Corporate Image on the Web: The Influence of a Company Website on Its Corporate Image

Abstract

The website, nowadays, has become the digital equivalent of the lobby which essentially directs visitors to various information sites inside the organization (Guth & Marsh, 2000). The unmatched advantages of a website such as global reach, instant communication, interactivity, flexibility, multimedia capability, and cost-effectivity, have encouraged organizations and individuals to set up their own websites. Common reasons range from selling products and services, providing information, and generating feedback, to attracting potential customers and employees. A website has gone as far as become the first line of communication to the public (Seitel, 2004). Unfortunately, only a few companies have truly grasped the true potential of having a Web presence. More than its e-commerce function, websites can be likened to a physical storefront or organizational lobby which essentially creates images of the firm. Studies proving this, however, are lac!<.ing, This study, then, primarily intended to find out if a company's website does influence its corporate image. The researcher also tried to determine: 1) the images of a company that are formed by individuals based solely on its website, specifically, the corporate image/s that is/are easy or difficult to tell based on the website; the relationship between website elements and the perceptions of individuals toward the company; and, which website element/s is/are more likely to affect individual's perceptions of the company.

The respondents for this exploratory research were 100 graduating students of different courses from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of the Philippines - Manila. Initially, random sampling, through the lottery method making use of the master list of graduating st\Jdents as sampling frame, was conducted, However, the researcher resorted to accidental sampling when some of the pre­ selected respondents failed to participate. A hundred respondents were the minimum requirement for a survey questionnaire instrument which was used in evaluating the website of a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) company deemed relevant to their diverse courses.

The study results revealed that a website was indeed instrumental in creating images of its company. The BPO company was seen as relatively competent, customer­ oriented, efficient, concerned about customer, profitable, reliable, experienced, conservative, caring and large. Aside from that, the company was also seen as neither innovative nor not innovative, flexible nor inflexible, caring nor uncaring, creative nor uncreative, financially stable nor financially unstable, and leading edge nor follower. Respondents also found it easy to form company impressions on the dimensions of creativity, innovation, experience, conservativeness, concern for customers, efficiency, customer-orientation, and competence. More difficulty was experienced in forming perceptions of reliability, caring, financial stability, profitability, and company size. Moreover, there is low to moderate relationship between the elements of the website and the resulting perceptions of the respondents towards the company. Lastly, the design of the website, having the highest correlations among the website elements, is likely to have the largest influence in forming perceptions of company based on its website.