CSR. Hong et al. (2010) found that there was a significant relationship between CSR and publics’ identification of corporations. Du, Bhattacharya, and Sen (2007) also stated that when publics identified corporations they usually became “psychologically attached to and care about the company and its products” (p. 227).
In this research, many participants had a narrow understanding of CSR, especially the effects of CSR. They believed that CSR was not efficient and practical for corporations. As stated by a participant, his corporation just cared about practical and concrete issues rather than
CSR. Many participants considered that CSR was only meaningful for corporations to avoid social criticism and reduce social pressure at some special moments.
The majority of corporate websites paid limited attention to CSR contents. This was detrimental to addressing the community needs. From the point of relationship cultivation, many corporations failed to utilize strategies of positivity, openness, and sharing of tasks to
277 cultivate and maintain beneficial relationships with the community on corporate websites.
Moreover, as identified by Hong et al. (2010), CSR could significantly influence publics’ intentions to engage in webbed dialogues with corporations. The poor performance of corporate websites on CSR issue might influence the effects of corporate dialogic public relations.
On the whole, corporate websites paid limited attention to CSR contents. Although some websites showed CSR information to display corporate strength, many corporations doubted the value of CSR. There is still a long way for Chinese corporations to understand CSR and fully address the community needs on corporate websites.
5.2.2.6 The Government
N. Chen (1996) stated that the government was one of the key publics for Chinese public relations. This research added the government category to evaluate how much attention corporate websites paid to the government. In the content analysis, the government category scored the lowest in all categories. Most corporate websites gave the least importance to the government. As one participant estimated, the visits from governments were not too many because of government’s characteristic. Different from government websites, corporate websites gave higher priority to investors, the media, and customers than the government.
Corporate websites placed varying weights on specific items in the government category.
The item of “contents related to government leaders” got the highest score (45.36%). Some
278 participants considered that corporate information related to government leaders was a big honor for corporations. It could embody corporate power and the recognition from the government. Another emphasis in the government category was the information related to government policy (21.65%). Some websites released government policies, especially industrial policies, to regulate their operations and show their observance. This was also beneficial to propagandize government policies.
The item of “contents related to the construction of Chinese Communist Party” received the lowest score (15.46%). It embodied the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Corporations, especially state-controlled corporations, needed to join in some activities of
Chinese Communist Party construction. They displayed related contents on corporate websites to respond with the government. As argued by Jiang (2006), corporate websites have some information related with the government as they prioritize power and authority.
She found that corporate websites in the U.S. had little politics information. It is the outcome of the culture and political system with Chinese characteristics.
It seemed that most corporations did not pay attention to relationship cultivation with the government through corporate websites. They mainly released some contents related with the government to promote corporate reputation and display corporate strength. Most corporations failed to apply some relationship cultivation strategies, such as access, positivity, openness, and networking. They did not consider government officials and employees as important publics of corporate websites. S. H. Park and Luo (2001) found that Chinese firms
279 paid much attention to developing strategic guanxi to overcome competitive and resource deficiencies by exchanging favors with competitors and government authorities. Chinese public relations practitioners always seek to build personal relationships or guanxi with the government. In this research, practitioners’ guanxi efforts were not represented in the communication through corporate websites. They might have some personal channels to build guanxi and exchange favors with government officials.
From the findings on corporate websites’ characteristics in addressing various publics, it was indicated that corporate websites always targeted multiple publics rather than limited types.
Based on internal and external requirements, corporate websites placed varying weights on different publics. The content analysis results are sometimes contradictory with participants’ perceptions of addressing various publics. The finding confirms the argument of Sheila M.
McAllister-Spooner and Taylor (2012) that there seems to be a gap between the acknowledgment of multiple publics’ importance and actual engagement to address various publics on websites.
As suggested by Kent and Taylor (1998), websites should provide specific information to various publics even though there are some primary audiences. The corporate website is one of the best platforms to address various publics’ needs. From the perspective of relationship management, providing tailored information is the best strategy to build OPRs (Jiang, 2006).
Corporations should identify publics’ needs and correspondingly organize contents on corporate websites. In this research, most corporations utilized some relationship cultivation
280 strategies (i.e., positivity, openness, assurances, access, networking, and shared tasks) to nurture relationships with specific publics. They should further consider the interests of various publics and communicate systematically to build high-quality relationships with publics.
From the perspective of the situational theory, public relations practitioners should focus on related information of public concerns, because active publics usually search the information connected with their perceived problems. Corporations ought to segment their publics and provide specific information to meet publics’ needs. Many corporate websites in this research paid attention to providing tailored corporate information to address various publics.
This is helpful to promote publics’ problem recognition and information behaviors. The active information behaviors of publics are also beneficial for dialogic relationship building with corporations.
In this research, the dialogic principle of usefulness of information was examined and discussed in specific publics. Taylor et al. (2001) claimed that providing tailored information to each publics was an important step and foundation to build dialogic relationships.
Corporate performance to employ other four dialogic principles (i.e., ease of interface, conservation of visitors, generation of return visits, and dialogic loop) on corporate websites is further discussed in the next section.
281 5.3 Discussion on Dialogic Characteristics of Corporate Websites in Facilitating
Dialogic Relationship Building
Dialogic public relations through corporate websites is the focus of this research. It depends on two aspects: what contents corporate websites intend to tell publics, and how corporate websites communicate with publics dialogically. The last section discusses “what contents”—the characteristics of corporate website contents in addressing various publics. In this section, the research analyzes and discusses “how to communicate”—the dialogic characteristics of corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building. Then corporate performance to employ dialogic principles on corporate websites can be summarized and discussed.
Numerous research have identified that most organizational websites are not fully used for dialogic public relations. However, limited research seek reasons for such phenomenon. This research employed both content analysis and in-depth interview to enrich and deepen the exploration on this issue. Through content analysis, this research examined design features of corporate websites for dialogic public relations. With interviews, this research explored public relations practitioners’ perceptions and performance towards webbed dialogues. Then some barriers to dialogic relationship building were summarized and discussed. This section comprises four parts: (i) different perceptions of dialogic public relations, (ii) design features to promote dialogic public relations, (iii) prominent barriers to dialogic public relations, and
(iv) gap between corporate dialogic performance and dialogue tenets.
282 5.3.1 Different Perceptions of Dialogic Public Relations
The majority of participants confirmed the importance of dialogic public relations through corporate websites. Although a minority of participants expressed their doubts on the practicality and necessity of webbed dialogues, hardly any participant denied the significance of dialogues. However, there are some problems with public relations practitioners’ perceptions of webbed dialogues. Most practitioners did not fully understand the meaning of dialogue. This section discusses public relations practitioners’ perceptions of dialogic public relations and the problems with their perceptions.
5.3.1.1 Perceptions of Dialogic Public Relations
In this research, there seem to be some gaps between participants’ perceptions and their actual performance. For example, most participants confirmed the importance of corporate websites for corporate communication and public relations. However, the majority of corporations did not pay enough attention to their websites. Similar gap appeared in participants’ perceptions of dialogic public relations and their actual engagements in webbed dialogues. The content analysis results indicated that most corporations did not fully utilize their websites for dialogues. However, most participants had a high opinion of dialogic public relations and confirmed some advantages of webbed dialogues.
First, many participants believed that the dialogue was an important advantage of new technology. It could bring various benefits to corporations. Their perceptions are consistent
283 with the statement of J. Huang and Yang (2015) that new media have become crucial for public relations practice. They further pointed out that the advantages of new media provide various opportunities to dialogic communication and undoubtedly benefit organizations in various ways. In this research, many participants also considered that webbed dialogues could offer corporations various benefits. For instance, a participant proposed that dialogues could improve websites’ attraction for users, through which corporations could promote services and marketing. Another participant claimed that dialogue derived from interactivity would be the direction and tendency of internet technology in future. It was very important for corporate image building. The results of interviews indicated that the majority of participants acknowledged the benefits of dialogic public relations through websites.
However, it should be noted that most benefits confirmed by participants were prospective rather than actual.
Second, corporations could utilize webbed dialogues to collect public opinions and make strategic adjustments. Some participants stated that their corporations made some improvements according to public opinions on corporate websites. A participant highlighted that webbed dialogues were helpful for gathering information and corporate sustainable development. Another participant believed that dialogues were useful for corporations to acquire public requirements, which were beneficial for relationship building between corporations and publics. His viewpoints are consistent with the argument of Taylor et al.
(2001) that organizations ought to acknowledge public needs to create relationships.
284 Third, some participants believed that webbed dialogues could promote emotional communication between corporations and publics. It was favorable for intimate relationship building. Corporate websites should provide dialogic channels, through which corporations and publics exchanged their opinions and emotions. Publics could even complain through corporate websites. This was helpful to release public negative emotions. To some extent, it embodied the fair and equal relationships between corporations and publics. The perceptions are consistent with the argument of Botan (1997) that dialogue promotes publics to the equal status with organizations.
Although the majority of participants confirmed the importance of webbed dialogues, a minority of participants had some negative views. They doubted the practicality and necessity of webbed dialogues. In their opinions, dialogic public relations was only valuable in theory rather than in practice. On one hand, some participants considered that dialogic public relations might be problematic and bring some troubles, such as negative information, malicious attacks, and rumors, to corporate websites. In their opinions, webbed dialogues were not beneficial but harmful. On the other hand, some participants doubted the actual value of dialogues. They believed that most corporate departments did not have any requirements for webbed dialogues. Dialogues seemed not to be urgent and necessary for corporate business.
Most participants confirmed the advantages of webbed dialogues. They speculated that corporations could get some benefits from dialogic public relations. A minority of
285 participants doubted the practicality of dialogues. However, they did not completely deny the significance of dialogic public relations.
5.3.1.2 Problems with Public Relations Practitioners’ Perceptions
Although most corporations had a poor performance in dialogic public relations through corporate websites, the majority of public relations practitioners set a high value on webbed dialogues. A possible reason for this phenomenon is that practitioners cannot deny the ethical value of dialogue. Kent and Taylor (2002) stated that dialogue was one of the most ethical communication forms. Dialogic public relations is described as a more moral approach for public relations than monological approach (Pearson, 1989). It is difficult for participants to deny the significance of dialogue completely. Otherwise, it might imply that their public relations practice is very monological or manipulative without sufficient ethical meaning. As a result, most participants confirmed the important role of dialogic public relations and speculated its benefits, although some of them still doubted the practical value of webbed dialogues.
Another problem concerning public relations practitioners’ perceptions is that although most practitioners confirmed the importance of dialogues, their confirmation was mostly from the corporate perspective with the viewpoints of one-way or two-way asymmetrical communication. Many participants proposed some benefits from dialogic public relations, such as the improvement of websites’ attraction, corporate image building, and information gathering. Most of their perceptions embodied their public relations efforts to achieve
286 corporate goals through persuasion. The direction of their perceptions was corporate interest.
They sought to find out how to utilize dialogues to achieve corporate goals efficiently.
However, the direction of dialogic public relations is the understanding of mutual benefits rather than unilateral interest (Taylor & Kent, 2014). It is two-way symmetrical rather than on-way or two-way asymmetrical. Therefore, the direction of most participants’ perceptions of dialogue is totally different from the direction of dialogic public relations. Most participants seemed to have a pragmatic approach rather than dialogic approach to understanding dialogic public relations. It is far from the essence of dialogic public relations.
There may be some possible reasons for such problems. First, as mentioned in the literature review, there is limited research related to dialogic public relations in China. Dialogic public relations is still a new issue in Chinese research and public relations practice. As a result, the majority of public relations practitioners perceived dialogic public relations from their intuition rather than full understanding.
Second, many Chinese scholars and public relations practitioners hold a pragmatic mode to study or practice public relations. As summarized in the section of “related research on corporate websites in China” in the literature review, the focus of Chinese corporate websites research is on marketing, which is very pragmatic and instructional. The fundamental of dialogic public relations receives limited attention in Chinese research. On the practice level, although dialogic public relations is believed to be more ethical and effective for relationship building, ethics and effectiveness sometimes are not the major issues for corporate
287 management at all. Power, benefits, and stability may be main issues that corporations care about (Jiang, 2006). As proposed by a participant in the interviews, his corporate website only focused on practical and concrete issues, which could be simply and conveniently operated. Dialogic public relations seemed not to be of many corporate concerns.
This section summarizes and discusses public relations practitioners’ perceptions of dialogic public relations. Although the majority of practitioners confirmed the importance of webbed dialogues, most of them did not fully understand dialogic public relations. Their perceptions might influence corporate dialogic performance through corporate websites.
5.3.2 Design Features to Promote Dialogic Public Relations
This research examined the design features of corporate websites to promote dialogic public relations. As suggested by Taylor et al. (2001), dialogic principles of Kent and Taylor (1998) could be classified into two clusters, namely technical and design cluster, and dialogic cluster.
The technical and design cluster, which includes the principles of ease of interface and conservation of visitors, is the necessary precondition for dialogic communication through websites. The dialogic cluster, which includes the principles of generation of return visits and dialogic loop, is more essential for genuine dialogues on websites (Taylor et al., 2001). The two clusters of principles offer some insights into dialogic public relations through websites.
The results of content analysis indicated that corporations paid very different attention to dialogic principles on websites. They put a greater emphasis to the technical and design
288 cluster than the dialogic cluster. Corporations seemed to emphasize fundamental design features to facilitate webbed dialogues rather than actually dialogue with visitors. The finding is consistent with many previous research (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Jiang, 2006; S. T.
Lee & Desai, 2014; Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). Unlike most previous research, this research makes further analysis and discussion based on the results of content analysis and in-depth interviews. As a result, the deeper reasons for such phenomenon are analyzed and discussed. This section comprises two parts: (i) technical and design cluster, and (ii) dialogic cluster.
5.3.2.1 Technical and Design Cluster
In the content analysis, the two principles (conservation of visitors and ease of interface) in technical and design cluster received the highest (77.32%) and second highest (71.96%) scores. The majority of corporate websites paid attention to most items in these two principles. For example, 86.6% of websites had a short loading time, which was beneficial for the conservation of visitors. Nearly all websites (98.97%) set major links to the rest of the website, which were convenient for visitors.
As suggested by Sharp, McCombs, Weaver, and Hamm (1999), conservation of visitors is a key principle because it embodies organizational commitment to offer users proper place for dialogues. In this research, most corporate websites had a good performance in this principle.
Only a minority of websites appeared outdated to conserve visitors. For instance, 7.22% of websites had splash screens without specific information, which reduced loading speed.
289 Some websites did not provide enough information on the front page. Users needed to click related hyperlinks to get further information. This was a test to visitors’ tolerance. All of these were disadvantageous to the conservation of visitors.
The principle of ease of interface is also an important prerequisite for webbed dialogues.
Taylor et al. (2001) proposed that visitors would not have a positive experience if they did not have an easy navigation on websites. As a result, they might not return to websites. In this research, most corporate websites employed the principle of ease of interface to facilitate visits. However, some websites failed to offer enough facilitating design items. About 43.3% of websites did not provide search box, and 48.45% of websites failed to offer site map. The lack of these items influenced the surfing efficiency of visitors.
The technical and design cluster of both principles is beneficial to create a user-friendly look and enhance the attraction of corporate websites. In this research, most corporate websites paid attention to the technical and design cluster. However, the results of interviews indicated that there might be some universal standards to design websites for easy interface and conservation of visitors. Most corporate websites were produced by some external tech-companies or internal tech-departments, which had some fashionable modes or standards to design websites. Although corporate requirements had influences on the website design, the majority of corporate websites were designed similarly based on the fashionable modes. As a result, entirely different corporate website designs were seldom found in this research.
290 Many participants attributed the design shortcomings to the inadequate redesigns of corporate websites. Some up-to-date design items did not appear on corporate websites, while some outdated items could not be weeded out. For instance, some corporate websites had splash screens, which influenced the loading speed and retrieval results on search sites.
Some participants were aware of this problem but could do nothing to change it.
It seemed that the ease of interface and conservation of visitors became accepted standards and tendency for many corporate websites. As suggested by Renko, Vignali, Knezevic,
Renko, and Pejic Bach (2011), corporate websites are always utilized to inform various publics with corporate products or services, so they must be easy to navigate. In this research, ease of interface and conservation of visitors seemed to be fundamental requirements for webbed communication, not just for webbed dialogues.
The results of technical and design cluster did not show much positivity of public relations practitioners for webbed dialogues. Hon and J. E. Grunig (1999) suggested that organizations should provide convenience to their publics. Although most of corporate websites provided some design items to facilitate interface, their performance mostly depended on the external conditions like fashionable design standards. It seemed that many corporations lacked positivity to enhance website design for dialogues. For instance, many corporations did not redesign their websites regularly. Kent and Taylor (1998) claimed that technology itself could not create or damage relationship. The key is how technology is utilized to promote
OPRs. Corporations should show more positivity to facilitate dialogic relationship building.
291 Overall, although many corporate websites emphasized the technical and design cluster, it was merely the first step of dialogues. As claimed by Jiang (2006), the technical and design cluster is very effective on the early stage of relationship building, but it alone cannot foster dialogues. The application of the dialogic cluster is more important for webbed dialogues because the dialogic cluster is “necessary for genuine dialogic communication to emerge’’
(Taylor et al., 2001, p. 279).
5.3.2.2 Dialogic Cluster
The dialogic cluster is very important to foster genuine dialogues on websites. The content analysis results indicated that the principles of generation of return visits (36.34%) and dialogic loop (25.95%) in the dialogic cluster had the second lowest and the lowest scores.
Most websites paid limited attention to the dialogic cluster. The finding is consistent with many previous research (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Jiang, 2006; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014;
Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). Most items in the dialogic cluster had very low scores, such as explicit statement to welcome users (4.12%) and survey of opinions (3.09%).
The principle of generation of return visits provides an important condition for relationship building. As proposed by Taylor et al. (2001), relationship building requires repeated interactions rather than one-contact communication. Websites should include some attractive features for repeated visits. However, most corporate websites did not offer visitors enough incentives to return. This was not beneficial for dialogic relationship building. From the interviews, this research confirmed two main methods to promote return visits on websites.
292 First, timely updated information on corporate websites is very important for return visits.
The finding confirms the argument of Madichie and Hinson (2014) that the generation of return visits connects with how well the websites is updated with valuable information. They believed that websites with updated contents appeared more credible and responsible, thus conducive to return visits. In this research, many participants proposed that corporate websites should release important corporate news and necessary information timely to address visitors’ needs. To some extent, return visits depended on continuous information releases. The function of subscribed information was also helpful for return visits. It not only offered visitors timely corporate information, but also worked as a reminder for public concerns. Although some corporate websites had a good performance in the release of timely information, many websites failed to update information regularly. This was detrimental to return visits. As stated by Taylor et al. (2001), there is little reason for visitors to return to websites without updated information.
Second, this research finds that some connective items in website design are beneficial for return visits. The connective design items, such as bookmarks and shared links, can help corporate websites keep continuous connections with publics. The item of “shared links” is especially prominent because of the popularity of social media. However, the majority of corporate websites did not provide sufficient connective design items to promote the generation of return visits. Most of previous research also ignored the importance of these connective items for return visits. A possible reason is that the fast development of new technology brings more approaches to the generation of return visits, but many research do
293 not pay attention to these new approaches. These connective design items are necessary to promote return visits because publics may forget corporate websites easily without the reminding of these items.
The dialogic loop is believed to be the most important feature of dialogic websites (Madichie
& Hinson, 2014). A website cannot be fully dialogic even though it meets all the dialogic principles except for dialogic loop (Kent & Taylor, 1998). Shadinger (2013) considered dialogic loop as the focus of Kent and Taylor’s (1998) principles. He found that when organizations utilized dialogic loop, they probably incorporated other dialogic principles. In this research, most corporate websites did not emphasize dialogic loop. In the content analysis, the dialogic loop category received the lowest score, which indicated the lack of dialogic performance on corporate websites.
On one hand, the majority of corporate websites did not provide sufficient dialogic channels.
Moreover, some dialogic channels were not available. Unavailable dialogic channels on websites might greatly waste public enthusiasm of dialogues. Even though a minority of participants stated that they usually had dialogues through corporate social media rather than websites, little evidence could be found to confirm their statements. Taylor et al. (2001) attributed the lack of two-way internet-facilitated communication to website design. In this research, insufficient dialogic channels on corporate websites hindered corporate dialogic relationship building with publics.
294 On the other hand, corporations had limited webbed dialogues with publics. Only 6.19% of corporate websites gave a feedback to information inquiries from this research. The results of in-depth interviews indicated three modes of corporate dialogic engagement on websites. In the first mode, corporations completely ignored webbed dialogues. In the second mode, corporations conducted selective webbed dialogues with special publics. In the last mode, corporations performed webbed dialogues with all publics. However, corporations tightly managed and controlled webbed dialogues. It seemed that most corporations failed to engage in genuine and open dialogues with publics on websites. The finding is consistent with many previous research (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; J. Huang & Yang, 2015; Jiang, 2006; Sheila M.
McAllister-Spooner, 2008). As stated by Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner (2009), most organizations are still far from genuine dialogues.
The dialogic cluster of the generation of return visits principle and the dialogic loop principle is necessary to develop dialogic relationships between corporations and publics. As claimed by Taylor et al. (2001), organizations should provide reasons for publics to return to websites and engage in dialogues. In this research, most corporations performed poorly in the dialogic cluster. They did not fully utilize the dialogic capacity of corporate websites.
Overall, most corporations paid more attention to some fundamental design features for easy interface and conservation of visitors than generation of return visits and dialogic loop.
Although a minority of corporations provided some dialogic channels on their websites, few of them engaged in actual webbed dialogues with publics. Furthermore, corporations always
295 controlled the process and contents of webbed dialogues tightly. It seems that Chinese manufacturing corporations should make more efforts to promote dialogic public relations on corporate websites.
5.3.3 Prominent Barriers to Dialogic Public Relations
Although most participants confirmed the importance of dialogic public relations on websites, the majority of corporations did not make full use of the dialogic potential of websites. This research examined prominent barriers that hindered corporate dialogic public relations. The results indicated that there were some prominent barriers to webbed dialogues, such as negative information, insufficient resources, security risks, and lack of requirements.
First, the majority of corporations considered the negative information as the primary barrier to dialogic public relations on corporate websites. Most participants regarded corporate websites as propaganda platforms, through which corporations communicate positive information and build good corporate images. They could not tolerate much negative information on corporate websites. The finding confirms the argument of Theunissen and
Noordin (2012) that organizational engagement in true dialogue may be prevented by the fear of exposure and loss of control of their images. In this research, participants confirmed some specific types of negative information, such as negative emotions, malicious attacks, and rumors. Participants believed that negative information could damage corporate images and make dialogues meaningless. As a result, the majority of corporations did not pay enough attention to webbed dialogues to avoid negative information.
296 In this research, most corporations sought to avoid or reduce negative information on corporate websites. To some extent, this embodies Chinese cultural characteristics of harmony. Chinese culture aims to build and maintain social harmony, which includes the harmonious interpersonal relationships. Most Chinese public relations practitioners pay attention to building harmonious social relationships through seeking for common grounds with publics. Although they allow disagreement and difference, debate and conflict are always avoided to keep harmonious. As a result, many corporations refused open dialogues to avoid negative information and disagreements on corporate websites. In this way, they hoped to keep harmonious social relationships. However, as argued by Hu (2013), harmony did not mean that there were not risks. Risks and crises could be resolved through dialogues.
Second, most of participants could not get sufficient resources to promote webbed dialogues.
The average number of staff for corporate websites was 2.3. Most of staff were not full-time.
Many participants admitted that they did not have enough staff for webbed dialogues. They believed that more staff were needed to deal with negative information in prospective webbed dialogues. However, it was nearly impossible according to the focus of corporate development.
Most participants confirmed that they could not get sufficient corporate resources to address public needs of dialogues. They did not have sufficient staff, time, training, and funds to dialogue with publics on websites. As one participant pointed out, webbed dialogues without corporate supports could not play a real role in corporate public relations. The result is
297 consistent with the findings of Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner and Taylor (2012) that many public relations practitioners cannot get sufficient time, monetary resources, and technical training for their websites. There is always a lack of organizational commitment to dialogue with publics on websites. S.M. McAllister-Spooner and Kent (2009) emphasized that dialogue was “difficult and time consuming” (p. 320). Dialogues require a greater commitment of corporate resources. In this research, most corporations failed to allocate enough resources to webbed dialogues.
Third, some participants viewed dialogic channels as a threat to corporate communication and could bring security risks to corporate websites. Dialogic channels could provide users with some entrances to websites, which might bring potential technical risks. Some participants admitted that security risks were secondary problems for corporate websites. As long as they could get enough corporate supports, security risks would be prevented and resolved. However, corporate supports seemed to be a problem for websites. J. Huang and
Yang (2015) found that online dialogue performance has a close association with organizational tolerance for risks. In this research, some corporations actually magnified the security risks of webbed dialogues, because they did not fully commit to dialogic public relations on websites.
Forth, some participants believed that corporate business had no need for webbed dialogues.
They could not find visible or potential value of dialogues. In their opinions, dialogues on websites were not necessary and valuable for corporations. They believed that propaganda
298 through websites was enough for corporate communication and public relations. Meanwhile, it was easier to conduct propaganda than dialogues. Some participants believed that most visitors had no interest to dialogue with corporations. However, their arguments were based on their estimation of visitors rather than actual investigation. Taylor et al. (2001) claimed that our understandings on how to use websites dialogically influenced the actual utilization of websites for dialogic relationship building. It is necessary for public relations practitioners to realize the value of dialogues. Otherwise, it is difficult for corporations to utilize websites fully for dialogues.
This section discusses some prominent barriers to dialogic public relations through corporate websites. Actually, these barriers connect with each other. On one hand, many corporations did not realize the value and effects of webbed dialogues, so they refused to allocate sufficient resources to webbed dialogues. On the other hand, webbed dialogues could bring some uncontrolled risks, such as negative information and security risks. Without enough corporate supports, some risks of webbed dialogues were further magnified. This seemed to be a vicious circle. As a result, some corporations considered that webbed dialogues might be harmful and valueless. This led to their poor performance in dialogic public relations on corporate websites.
5.3.4 Gap Between Corporate Dialogic Performance and Dialogue Tenets
Most corporations employed dialogic principles on their websites, though they placed different weights on each principle. In this research, it was significant that corporations paid
299 more attention to the technical and design cluster than the dialogic cluster. Corporations provided more website design features to meet prerequisites for dialogue rather than actual engagement in webbed dialogues. It seemed that most corporations did not fully understand dialogic public relations, especially the tenets of dialogue (i.e., mutuality, propinquity, empathy, risk, and commitment). This section discusses the gap between corporate dialogic performance and dialogue tenets.
First, most corporations failed to hold the tenet of mutuality, which means an
“acknowledgement that organizations and publics are inextricably tied together” (Kent &
Taylor, 2002, p. 25). Mutuality requires collaboration and spirit of mutual equality and highlights the understanding of both participants’ positions. Power and superiority should not be exercised in dialogues. Parties with different status in the dialogue should not manipulate the flow of conversation. In this research, most corporations failed to make genuine and open dialogues. They feared to lose control of dialogues. Webbed dialogues were usually under corporate tight control. For instance, some corporations always had dialogues with special publics and merely opened some positive dialogue contents. Moreover, many corporations lacked understandings of their publics. They adjusted their websites according to their estimation on publics rather than actual investigation. This was detrimental to mutuality relationship building.
Second, many corporations did not emphasize the tenet of propinquity, which means that
“for organizations, dialogic propinquity means that publics are consulted in matters that
300 influence them, and for publics, it means that they are willing and able to articulate their demands to organizations” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 26). Propinquity requires dialogic participants to be accessible and involved in the interaction. Corporations should offer opportunities for visitors to respond through corporate websites. In this research, most corporate websites did not provide sufficient dialogic channels. Some dialogic channels were not available. The majority of corporations ignored public dialogue requirements. The inadequate dialogic characteristics of corporate websites affected corporate efforts for propinquity.
Third, corporations should have a better performance in the tenet of empathy, which refers to the “atmosphere of support and trust that must exist if dialogue is to succeed” (Kent & Taylor,
2002, p. 27). Empathy emphasizes the importance of support and trust for successful dialogues. Participation in dialogues should be encouraged and facilitated. It is especially important for corporate websites to provide enough easy navigation and dialogic loop. In this research, although most corporate websites offered much convenience for navigation, the majority of the participants did not show much positivity to facilitate dialogues. According to the tenet of empathy, corporations should not ignore the voice of publics. Publics that feel ignored are less willing to develop relationships with corporations. However, empathy was affected because the majority of corporations failed to respond to inquiries.
Fourth, many corporations lacked tolerance of risk, which means that dialogue has “the potential to produce unpredictable and dangerous outcomes” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 28).
301 Risk seems to be an unacceptable concept for public relations, which aims to reduce environmental risks and maximize stability. However, Kent and Taylor (2002) claimed that risks of dialogue could lead to stronger OPRs as reward. In this research, many corporations considered risk as an important barrier to dialogues, especially the risk of negative information. Many participants viewed corporate websites as propaganda platforms to release positive information and build good corporate images. They feared that negative information from dialogues might damage corporate images. As a result, most corporations did not emphasize webbed dialogues in order to eliminate risks.
Fifth, most corporations did not show much commitment to webbed dialogues. Commitment refers to the extent that organizations devote themselves to dialogue, interpretation, and understanding in exchanges with publics (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). The tenets of mutuality, propinquity, empathy and risk altogether build the foundation of commitment.
Commitment, which is the core of dialogue tenets, emphasizes genuineness, commitment to conversation, and commitment to interpretation. As claimed by Theunissen and Noordin
(2012), commitment indicates that organizations should allocate affording resources to dialogue process. They further pointed out that dialogues could not thrive without willingness. In this research, most corporations did not commit to dialogues with publics.
Many participants stated that they could not get sufficient corporate resources to promote webbed dialogues. The insufficient commitment of corporate resources influenced corporate dialogic performance on websites. It was difficult to build beneficial dialogic relationships without enough corporate commitment.
302 According to the findings of this research, there seem to be a distance between most corporate websites and genuine dialogues. It is necessary to confirm and discuss the gap between corporate dialogic performance and dialogue tenets. The discussion is beneficial to figure out the problems with corporate webbed dialogues. As a result, this research could propose some suggestions and strategies for promoting corporate dialogic public relations.
From the findings on corporate websites’ characteristics in facilitating dialogic relationship building, it was indicated that the majority of participants confirmed the importance of dialogic public relations. Only a minority of participants doubted the practicality and necessity of webbed dialogues. However, participants’ confirmation was mostly from the corporate angle with the perspective of one-way or two-way asymmetrical communication. It was still far from the essence of dialogic public relations. Although most corporations had a better performance in the employment of the technical and design cluster on corporate websites, they failed to provide sufficient design features of the dialogic cluster, which was more important to foster genuine dialogues. As a result, most corporations paid more attention to the prerequisites for webbed dialogues than actual engagement in dialogues.
Based on the situational theory, general people can be transformed into active publics through increasing their problem recognition and involvement level, and decreasing their constraint recognition. This approach to transformation can be further promoted by dialogic principles to facilitate publics’ information behaviors. As discussed in the section of the situational theory, problem recognition can be promoted by the principle of generation of
303 return visits. Constraint recognition is influenced by the ease of interface and conservation of visitors. The level of involvement can be enhanced by the generation of return visits and dialogic loop. In this research, corporations had a better performance in the utilization of ease of interface and conservation of visitors than generations of return visits and dialogic loop. From the perspective of the situational theory, this is beneficial to decrease publics’ constraint recognition but disadvantageous to promoting the problem recognition and the level of involvement. Although low constraint can facilitate information behaviors, problem recognition and the level of involvement are very important. Aldoory and Sha (2007) viewed the level of involvement as the most important independent variable of the situational theory.
If publics feel connected with an issue, they will more likely pay attention to related information. In this research, corporate neglect of generation of return visits and dialogic loop was disadvantageous to publics’ problem recognition and level of involvement. This necessarily influenced public’s information behaviors and dialogic public relations.
According to the in-depth interviews, this research confirmed some prominent barriers to dialogic public relations, such as negative information, insufficient resources, security risks, and lack of requirements. These barriers were mutually connected and formed a vicious circle to hinder corporate dialogic performance. There was a significant gap between corporate dialogic performance and dialogue tenets. Chinese manufacturing corporations should do more to improve their dialogic public relations on corporate websites. Suggestions and strategies in promoting dialogic public relations are further discussed in the next section.
304 5.4 Discussion on Strategies for Corporate Websites in Promoting Dialogic Public
Relations
In this research, most corporations failed to make full use of dialogic capacity of their websites. There was a gap between corporate dialogic performance and genuine dialogue.
Numerous research have identified that many websites were not fully utilized for webbed dialogues (J. Huang & Yang, 2015; Jiang, 2006; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Madichie &
Hinson, 2014; Shadinger, 2013). There are plenty of research to evaluate the presence or absence of dialogic principles on websites. However, fewer research were conducted to explore strategies for promoting dialogic public relations (Hong et al., 2010). It is important to propose some effective strategies to promote dialogic public relations on websites. This research aims to suggest some useful and practical strategies for Chinese manufacturing corporate websites. It hopes to promote corporate dialogic performance and the effectiveness of corporate websites for relationship building. These strategies can be further connected with five dialogue tenets. The connections are helpful for corporations to fully understand and promote dialogue tenets in their public relations practice. This section consists of five parts: (i) value, (ii) commitment, (iii) attraction, (iv) balance, and (v) strategies and dialogue tenets.
5.4.1 Value
Corporate recognition of dialogue value is the primary foundation to promote dialogic public relations. Theunissen and Noordin (2012) claimed that the recognition of dialogue value was
305 the precondition of successful dialogic public relations. Madichie and Hinson (2014) also stated that if websites were not dialogic enough, it was because public relations practitioners did not consider websites as dialogue tools. Therefore, the key to developing dialogic public relations depends on the extent to which corporations recognize the value of dialogues.
Many research have confirmed the value of dialogues. S. T. Lee and Desai (2014) considered dialogues as a crucial part of successful relationship. They proposed that organizations could benefit from dialogues by enhancing organizational credibility, increasing public support, improving organizational images, and decreasing interference from governments. Bruning et al. (2008) confirmed that webbed dialogues had significant effects on OPRs. Dialogic public relations is also useful to acquire public trust (S.-U. Yang et al., 2015), improve respondents’ evaluations and behaviors towards organizations (Bruning et al., 2008), build beneficial collaboration between organizations and publics (A. Yang & Taylor, 2010), and maintain positive media relations (S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014).
Dialogic public relations is still a new issue for both Chinese academics and corporations. In this research, the majority of participants did not learn about dialogic public relations.
Although most participants were aware of interactive function on websites, they did not fully realize the value of webbed dialogues. Moreover, many corporations considered corporate websites as secondary tools for corporate communication and public relations. The value of corporate websites was always underestimated. Taylor et al. (2001) claimed that our understanding of how to utilize websites dialogically influenced whether websites were
306 marketing tools or relationship building tools. Corporations should realize the value of dialogues. It is the prerequisite to promote corporate dialogic public relations.
The key reason for corporate underestimation of dialogue value is the lack of standards to assess dialogic effectiveness. Many participants could not see the effects of webbed dialogues. As a result, they claimed that their corporate business had no need for dialogues.
The aim of corporations is to make profit. Corporations usually evaluate the return on investment through accounting measures. However, if the outcome of dialogue is unpredictable and ambiguous, it must hinder corporations to utilize their websites for dialogic public relations (Theunissen & Noordin, 2012).
Furthermore, most corporations did not have adequate evaluations on the effectiveness of corporate websites. The evaluations were always based on the comments of corporate leaders.
Limited participants confirmed that their evaluations on corporate websites considered the feedbacks of visitors. As a result, most corporations cannot realize the effects of corporate websites and webbed dialogues.
It is necessary to establish efficient standards to evaluate the effects of dialogic public relations on corporate websites. The evaluation results could provide scientific data for corporations to realize dialogue value. According to the evaluation results, corporations can also adjust their tactics to utilize corporate websites. Corporate practitioners, who take charge of websites, should submit regular evaluation reports. Website analytical tools can be used to make the evaluations more efficient. Meanwhile, as suggested by Sheila M.
307 McAllister-Spooner and Taylor (2012), the feedbacks of users must be considered. There are many technological tools to collect visitors’ feedbacks. The consideration of users’ feedbacks is beneficial to evaluate the effects of dialogic public relations on websites.
Hyojung Park and Reber (2008) suggested that the understanding of websites’ dialogic capacity was the key to developing beneficial relationships. Corporations should realize the value of webbed dialogues for relationship building. Efficient evaluation methods are needed to improve the effectiveness of webbed dialogues. Corporate recognition of dialogue value is crucial to develop dialogic public relations on corporate websites.
5.4.2 Commitment
Commitment is very important for successful dialogic public relations. Kent and Taylor
(2002) claimed that dialogue was not an easy outcome of communication and public relations. Dialogue needs the commitment of both organizations and practitioners. From the perspective of organizations, dialogue requires more commitment of organizational resources.
From the perspective of practitioners, dialogue means a greater commitment of personal time and positivity. In this research, most corporations failed to show much commitment to dialogues. They did not allocate sufficient resources to dialogic public relations. Most corporate websites were managed by different departments without effective coordination.
Many public relations practitioners did not show sufficient positivity to dialogues. They were always too busy to practice webbed dialogues. It is necessary to improve corporate commitment to promote dialogic public relations on websites.
308 First, corporations should allocate sufficient resources to dialogic public relations. As stated by Theunissen and Noordin (2012), commitment indicates that organizations should put affording resources to dialogue process. Corporations should assign sufficient staff to their websites. In this research, the average number of staff for websites is 2.3, which is far from enough to operate websites. Meanwhile, full-time staff are needed to practice webbed dialogues. As suggested by Hill and White (2000), websites require sufficient full-time staff who are “completely dedicated to the Web site” (p.40). Corporations should offer websites more monetary resources, advanced equipments, and technical and conceptual training for practitioners. Since corporations have more resources, they should shoulder more responsibility to offer beneficial conditions to webbed dialogues (Theunissen & Noordin,
2012).
Second, the public relations departments need to control corporate websites completely.
Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner and Taylor (2012) found that the control level of public relations practitioners over websites significantly influenced the effectiveness of relationship building. They considered that organizations should create policies and procedures to define the roles and responsibilities of related departments for websites. In fact, the public relations department is supposed to the core department in corporate management. Sriramesh et al.
(2013) stated that public relations practitioners could have great influence on decision-making only when they were included in organizations’ dominant coalition.
However, N. Chen (2008) found that few public relations executives were policy makers in
Chinese corporations. Most public relations practitioners performed as communication
309 strategists or technicians. The finding in this research confirms the argument of N. Chen
(2008). The majority of public relations departments were marginalized in Chinese corporations. This influenced the effects of corporate websites and corporate public relations.
Maintaining corporate websites is a part of public relations business. As proposed by Briones et al. (2011), it is an important issue to control the quality of websites, which needs public relations practitioners’ engagement. However, a few corporate websites in this research were managed by some other departments, such as the IT departments. Although many public relations departments took charge of corporate websites, they were too busy to produce sufficient contents on websites. As a result, other departments were always made to update corporate websites. Public relations departments did not have enough authority to oversee these departments. As a result, it was difficult for the public relations departments to achieve their purpose on corporate websites.
Therefore, it is necessary to make public relations departments completely control corporate websites. Public relations departments ought to take charge of website contents and design.
There must be a senior executive to coordinate related departments of corporate website. J. E.
Grunig and Grunig (2008) suggested that a senior vice president of corporation was suitable to coordinate website. Meanwhile, the public relations departments should educate corporations the value of dialogic public relations, because the compatibility of organizational departments has a significant effect on webbed dialogues (J. Huang & Yang,
2015). In short, the complete control of public relations departments on websites is necessary
310 and beneficial to utilize websites strategically for dialogic relationship building.
Third, there must be a greater commitment of public relations practitioners to support dialogic public relations on websites. Practitioners should put more time and positivity to webbed dialogues. In this research, most participants were too busy to update their websites.
They did not pay much attention to dialogic relationship building on corporate websites.
They had to address various public needs because of some external requirements, such as governmental requirements.
Some participants expressed frustration because they considered that nobody in their corporations cared about websites except themselves. As a result, websites were always neglected. The result is consistent with the findings of S. T. Lee and Desai (2014) that organizational and departmental factors inhibit practitioners to fully utilize the dialogic potential of websites. In this research, many public relations practitioners were passive to develop corporate websites and failed to show much positivity to promote webbed dialogues.
The commitment of public relations practitioners for webbed dialogues cannot depend on practitioners’ spontaneous positivity. On one hand, corporations should change the outdated evaluation standards for public relations. Many corporations considered the number of corporate reports on mainstream media as the chief standard to evaluate public relations practice. The utilization of corporate websites was not included in the evaluation. It must influence practitioners’ positivity to develop corporate websites. The utilization of corporate websites for corporate communication and dialogic public relations should become an
311 important part of evaluation standards.
On the other hand, public relations practitioners and corporations ought to give a high priority to webbed dialogues. Webbed dialogues should get more supports from corporations, such as staff, training, equipment, and financial support. Then practitioners could have sufficient resources to promote dialogic public relations on websites. As suggested by
Briones et al. (2011), there must be a commitment to offer sufficient resources for relationship building. Both corporations and practitioners should provide their commitment to dialogic public relations on corporate websites.
Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner and Taylor (2012) claimed that for dialogic communication to occur, there must be a commitment of resources from websites providers. It is necessary for corporations and public relations practitioners to put more resources and positivity to webbed dialogues. Without a greater commitment, dialogic public relations on corporate websites cannot thrive.
5.4.3 Attraction
Kent and Taylor ’s dialogic principles (1998) provide valid guidelines to promote dialogic public relations through websites. Organizational websites can utilize dialogic principles effectively to facilitate webbed dialogues. As proposed by Hinson et al. (2012), websites which integrate dialogic principles are bound to be dialogic and capable of dialogic communication. However, dialogues need the commitment of both organizations and publics.
312 Even though organizational websites perform dialogically, dialogues could not develop without the engagement of publics (Theunissen & Noordin, 2012). Gunson and Collins
(1997) claimed that even if organizations and publics created dialogic communication structures, it did not mean they must behave dialogically.
Pettigrew and Reber (2011) proposed a new principle to supplement Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles. They believed that the principle of “relationship initiation and enhancement” might provide a new avenue for initiating dialogic relationships. Their statement emphasizes the importance of relationship initiation and provides a new insight to this research. Dialogue is “difficult and time consuming” (S.M. McAllister-Spooner & Kent,
2009, p. 320). It also requires the commitment of publics. Attracting publics to engage in dialogues is an important foundation for corporations to initiate dialogic relationships. Based on the results and findings, this research summarizes and discusses some useful tactics to promote the attraction of corporate websites.
First, it is beneficial to utilize mainstream media to promote corporate websites. A. Yang and
Kent (2014) claimed that the coverage on mainstream media was still a powerful predictor of organizational visibility. They found that news release on mainstream media was effective to attract public attention. In this research, many participants highlighted the effectiveness of mainstream media to promote corporate communication. They also introduced a few successful instances of utilizing mainstream media to promote corporate websites. For instance, they released corporate news on mainstream media to attract extensive public
313 attention. At the same time, they released related news on corporate websites to supplement mainstream media. Then plenty of publics were attracted to visit corporate websites to learn more about the news. This was effective to promote websites’ attraction.
On the other hand, popular portal websites are also helpful to promote corporate websites.
Corporations can release some corporate information on portal websites, such as corporate news, promotion information, and CSR activities. Publics may visit corporate websites through the hyperlinks or floating windows on portal websites. It is beneficial to utilize popular portal websites to attract publics and promote corporate websites.
Second, corporate websites can be more attractive when connected with current popular issues. Sommerfeldt et al. (2012) found that organizational websites were more successful when connected to current popular events. They believed that issue-specific communication of important events could attract more visitors to corporate websites. In this research, some participants confirmed the arguments of Sommerfeldt et al. (2012). One participant from an automobile corporation stated that her corporation always took part in the famous Dakar
Rally and released related news on corporate websites. It is effective for corporate websites to attract public attention. Another participant, whose corporation was a main sponsor of the
FIFA World Cup, illustrated the similar way to promote corporate website via a systematic communication of the FIFA World Cup. Besides basic contents related to the World Cup, activities such as interactive quiz and lottery, were also provided on the corporate website.
This was quite useful to attract public attention and enhance users’ involvement.
314 Corporate websites can benefit from capitalizing the value of current popular issues. It can significantly enhance the attraction of corporate websites. Corporate websites ought to make use of some special-topic information setting or microsites to maximize the communication effects of current popular issues.
Third, corporate websites can benefit from the utilization of microsites. Microsites are some thematic web pages, which focus on special topics or issues, such as corporate activities, new products, and promote information. Some microsites have independent domain names.
Nearly all of them have clear hyperlinks of corporate websites. Sommerfeldt et al. (2012) considered that when organizational websites could not attract publics, microsites might succeed in attracting more attention. They further pointed out that microsites could be tied with specialty publications, news websites, and traditional media, which can significantly promote communication effects.
In this research, some participants viewed microsites as valid channels to attract public attention. Many corporate practitioners believed that microsites were more prominent than special columns on corporate websites, because microsites were more active and concentrated. Corporations ought to utilize microsites to supplement corporate websites and achieve corporate communication goals. Meanwhile, corporate microsites can be further connected to mainstream media, especially popular portal websites, to increase corporate influence. With the promotion of microsites, corporate websites can be more attractive and popular.
315 Fourth, corporations should utilize various forms of new media to attract publics for dialogues, such as corporate websites, social media, and mobile websites. It is believed that the utilization of various new media could create more opportunities for dialogues (J. Huang
& Yang, 2015). In this research, a few participants emphasized their utilization of multiple new media for dialogues. For instance, a participant stated that his corporation usually utilized the dialogic channels on corporate social media rather than corporate websites because they considered social media more dialogic. Another participant further confirmed the utilization of social media. His corporation had five platforms in social media, which were effectively utilized to gather feedbacks and dialogue with publics.
Moreover, some participants gave a few successful examples to utilize corporate social media for public relations. A corporation practiced some public relations activities on both corporate websites and Wechat. The information of activities was disseminated on Wechat to promote the communication of corporate website. The corporate performance confirms the argument of Lovejoy, Waters, and Saxton (2012) that social media provide new opportunities for organizations to make real-time feedback and dialogues with publics. It is beneficial for corporations to utilize social media effectively in attracting public attention and promoting dialogic public relations. Corporations ought to connect corporate websites with their social media. However, this research found that most corporations failed to display their social media on corporate websites. This might hinder corporations to promote corporate social media.
316 The mobile website is also an important new media platform for corporations to attract publics. McCorkindale and Morgoch (2013) suggested that corporations must be aware of the importance of mobile websites as the rise of smart phone utilization. In this research, limited corporations utilized mobile websites to promote corporate communication and public relations. A corporation utilized Wechat and mobile news app to release corporate news and provide subscribed information to users. Another participant intended to connect corporate website and mobile website, but he failed to achieve that for the lack of corporate supports. The utilization of mobile websites is suitable for publics that prefer smart phone.
Mobile websites are important to attract publics to dialogue with corporations.
It is effective for corporations to utilize various forms of new media to attract publics for dialogues. As to the relationship of various new media, a participant made an interesting parable. In his opinion, it was important to use various new media to build a carrier fleet.
Corporate website was the aircraft carrier, and some other new media, such as social media and mobile websites, were frigates. This research agrees with his viewpoints. Corporations should fully utilize various forms of new media according to different media characteristics.
As a result, they can attract more publics to participate in corporate communication and dialogic relationship building.
Overall, corporations can improve the utilization of dialogic principles to make corporate websites more dialogic. However, successful dialogic public relations also requires publics’ engagement. It is necessary for corporations to take advantage of new technology and
317 employ effective tactics to attract publics for webbed dialogues, so more publics can engage in dialogic relationship building with them.
5.4.4 Balance
Dialogic public relations is of great importance to beneficial relationship building between corporations and publics. However, as claimed by Kent and Taylor (2002), dialogue is not a panacea. Dialogic public relations may be not appropriate in all circumstances. van Es and
Meijlink (2000) highlighted that both dialogic approach and pragmatic approach to public relations ethics provided certain advantages and needed to be combined in an integrated approach. Therefore, it is necessary for corporations to employ a balanced and appropriate approach rather than absolute and ideal approach to building dialogic relationships through corporate websites. This research proposes some practical strategies for balancing corporate dialogic performance.
First, corporations should balance the needs of one-way monologue and two-way dialogue. It is obvious that many corporations employ a one-way monologue mode to disseminate corporate information and publicize corporate images. Two-way dialogue is beneficial to understand mutual interest and behaves more ethical than one-way monologue. However, monologue sometimes is also necessary. As proposed by Pearson (1989), monologue may be needed before entering a dialogue. Both dialogue and monologue are required for effective public relations (S.-U. Yang et al., 2015). Corporations can also use monologue sometimes to achieve corporate communication goals.
318 The problem lies in that the communication of information on corporate websites should in form of monologue as well as two-way dialogues. Corporate websites need to offer publics opportunities to express their opinions. Furthermore, corporations should be willing to change during the dialogue process. It is indispensable for corporations to adjust their performance according to public requirements from two-way dialogues. Manipulative monologue should be avoided.
Second, it is necessary for corporations to balance dialogic performance and corporate tolerance for risks. Dialogic public relations can bring about risks and unpredictable results.
Theunissen and Noordin (2012) proposed that organizational engagement in true dialogue might be prevented by the fear of exposure and loss of control on their image. In this research, many corporations did not engage in webbed dialogues because of the potential risks from dialogue, such as negative information and security risks. Corporations aim to decrease risks through the control of unpredictable outcomes. The ambiguous outcomes of dialogue seem to be risky. Although dialogic public relations could make public relations more ethical and effective, the ethics and effectiveness sometimes are not main issues for corporations (Jiang, 2006). Corporations always pay more attention to benefits and stability.
The key to this problem is that corporations should balance dialogue and risk through the improvement of risk tolerance level. As suggested by J. Huang and Yang (2015), public relations practitioners should examine organizations’ culture and see if the culture has compatibility with dialogue. If organizations’ culture cannot tolerate risks of dialogue,
319 practitioners should initially change organizational perceptions. Practitioners can start with limited dialogues on websites, and then carry out more sufficient and positive webbed dialogues. Corporations can improve their tolerance for dialogue risks to promote dialogic public relations on websites. Although dialogue involves potential risks, it could lead to stronger OPRs as reward (Kent & Taylor, 2002).
Third, corporations need to utilize various public relations strategies flexibly. Dialogue involves risks and vulnerability. Kent and Taylor (2002) admitted that strategic communication sometimes might be more effective than dialogic communication in achieving organizations’ interests. According to corporate circumstance, corporations should flexibly utilize various public relations strategies for achieving corporate goals. As claimed by van Es and Meijlink (2000), public relations has some asymmetrical characters. Some public relations activities could not be involved in symmetric communication or dialogic communication. Therefore, a mixed mode of public relations strategies may be more appropriate for corporations. Corporations could move among publicity, persuasion, and dialogue in different phases of public relations (Theunissen & Noordin, 2012). Corporate public relations should place the emphasis on beneficial relationship building between corporations and publics. There must be a corporation’s commitment to dialogue with publics. However, corporation’s engagement in dialogues does not mean that it merely engages in dialogues (Pearson, 1989). Corporations could apply various strategies to achieve public relations goals.
320 As an orientation for relationship building, dialogue is not a panacea. It may be not appropriate in some circumstance. It is necessary for corporations to balance the needs of one-way monologue and two-way dialogue, dialogic performance and corporate tolerance for risks, and various public relations strategies. Corporations can then effectively utilize corporate websites to achieve the goals of corporate communication and public relations.
5.4.5 Strategies and Dialogue Tenets
As mentioned before, there is a significant gap between the most corporate websites and genuine dialogues. Many corporations did not fully understand and hold the tenets of dialogue (i.e., mutuality, propinquity, empathy, risk, and commitment). This research proposes four useful strategies (i.e., value, commitment, attraction, and balance) to promote dialogic public relations through corporate websites. These strategies are also beneficial for corporations to improve their understanding and application of dialogue tenets. The four strategies can be connected with the specific tenets. Corporations should apply these four strategies to enhance their dialogic level with specific dialogue tenets. The connections between strategies and dialogue tenets are shown in the figure 5.1 below.
321 Mutuality Value
Propinquity
Commitment Empathy
Attraction Risk
Balance Commitment
Figure 5.1: The connections between strategies and dialogue tenets
First, corporations could utilize the strategy of value to promote the tenet of mutuality and empathy. Mutuality refers to an acknowledgement of inextricable organization-public relationships. Mutuality highlights the collaborative orientation that participants ought to understand each other’s position. According to the tenet of mutuality, the spirit of mutual equality should be maintained in the dialogic relationships. The strategy of value needs corporations to realize the value of dialogic relationships. This is the foundation to promote dialogic public relations. A collaborative and equal relationship of mutuality can be developed only after the value and implications of dialogues are truly understood by corporations. Therefore, the strategy of value is beneficial to promote mutuality.
Empathy means the “atmosphere of support and trust that must exist if dialogue is to succeed”
(Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 27). The tenet of empathy emphasizes the supportiveness and confirmation of public interests. Confirmation is an important feature of empathy.
322 Participants in dialogues ought to acknowledge and confirm the voice and goals of others.
The strategy of value highlights the importance of efficient evaluation methods for corporate dialogue practice. The consideration of users’ feedbacks is necessary and crucial to evaluate the effects of dialogic public relations. According to the strategy of value, corporations must pay attention to users’ feedbacks and feelings, which could promote the empathy tenet.
Second, the strategy of commitment is beneficial to boost the tenet of propinquity and commitment. Propinquity means that organizations and publics are willing and able to consult and be consulted by each other. Temporal and spontaneous interactions with organizations and publics can occur because of propinquity. S. T. Lee and Desai (2014) pointed out that propinquity implied organizational ability to engage in a two-way communication to enhance effectiveness. Dialogic parties must be willing to give their whole selves to encounters. Therefore, propinquity needs the strategy of commitment, which suggests a corporate commitment to offer sufficient resources for dialogic relationship building. According to the strategy of commitment, both corporations and practitioners should devote sufficient resources and positivity to dialogues. With adequate dialogic channels and positive engagement from commitment, corporations are able to dialogue and consult with publics. Propinquity could thus be promoted.
The tenet of commitment refers to the extent that organizations devote themselves to dialogue, interpretation, and understanding in exchanges with the public (Sheila M.
McAllister-Spooner, 2009). The commitment tenet highlights the value of authenticity and
323 genuine participation in dialogues. Commitment is the foundation of ethical public relations, which urges practitioners to build successful dialogic relationships. The strategy of commitment emphasizes that corporations ought to dedicate their affordable resources and sufficient willingness to dialogic relationship building. This is closely connected with the tenet of commitment. If corporations could fully give themselves to dialogues, the tenet of commitment will be achieved and enhanced.
Third, the strategy of attraction is useful to promote the tenet of propinquity and empathy. As mentioned above, propinquity assumes that organizations are willing and able to consult publics, and meanwhile, publics are willing to articulate their demands to organizations. For publics, propinquity calls for the engagement of publics in dialogues. Kent and Taylor (2002) claimed that all participants should positively engage in dialogues rather than maintain a neutral position or observer status. The public should engage in dialogues with organizations and have interest to express their views. The strategy of attraction is necessary to promote the tenet of propinquity. Attracting publics to engage in dialogues is the essence of the attraction strategy and an important foundation for corporations to initiate dialogic relationships. Corporations need to adopt useful tactics to attract publics for webbed dialogues, as a result of which, the tenet of propinquity can be promoted.
Empathy highlights the supportiveness and confirmation of public interests. Based on empathy, dialogue creates a climate where publics are encouraged and facilitated to participate in dialogues with organizations. Taylor (2000) proposed that if publics felt
324 ignored by organizations, they would be unwilling to develop relationships with such organizations. Corporations need to pay attention to publics through supporting and confirming public interests. The foundation of attraction is to confirm attractive tactics according to public interests. The process of attraction is catering to public interests through valid tactics, such as the connection with popular issues and utilization of new media. The utilization of attraction strategy is helpful to satisfy publics and improve the empathy tenet.
Finally, corporations can benefit from the strategy of balance to hold the tenet of risk better.
Risk means that dialogue has “the potential to produce unpredictable and dangerous outcomes” (Kent & Taylor, 2002, p. 28). Risk implies that dialogues are, to some extent, inherently risky. Dialogues sometimes make participants vulnerable to manipulation and ridicule by other participants. Moreover, dialogues may incur unanticipated consequences because of some unrehearsed and spontaneous features. Sufficient information sharing is necessary to minimize the uncertainties and misunderstandings. Risks of dialogues, such as negative information, are main barriers for some corporations to conduct dialogic public relations. Most corporations aim to reduce environmental risks and maximize stability.
Although Kent and Taylor (2002) argued that the risk of dialogue could lead to stronger
OPRs as reward, corporations need to employ an integrated approach for public relations and balance various strategies to achieve corporate goals.
On one hand, corporations could utilize not only two-way dialogues but also one-way monologues according to corporate environment. Monologues are sometimes useful for
325 corporations to provide sufficient information and reduce potential risks. On the other hand, corporations need to balance dialogic performance and corporate tolerance for risks.
Practitioners can improve corporate tolerance for dialogue risks to promote dialogic public relations. Moreover, corporation can flexibly utilize various public relations strategies rather than stick to only dialogic public relations to avoid obvious risks. Of course, corporate commitment to dialogues with publics should not be cancelled. As a result of the balance strategy, corporations will then be able to effectively handle the tenet of risk and build beneficial relationships with publics.
Overall, this research proposed four effective strategies, namely value, commitment, attraction, and balance. These strategies are not only useful to promote dialogic public relations but also beneficial for corporations to understand and apply dialogue tenets.
Corporations could utilize these strategies effectively to hold dialogue tenets and advance dialogic relationship building with publics.
From the findings of this research, four useful strategies for corporate websites in promoting dialogic public relations are proposed and discussed. The recognition of dialogue value is the primary foundation to promote dialogic public relations. Most corporations underestimated the value of webbed dialogues. As a result, most corporate websites did not have enough dialogic characteristics. Corporate websites should employ adequate methods to evaluate the effectiveness of dialogic public relations, which could promote corporate recognition of dialogue value. Corporate commitment is very important for successful dialogic public
326 relations on websites. Both corporations and public relations practitioners should put more resources and positivity on dialogues. Without a greater commitment, dialogic public relations cannot develop.
Successful dialogic public relations also need publics’ engagement in dialogues. It is necessary for corporations to employ some effective tactics to attract publics for webbed dialogues. This research proposes some useful tactics for corporate websites to attract publics, such as the utilization of mainstream media, issue-specific communication, microsites, and various forms of new media. It should be noted that dialogic public relations is not appropriate in all circumstances. Corporations should balance monologue and dialogue, dialogic performance and corporate tolerance level for dialogue risks, and various public relations strategies to achieve corporate goals. These four strategies could be further connected with dialogue tenets. Corporations should promote dialogue tenets in dialogic relationship building through the utilization of these four strategies.
5.5 Conclusion
This research provides a comprehensive picture of how Chinese manufacturing corporations utilize corporate websites to promote corporate communication and dialogic public relations.
Most manufacturing corporations confirmed the importance of corporate websites. Corporate communication could benefit from corporate websites in various ways, such as the promotion of corporate images, products and services, and internal communication. However, most corporations viewed their websites as important rather than crucial communication
327 tools. Corporate websites were always secondary and received limited corporate resources.
Similarly, most manufacturing corporations utilized websites as supplementary tools for public relations. Corporations usually made use of websites to supplement mainstream media, set special-topic information, and reach new publics. However, many corporations doubted the value of corporate websites in promoting corporate communication and public relations.
Without adequate evaluations, the effectiveness of corporate websites was always underestimated by corporations.
Many corporations paid limited attention to relationship building through their websites.
Most corporate websites were used to introduce corporations rather than build relationships with publics. Practitioners preferred information dissemination rather than interaction with publics on corporate websites. As proposed by Kent and Taylor (1998), simply updating information is still one-way model of public relations. In this research, most corporations did not fully utilize the potential of corporate websites for relationship building.
Although the majority of corporate websites addressed multiple publics, they paid different attention to various publics. As suggested by Taylor et al. (2001), to build beneficial dialogic relationships through websites, organizations should provide each publics with tailored information rather than segments. In this research, many public relations practitioners did not show sufficient positivity to address various publics on corporate websites. This has influenced corporate efforts to build dialogic relationships with publics. Corporations should confirm and employ more effective strategies to address their publics through websites.
328 Providing tailored contents on websites is the first step to build dialogic relationships with publics. Corporations need to employ more dialogic principles to promote webbed dialogues.
As proposed by Madichie and Hinson (2014), organizational websites must actively get publics involved in meaningful dialogic relationships. In this research, although most corporations employed dialogic principles on their websites, they placed varying weights on different principles. The majority of corporations paid more attention to the technical and design cluster than the dialogic cluster on corporate websites. The technical and design cluster is a necessary foundation for webbed dialogues. However, the dialogic cluster, which includes principles of generation of return visits and dialogic loop, is more important to foster genuine dialogues.
It was evident that most corporations failed to fully utilize the dialogic potential of corporate websites. Many manufacturing corporations did not truly understand the tenets of dialogue.
They confirmed some prominent barriers to webbed dialogues, such as negative information, insufficient resources, security risks, and lack of requirements.
Theunissen and Noordin (2012) stated that both organizational commitment and acknowledgment of dialogic relationship value are needed for successful dialogic public relations. In this research, there was always a lack of corporate commitment to support webbed dialogues. Dialogic relationship needs a greater commitment of organizational resources (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner & Taylor, 2012). Both corporations and practitioners should put more resources and positivity to webbed dialogues. However, many
329 corporations failed to recognize the value of dialogic public relations. They seldom evaluated the effectiveness of webbed dialogues. It was difficult for corporations to recognize the value of dialogic public relations without adequate evaluations.
Even though corporate websites have enough dialogic characteristics, dialogic public relations cannot thrive without the commitment of publics. Thus, corporate websites should employ some effective tactics to attract publics to participate in dialogues. Moreover, it is necessary for corporations to balance various public relations strategies, so corporate dialogic public relations on websites can be more effective and practical.
This research examines the characteristics of Chinese manufacturing corporations to utilize websites for dialogic public relations. Although dialogues may bring risks or unpredictable outcomes, such as negative information and security risks, it is believed that webbed dialogues can lead to stronger OPRs as reward. As stated by Kent and Taylor (1998), dialogic relationship cannot be achieved overnight. Corporations need to make more efforts and commitments to build beneficial dialogic relationships with their publics.
5.6 Research Implications
The findings of this research provide important implications for both dialogic public relations research and practice. This research mainly adopts the perspective of two-way symmetrical public relations, relationship management theory, and dialogic public relations theory to examine dialogic public relations practice through Chinese manufacturing
330 corporate websites. Meanwhile, the personal influence theory and the situational theory are also added to explore corporate specific efforts to promote relationship building with publics.
As a result, this research extends related theories to Chinese public relations practice and increases empirical evidence to the growing literature on dialogic public relations. The findings are very meaningful to develop related knowledge on dialogic relationship building.
In addition, this research enriches the dialogic public relations theory and proposes the typology of corporate websites for the promotion of dialogic public relations. This section presents and discusses the main implications of this research.
First, in accordance with the two-way symmetrical public relations, this research identified the most dominant model in Chinese corporate public relations practice through websites.
Most corporations employed one-way model, especially the press agentry model, to conduct public relations. The majority of practitioners viewed one-way propaganda as the focus of their websites. They preferred releasing positive information on websites without consideration of public requirements. Although two-way symmetry model is viewed as an ideal approach to excellent public relations (J. E. Grunig & Grunig, 1992), this model is still secondary in most corporations’ practices. The absence of two-way symmetrical public relations influenced the foundation of two-way interactions, especially dialogic communication, through corporate websites.
A prominent representation was that most practitioners could not accurately understand dialogic public relations, though they confirmed the value of webbed dialogues. Practitioners’
331 confirmation was mostly from the corporate perspective with the viewpoints of one-way or two-way asymmetry model. Their perceptions embodied their efforts to achieve corporate goals through persuasion rather than mutual understanding. It is far from the essence of the dialogue. As stated by van Es and Meijlink (2000), the conceptual core of dialogic ethics is the two-way symmetrical communication. The lack of two-way symmetrical public relations influenced corporate understanding and applying dialogic public relations through their websites. Thus, this research considers the application of two-way symmetrical public relations as a primary step in promoting dialogic public relations through corporate websites.
Second, the findings of this research also provided important insights into the goals and specific efforts of Chinese corporate public relations through corporate websites. The perspective of relationship management shifts the central position of organizations to mutual relationships between organizations and publics. The primary task of public relations is thus about relationship management rather than communication management. The findings of this research implied that most Chinese corporations placed more weights on communication management than relationship management. Their frequent usages of websites for public relations displayed corporate efforts to improve communication effects rather than relationship building. The majority of Chinese corporations held outdated approach to promoting public relations through positive communication. However, the perspective of relationship management should be adopted by corporations to promote public relations effects on websites. There remains a long way for most Chinese corporations to improve their public relations ideas and shift their focus to relationship management.
332 Although most corporations in this research utilized some relationship cultivation strategies
(i.e., access, positivity, assurances, openness, networking, and shared tasks) to cultivate relationships with specific publics through corporate websites, their utilization of cultivation strategies was not systematic and adequate. On one hand, their relationship cultivation efforts were based on some internal and external requirements rather than their positivity. For example, most corporate websites had to offer investors sufficient contents to follow governmental requirements. However, some corporations did not show enough positivity to address investors. On the other hand, some corporations failed to take explicit and sufficient tactics to cultivate relationships with some publics, such as customers, because they were unclear about publics’ needs on corporate websites. Chinese corporations should take more effective strategies to promote relationship building with publics through corporate websites.
Some corporate efforts to build relationships with publics indicated the practice with Chinese characteristics. For example, many corporate practitioners paid much attention to the communication through guanxi with journalists. This is the Chinese version of personal influence model. Chinese practitioners highlighted interpersonal relationship building with influential individuals. They believed that powerful and personal networks were helpful to achieve the goals of public relations. Practitioners’ public relations practice through guanxi confirmed the importance of personal influence model in Chinese context.
Third, the most important implication is that the research provided an enrichment of dialogic public relations research and proposed the typology of corporate websites for the promotion
333 of dialogic relationship building. On one hand, this research extended dialogic public relations theory to Chinese public relations practice and revealed the characteristics of
Chinese corporate dialogic public relations. The findings of this research implied that most
Chinese corporations paid more attention to some fundamental design features for easy interface and conservation of visitors than generation of return visits and dialogic loop. They provided more design prerequisites for webbed dialogues instead of actual engagement in dialogues. The findings are consistent with many previous studies (Esrock & Leichty, 2000;
Jiang, 2006; S. T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner, 2009). Unlike most previous studies, this research made further exploration and confirmed some deeper reasons for such a phenomenon. Some prominent barriers to dialogic public relations (i.e., negative information, insufficient resources, security risks, and lack of requirements) were confirmed to understand and explain corporations’ lack of dialogic engagement. This is useful for
Chinese public relations practitioners to resolve related problems and promote dialogic public relations.
In addition, this research enriched the dialogic public relations theory through relating dialogue tenets with dialogic principles and connecting dialogic principles with the situational theory. The five dialogue tenets embrace the explicit and implicit meaning of the dialogue concept. These tenets, as essential ideas of dialogues, are necessary to articulate dialogic public relations theory. Dialogic principles are effective strategies to promote dialogues through organizational websites. Dialogue tenets and dialogic principles are connected to provide an integrated perspective in this research. Organizations could thus
334 fully utilize dialogic principles to promote dialogue tenets and increase genuine dialogues with their publics. The connection between dialogue tenets and dialogic principles is beneficial to develop a theoretical framework for the application of dialogic public relations theory. It is also quite meaningful for the dialogic public relations practice.
This research also related the dialogic principles with the situational theory. The situational theory provides an important perspective to segment publics and transform general people into active publics. According to the situational theory, corporations can effectively manage dialogic public relations by addressing the needs of targeted publics and facilitating the transformation approach to active publics. The situational theory could be further promoted by dialogic principles. As a result, corporations are able to promote publics’ information behaviors and dialogic relationships through effective utilization of dialogic principles on corporate websites. The connections between the dialogic principles and the situational theory are beneficial to integrate related theories about dialogic public relations and promote the effects of dialogic relationship building.
On the other hand, this research contributes to developing a typology of corporate websites for the promotion of dialogic public relations. According to the findings from content analysis and in-depth interviews, this research suggests that corporate websites should address various publics with tailored contents and promote the utilization of both technical and design cluster and dialogic cluster. The characteristics of corporate websites in addressing various publics implied that most corporations addressed various publics with
335 tailored contents. However, there were some obvious shortcomings of corporate performance.
For example, some corporations were passive to provide information to investors and unclear about how to address their customers through their websites. It is necessary for corporations to overcome such shortcomings and fully address the needs of various publics to facilitate dialogic relationship building.
Based on the dialogic characteristics of corporate websites in facilitating dialogic relationship building, it is indicated that corporate websites should not only highlight technical and design cluster to provide design prerequisites for webbed dialogues, but also need to promote the dialogic cluster and actual dialogic engagement. The findings also provide important insights into some key factors that influence the effects of dialogic principles. For example, in order to promote the technical and design cluster, corporate websites ought to have reasonable layout, adequate redesigns, and more facilitating design items (e. g., site map and high speed loading). Corporate websites should provide timely updated information and sufficient connective items (e. g., bookmarks and shared links) to promote the generation of return visits. Most important of all, corporate websites need to offer sufficient dialogic channels and actually engage in webbed dialogues to promote the dialogic loop. This is the essence of dialogic public relations through websites.
In addition, this research proposed four important strategies to promote corporate dialogic public relations through websites. Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles are important for organizations to promote webbed dialogues. With these dialogic principles, numerous
336 research have evaluated the dialogic potential of organizations’ websites and identified that most websites failed to fully use dialogic principles (J. Huang & Yang, 2015; Jiang, 2006; S.
T. Lee & Desai, 2014; Madichie & Hinson, 2014; Shadinger, 2013). However, few research were conducted to explore and develop strategies for promoting dialogic public relations
(Hong et al., 2010). Based on the findings, this research proposed four useful and practical strategies (i.e., value, commitment, attraction, and balance) for Chinese corporations to facilitate dialogic relationship building with publics. These strategies could effectively supplement Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles and provide insights for the corporate practice. Furthermore, this research related the four strategies with specific dialogue tenets. This is beneficial for corporations to understand and apply such tenets.
Corporations could effectively utilize these strategies to enhance their dialogic level with specific dialogue tenets.
Overall, this section presents and discusses the main implications of this research. The findings of this research are very meaningful for public relations scholars and practitioners.
With the perspective of related theories, this research reveals the characteristics of Chinese corporations’ dialogic public relations practice and develops related knowledge on dialogic relationship building. Furthermore, this research enriches dialogic public relations research and proposes the typology of corporate websites for the promotion of dialogic relationship building with publics. The findings of this research are thus significant in both theory and practice.
337 5.7 Limitations of the Research
It is necessary for corporations to utilize corporate websites effectively to promote dialogic public relations. This research provides some insights into the characteristics of corporate websites to employ dialogic principles and address various publics. Although the findings may be meaningful in the practical and theoretical sense, there are some limitations in this research.
First, this research employs content analysis and in-depth interview as research methods.
According to the results of both methods, this research finds some gaps between public relations practitioners’ perceptions and their actual performance. For instance, there is a gap between corporate acknowledgment of multiple publics’ importance and actual performance to address various publics on websites. Although this finding is consistent with previous research (Sheila M. McAllister-Spooner & Taylor, 2012), more methods may still be needed to explore practitioners’ deeper perceptions.
Sometimes it is difficult for in-depth interviews to examine the authenticity of participants’ answers. There is a hypothesis that participants must answer questions truthfully. However, sometimes participants may give the answers according to various factors, such as ethics, professionalism, and corporate requirements. The answers may not reflect their genuine and comprehensive viewpoints. It is therefore necessary to employ some other methods, such as empirical questionnaire, to examine their actual perceptions. Questionnaires can supplement the in-depth interviews to make a deeper insight into practitioners’ perceptions. The gap
338 between public relations practitioners’ perceptions and their actual dialogic performance should be noted.
Second, this research selects manufacturing corporations in Chinese Fortune 500 as samples.
The results are specific to Chinese manufacturing industry. The generalizability of research results may be limited for other industries. Future research can select more diverse samples to make a comparison of dialogic public relations practice. The influence of industry sectors should be noted, because corporate websites of diverse industry sectors usually have some different dialogic characteristics (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). Moreover, it is believed that the higher rank of corporations are more likely to employ interactive features on corporate websites to promote dialogic public relations (Jiang, 2006; Taylor et al., 2001). This research selects advanced manufacturing corporations’ websites as samples, which may not reflect the whole situation. The websites of low-level manufacturing corporations may have a poor performance in webbed dialogues. It is beneficial to examine some websites of low-level corporations to extend research scope.
This section introduces two limitations of this research. It is hoped that future research will improve these limitations and provide more comprehensive insights into dialogic public relations on websites.
339 5.8 Suggestions for Future Research
This research examines the dialogic public relations practice on Chinese manufacturing corporate websites. Proposals for future research on this issue are:
First, the findings of this research are limited to samples of manufacturing corporations’ websites in Chinese Fortune 500. A wider range of research samples can be considered by future research. Diverse organizations, corporations from different industry sectors, corporations with different scales, and corporations of different countries or districts can be selected as samples to analyze and compare their websites. It is beneficial to extend the scope of dialogic public relations research. It could also provide comprehensive insights on dialogic relationship building through websites.
Second, dialogic principles of Kent and Taylor (1998) should be further developed. Although dialogic principles are extensively accepted and utilized to examine various organizational websites, the coding schemes of dialogic principles need to be further improved. For instance, coding items should be updated to keep pace with the rapid development of internet technology. After all, there were not any social media or mobile websites when Kent and
Taylor (1998) firstly proposed dialogic principles. It is necessary to make some research to develop dialogic principles based on current characteristics of new technology.
Third, it is recommended that users’ perceptions of dialogic public relations should be examined. Dialogues need the engagement of both parties. Numerous research have
340 examined the employment of dialogic principles on organizational websites. However, few research are conducted to explore publics’ perceptions of dialogic public relations. Research should pay attention to visitors’ perceptions, so that organizational efforts to build dialogic relationships can be identified by visitors’ responses. Moreover, the research on dialogic public relations can be more dialectic and complete. Future research should analyze actual feedbacks and perceptions of visitors to provide a further understanding on this issue.
Finally, future research can extend dialogic public relations to some other new media platforms, such as social media and mobile websites. As the rapid development of new technology, it is necessary to utilize various forms of new media for dialogic public relations.
For instance, social media are always more dialogic and attractive. Future research should examine the effectiveness of dialogic principles in social media and explore new characteristics of dialogic public relations. Similarly, more and more users prefer to utilize smart phones to browse internet. It will be beneficial to conduct research on the application of dialogic principles through mobile websites. Furthermore, how to utilize various new media effectively to promote dialogic public relations is also an important issue to explore.
Dialogic public relations should be attached more importance in the new media circumstances. As stated by Kent and Taylor (2002), it is time to develop the dialogue theory as the next stage of public relations. Although dialogues cannot necessarily guarantee relationship outcomes, a dialogic orientation does facilitate mutual understanding between corporations and publics.
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361 APPENDICES
Appendix A: List of sampled corporate websites for content analysis
Rank Corporation Website address 1 25 Jiangxi Copper Company Limited www.jxcc.com/index.html 2 32 Dongfeng Motor Group Company Limited www.dfmg.com.cn 3 35 Hebei Iron and Steel Co., Ltd www.hebgtgf.com 4 41 Gree Electric Appliances,Inc. of Zhuhai www.gree.com.cn 5 62 Angang Steel Company Limited www.ansteel.com.cn 6 65 Shanghai Electric Group Company Limited www.shanghai-electric.co m 7 67 TPV Technology Limited www.tpv-tech.com 8 68 Maanshan Iron & Steel Company Limited www.magang.com.cn 9 77 Gd Midea Holding Co.,Ltd. www.midea.com/cn 10 88 Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes Co.,Ltd. www.xinxing-pipes.com 11 89 China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited www.csicl.com.cn 12 108 Weichai Power Co.,Ltd. www.weichaipower.com 13 109 Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and www.zoomlion.com Technology Co., Ltd. 14 112 Sany Heavy Industry Co.,Ltd. www.sanyhi.com 15 115 Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited www.conch.cn 16 118 Great Wall Motor Company Limited www.gwm.com.cn 17 119 Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co.,Ltd. www.yili.com 18 123 Beiqi Foton Motor Co.,Ltd. www.foton.com.cn 19 134 Lianyungang Ideal Group Co.,Ltd www.ideal-group.com.cn 20 137 China Mengniu Dairy Co. Ltd. www.mengniuir.com 21 142 BBMG Corporation www.bbmg.com.cn 22 150 XCMG Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. www.xcmg.com 23 160 Jointown Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. www.jztey.com 24 164 Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited www.ndpaper.com 25 167 China Daye Non-Ferrous Metals Mining www.hk661.com Limited 26 181 Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation Limited www.hnc2626.com 27 183 Jihua Group Corporation Limited www.jihuachina.com 28 184 Kweichow Moutai Co.,Ltd. www.moutaichina.com 29 188 BOE Technology Group Co.,Ltd. www.boe.com.cn 30 189 Lao Feng Xiang Co.,Ltd. www.chinafirstpencil.com 31 190 Skyworth Digital Holdings Ltd. www.skyworth.com/cn
362 32 192 Hisense Electric Co.,Ltd. www.hisense.com 33 196 Geely Automobile Holdings Limited www.geelyauto.com.hk 34 210 China Yurun Food Group Limited www.yurun.com.hk 35 222 Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co.,Ltd. www.yutong.com 36 232 Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet www.nonfemet.com Company Limited 37 235 Konka Group Co.,Ltd www.konka.com 38 237 Sansteel Minguang Co.,Ltd.,Fujian www.sgmg.com.cn 39 239 Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co.,Ltd www.zpmc.com 40 242 China National Accord Medicines Corporation www.szaccord.com.cn Ltd. 41 248 Xiamen Xindeco Ltd. www.xindeco.com 42 258 Shen Ma Industry Co.Ltd. www.shenma.com 43 260 AviChina Industry & Technology Company www.avichina.com Limited 44 264 Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co., Ltd. www.kaifa.cn 45 271 Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes Co.,Ltd. www.whchem.com 46 272 Weiqiao Textile Co. Limited www.wqfz.com 47 278 Guangdong Haid Group Co.,Limited www.haid.com.cn 48 282 Hengan International Group Company Limited www.hengan.com 49 285 Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co., Ltd. www.600219.com.cn 50 287 Tangshan Jidong Cement Co.,Ltd. www.jdsn.com.cn 51 289 Tian Di Science & Technology Co.,Ltd www.tdtec.com 52 301 Bright Dairy & Food Co.,Ltd. www.brightdairy.com 53 306 China Zhongwang Holdings Limited www.zhongwang.com 54 310 China Yuchai International Limited www.cyilimited.com 55 312 Fangda Special Steel Technology Co.,Ltd www.fangda-specialsteels.c om 56 313 Universal Scientific Industrial (Shanghai) Co., www.usish.com Ltd. 57 319 Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co.,Ltd. www.yanjing.com.cn 58 334 Jiangsu Shagang Co.,Ltd. www.shaganggf.com 59 335 Yunnan Chihong Zinc&Germanium Co.,Ltd. www.chxz.com 60 336 Double Coin Holdings Ltd. www.doublecoinholdings.c om 61 343 Da Ming International Holdings limited www.dmssc.net 62 346 Jilin Yatai (Group) Co.Ltd. www.yatai.com 63 348 Yingli Green Energy Holding Company www.yinglisolar.com/cn Limited 64 349 Xinjiang Goldwind Science &Technology www.goldwind.com.cn Co.,Ltd
363 65 353 Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd www.kangmei.com.cn 66 355 North China Pharmaceutical Company.Ltd www.ncpc.com 67 359 Henan Zhongfu Industrial Co.,Ltd www.zfsy.com.cn 68 360 Zhejiang Dongliang New Building Materials www.dongliang.com.cn Co., Ltd. 69 365 Youngor Group Co.,Ltd. www.youngor.com 70 366 Zhejiang Chint Electrics Co.,Ltd www.chint.net 71 369 Zhejiang Int'l Group Co.,Ltd www.intmedic.com 72 371 Shandong Humon Smelting Co.,Ltd. www.hbyl.cn 73 373 Tangshan Sanyou Chemical Industries Co.,Ltd www.sanyou-chem.com.cn 74 375 Zhejiang Hailiang Co., Ltd. www.ehailiang.com 75 384 Shandong Kingenta Ecological Engineering www.kingenta.com Co., Ltd 76 385 Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co.,Ltd www.fuyaogroup.com 77 396 Tianneng Power International Ltd www.tianneng.com.hk 78 398 Yunnan Yuntianhua Co.,Ltd. www.yyth.com.cn 79 410 Chaowei Power Holdings Limited www.chaowei.com.hk 80 414 Hefei Meiling Co.,Ltd. www.meiling.com 81 416 Tasly Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd www.tasly.com 82 428 Chigo Holding Limited www.china-chigo.com 83 432 Lifan Industry (Group) Co.,Ltd www.lifan.com 84 433 Jingwei Textile Machinery Company Limited www.jwgf.com 85 437 Baosheng Science and Technology Innovation www.baoshengcable.com Co.,Ltd. 86 438 Haima Automobile Group Co.,Ltd. www.haima.com 87 450 CIMC Enric Holdings Limited www.enricgroup.com 88 452 Trina Solar Limited www.trinasolar.com 89 455 Canadian Solar Inc. www.canadiansolar.com 90 461 Shanghai Zijiang Enterprise Group Co.,Ltd www.zijiangqy.com 91 470 Zhejiang Juhua Co.,Ltd. www.jhgf.com.cn 92 473 Hengtong Optic-Electric Co.,Ltd www.htgd.com.cn 93 484 Zhejiang Longsheng Group Co.,Ltd www.longsheng.com 94 487 China Tianrui Group Cement Company www.trcement.com Limited 95 492 Beijing Tongrentang Co.,Ltd www.tongrentang.com 96 496 Meihua Holdings Group Co.,Ltd www.meihuagrp.com 97 500 Goertek Inc. www.goertek.com
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