Expectation gaps between stakeholders and web-based corporate public relations efforts: Focusing on Fortune 500 corporate web sites

This study investigates how Fortune 500 corporations use corporate-focused web site public relations efforts to prioritize different stakeholders while trying to meet the expectations of each stakeholder. The study found that shareholder needs are most often addressed by the corporations followed by consumers, community members, government agencies, and activists. The results of the study suggest there are expectation gaps between stakeholders and web-based corporate public relations efforts. The study also found differences in the way various industries target stakeholders with the exception of shareholders. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. As the manager of communication between an organization and its publics, those in public relations spend significant amounts of time and resources as they seek to improve communication with stakeholder publics. In fact, strategic public relations management should involve not only segmenting stakeholders into publics, but also creating appropriate messages for those publics once they are identified. Stakeholders are commonly defined as “those groups and individuals that can affect, or are affected by, the accomplishment of organizational purpose” (Freeman, 1984, p. 46). This begs the questions, who do organizations select as stakeholders they target with their communication efforts, and what messages are sent? While past research has investigated the types of messages organizations send and the stakeholders with which organizations communicate (e.g., Esrock & Leichty, 2000), little attention has been paid to this communication based on the specialization of the organizations involved. For example, which groups do health care agencies spend a majority of their efforts reaching? In addition, what kind of messages do these organizations select as important for their selected stakeholders? Answering these questions is important as it provides public relations practitioners and researchers insight into the stakeholder groups that an organization deems have a stake in their organization. In other words, it may give insight into organizational communicators’ decision-making processes as they craft messages and plan interactions. Because of its public nature, online communication provides an excellent opportunity for an analysis of varied communication within a diverse group of organizations. As a result, this research presents an analysis of the web site communication efforts of Fortune 500 companies, focusing specifically on identified stakeholders and message content. 1. Stakeholder theory Researchers have focused on the relationship between an organization and its stakeholders (Clarkson, 1995; Jensen, 2002). For example, who has the dominant power between an organization and its stakeholders? This has been one of the ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 312 218 9663. E-mail address: sorakim91@gmail.com (S. Kim). 0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.04.001 216 S. Kim et al. / Public Relations Review 36 (2010) 215–221 main concerns voiced by those in academics as it provides not only different perspectives toward power but also rationale for stakeholder identification. During the past two decades, the ambiguity surrounding the concept of what constitutes a stakeholder led many scholars to adopt and interpret an organization’s stakeholders with different perspectives. For example, Jensen (2001) focused on stakeholders as a specific economic frame based on the long-term value maximization of a corporation in terms of equity, debt, and warrants. On the other hand, Mitchell, Agle, and Wood (1997) emphasized multiple stakeholders’ interests within the context of social contributions and roles in society. Identifying specific types of stakeholders is another research agenda of stakeholder theory. Researchers (Clarkson, 1995; Donaldson & Preston, 1995) classified stakeholders into two different types of contributors, primary or secondary, based on their degree of participation in an organization’s activities. Primary stakeholders include employees, investors, customers, other resource suppliers, community residents, and the natural environment (Clarkson, 1995). A primary stakeholder is essential to the success or maintenance of a corporation while a secondary stakeholder is influenced by the corporation but not considered a crucial group. Secondary stakeholders include the media, activists, and competitors (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). To generalize the stakeholder concept, other studies focused on the relationship between managers and stakeholder attributions in an organization. Mitchell et al. (1997) attempted to construct stakeholder identification and salience based on the way stakeholders possess a combination of power, legitimacy, and urgency attributions. Parent and Deephouse (2007) also found that power has the most important effect on salience, followed by urgency and legitimacy. In fact, different stakeholders’ expectations toward organizations are usually formed in terms of protecting their own interests (Frooman, 1999). However, organizations do not consider the expectations of these stakeholders equally. Organizations pay attention to different stakeholders based on their power to affect the organizations (Mitchell et al., 1997). Thus, organizations try to meet the expectations of each stakeholder primarily based on the possible power that their stakeholders have to affect the organizations. Our study attempts to answer this concern by identifying the relative emphases of organizations on different stakeholders among current corporate-focused public relations efforts on Fortune 500 corporation web sites. 2. Internet for building organization–public relationship The Internet conveys large amounts of information at lower costs and with faster speed than traditional media (Taylor, Kent, & White, 2001). As a result, the Internet can affect the relationship between an organization and its stakeholders in terms of efficient interactive communications and social transitions. Public relations researchers suggest public relations needs to more readily adopt the two-way communication available through the Internet in order to improve organization–public relationships (Taylor et al., 2001). The success of an organization is often predicted by how its managers handle situations where they are confronted with multiple stakeholders’ demands (Mitchell et al., 1997). Therefore, practitioners are required to recognize the importance of management and their responses to stakeholders’ conflicting demands. One might ask which stakeholder has priority during a conflicting situation. Identifying primary stakeholders is a main concern for public relations practitioners as they determine and select the most important issues and demands. However, online interaction can change the whole picture. Public relations practitioners can no longer ignore previously powerless groups because the Internet has changed organization stakeholder dynamics (Coombs, 1998). For example, activists who belong to the secondary stakeholder group easily become a more powerful group through Internet activity than previous stakeholder groups. Activists may try to influence an organization’s behaviors using available and powerful resources such as a number of followers, favorable media coverage, public supports, and money (Taylor et al., 2001). Another secondary stakeholder, non-traditional media (i.e., social media including Twitter, Facebook, bloggers, or Internet-based news providers), also increased their influences in the relationship with an organization as a result of online communication. Internet communication has changed the power dynamics and become a crucial tool for organizations (Taylor et al., 2001). Due to the importance those in public relations place on Internet communications, some scholars have focused on how corporations deliver their messages and communicate with their publics via the Internet (Esrock & Leichty, 2000). Although previous research (e.g., Esrock & Leichty, 2000) has attempted to study corporate web sites that focus on corporate social responsibility related communications, the scope of the research was somewhat limited. In addition, there has not been a clear understanding of how corporations prioritize their different publics. In other words, which stakeholder is the most valued by corporations in terms of meeting stakeholders’ expectations or needs, and what kinds of needs or expectations of each stakeholder were mostly frequently used on the corporations’ web sites as a part of building the organization–public relationships? Based on the literature search related to the relationship between stakeholders and organizations, the following research questions are posited. RQ1 Which stakeholder’s needs are most frequently addressed by corporate-level public relations efforts of Fortune 500 corporate web sites? RQ2 Among each stakeholder’s needs (e.g., community members’ needs include environmental protection, community services, etc.), what is the most frequently addressed need for each stakeholder by Fortune 500 corporate web sites? RQ3 Is there any difference, by industry type, in the emphasis an organization places on different stakeholders’ needs? S. Kim et al. / Public Relations Review 36 (2010) 215–221 217