The Mediation of Corporate Website in Corporate Identity and Corporate Image Relationship

Abstract

The World Wide Web (WWW) – the platform that hosts corporate website – is considered an important medium that possess unique characteristics that differentiate it from traditional corporate and marketing communication channels. This article sets out to show understanding on why firms use their websites as a corporate communication tool for corporate identity creation and corporate image formation. To achieve this objective, Vygotsky (1978) activity theory; Newcombe, (1953) communication model and van Riel (1993) corporate identity, strategy and corporate image model are used as basis to theorise the tri-partite relationship between corporate identity, corporate website and corporate image. In the course of this paper, three important findings were generated. Firstly, it is established that the unique interactive characteristic of a corporate website provides outstanding strategic contribution to the creation of corporate identity and the management of corporate image. Furthermore, the ability to support previously established theory is the fit of corporate website to act as a mediator in the existing linear relationship between firms and stakeholders. This implies that firms can use the corporate website to inform, remind and persuade stakeholders in the development and management of corporate identity and corporate image respectively. Finally, a synthesis of the three distinctive models led to the development of six basic factors that express why firms use corporate website to express corporate information.