Abstract
In the digital age, many corporations communicate with their publics via online channels. Among many channels, a corporation’s official Web site is often used for informing publics of its performance and other corporate-related information and for shaping a positive corporate image. This study quantitatively analyzed corporate Web sites, particularly the “About us” Web pages of Fortune 500 corporations based on symbolic convergence theory (SCT), which describes the formation of symbolic reality and the shared meaning of that symbolic reality among the public. A content analysis revealed that economic corporate management was the dominant rhetorical vision, and the fantasy, in the context of SCT, of being a superior company was emphasized by the 500 examined corporations. Such symbolic reality was constructed using corresponding structural tools of Web content, such as dramatis personae, plot line, and scene. In addition, the rhetorical vision and fantasy themes created by the Web sites turned out to be contingent on business classifications (retailer/distributor, manufacturers, and financial/informational/recreational services). Companies that pursued other types of fantasy themes (such as admirable, futuristic, and competent/stable) and rhetorical visions (such as socially responsible corporate management) were also identified. Some suggestions for corporate communicators are provided based on the results of this analysis.
For the last couple of decades, the development of the Internet has moved corporate communications into the online environment. One of the most common corporate online activities is building and maintaining a corporation’s official Web site. Through a Web site, organizations can express their corporate identity, inform publics of their performance, and obtain feedback from internal and external publics—all of which can help build a favorable relationship with the general public and create a positive corporate image. Given such functions, Overbeeke and Snizek (2005) encouraged scholars to conduct research on the corporate Web site.
In analyzing the Web content of corporate Web sites, this study relies on symbolic convergence theory (SCT), which explains how humans come to share a common symbolic reality by giving details on how “collectivities of people construct a common consciousness that offers meaning, emotion, and motive for action working across both time and culture” (Bormann, Cragan, & Shields, 2001, p. 274). In the context of using corporate Web sites as a part of corporate communication practice, corporations create intended images or specific identities to project to stakeholders. Such constructed images influence how external stakeholders view the organization (Brown, Dacin, Pratt, & Whetten, 2006). The essence of SCT is that the promoted themes of a corporation may shape how the publics or stakeholders structure their mental image and evaluation of the organization (Brown et al., 2006; Gilpin, 2010).
According to a meta-analysis of the areas of research using symbolic convergence theory for the past 30 years, organizational visions, sagas, and cultures have been explored in the context of organizational communications (Bormann et al., 2001, provides an extensive review). However, the symbolic realties created in organizations’ Web sites remain largely unexplored. Given that a company’s Web site expresses its character, personality, or culture, and provides better chances for communication between a corporation and its public in the current online environment (Chun & Davies, 2001; Overbeeke & Snizek, 2005), it is prudent to examine SCT and its substructural concepts in an online corporate setting. By providing detailed constructs of symbolic reality, SCT is believed to provide researchers with an analysis framework. This study specifically focuses on corporations’ “About us” pages because they are a vital section of corporate Web sites, which disseminate the corporation’s intended messages to its various publics on a global scale (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; Perry & Bodkin, 2000; Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). This study aims to examine closely the basic and structural components of SCT to identify the stories corporations attempt to tell to their surrounding publics.
Previous SCT studies mainly used qualitative content analyses and case studies. However, the need to implement a quantitative framework to expand the theory’s range of application has been stressed by numerous leading scholars of SCT research (Bormann, 1972; Bormann et al., 2001; Cragan & Shields, 1981). This study attempts to serve as a stepping stone for quantifying SCT concepts and for applying the theory in the online corporate communication context by developing a systematic coding scheme for multinational corporations’ “About us” Web pages. By examining 500 leading business organizations, this study attempts to eschew the single case study approach and extend the theory based on a large quantified data set. By doing so, this study aims to fulfill the essential need for theoretical extensions of SCT and allows researchers who are interested in SCT and/or online corporate communications to approach this topic empirically and build new perspectives of symbolic content of corporate Web sites.
Literature Review
Corporate Web Sites as a Self-Presentation and Image-Building Tool
As the use of the Internet has become popular in the business sector over the last few decades, corporate Web sites have been used for a variety of purposes, including corporate/brand advertisement, information dissemination, sales promotion, and direct/indirect selling (Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Hwang, McMillan, & Lee, 2003; Perry & Bodkin, 2000). However, among many functions, scholars agree that corporate Web sites play a significant corporate communication role for self-presentation or image building, and this role outweighs any other functions of corporate Web sites (Connolly-Ahern & Broadway, 2007; Esrock & Leichty, 2000; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; Sullivan, 1999). In this regard, Esrock and Leichty (2000) considered the corporate Web site as “an iconic representation of the corporation” and argued that “it presents the identities that a corporation claims for itself as a unit or corporate entity” (p. 329). Maignan and Ralston (2002) argued that the corporate Web site is an appropriate tool for examining the corporation’s self-representation because, while targeting a variety of publics, the content of the Web sites is not widely regulated by government unlike other corporate documents, such as annual reports. As such, image creation can be achieved by corporations’ having full control over Web content, which can be amplified through rapid dissemination (Sullivan, 1999).
Through the content and organization of corporate Web sites, corporations can also express commitments to various publics either implicitly or explicitly (Esrock & Leichty, 2000). Maignan and Ralston (2002) also found that much corporate Web content referred to “responsibilities and commitment of the company either to society in general, or to specific stakeholder groups” (p. 500), often in the company information page or “About us” page. In fact, “About us (or company information)” and “corporate logo” were the most frequently used components among the Web sites of famed Fortune corporations (Perry & Bodkin, 2000).
One of the key components of the corporate Web site content is corporate information, which includes biographical sketches, history, messages from chief executive officers (CEOs), mission and vision statements, organizational charts, and press releases (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). Particularly, a company’s mission and vision statements on its Web site have been viewed as a method to express that company’s corporate character or personality to its potential employees, stakeholders, suppliers, and interested general publics (Campbell & Tawaday, 1990; Chun & Davies, 2001; Want, 1986). The mission and vision statements, which are typically the most significant portion of the “About us” page, provide a story and give life to a corporation, which may make the corporation more personal to its key publics. Gordon (1998) supported this perspective and asserted that the mission and vision statements on Web sites individualize a company, and leave the general public feeling that the corporate Web site is a place where they are greeted with the core values of the corporation.
Thus, individuals who need information about a company or a product are likely first to approach its Web site (Sullivan, 1999). More importantly, those individuals are influenced in building their mental images of corporations, corresponding to the information from the Web sites (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). Because of corporate Web sites’ significance in the current business environment, they have been analyzed in terms of both content and design (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). However, previous studies tend to be exploratory and descriptive without any strong theoretical underpinnings. Therefore, in analyzing the company information or “About us” pages, this study introduces symbolic convergence theory as a theoretical framework.
Symbolic Convergence Theory
The core concept of SCT is the word “symbol.” This concept was used because the theory is related more closely to semiotics than to theories of social or material meaning. SCT is based on the idea that members in a group must exchange symbols and their underlying meanings or themes interpreted to form a cohesive group (Bormann, 1983a, 1983b). The theory demonstrates the emergence of a common symbolic interpretation or set of interpretations such as emotions, values, and motives, for human interaction among group members, organization members, or rhetorical communities (Bormann, 1983a, 1983b; Bormann et al., 2001). Convergence, another major component of the theory, deals with the dynamic communicative process of sharing group consciousness, represented by symbolic fantasies, as the basis of unifying the members’ symbolic world (Bormann et al., 2001). As shown in Table 1, Cragan and Shields (1995, 1998) identified different analytical elements—basic, structural, and evaluative—that assist the structure and concepts of SCT. The table relies on Coca-Cola as that company had the richest examples.
SCT’s Taxonomies.
Source. Based on Cragan and Shields (1995).
SCT’s basic terms provide guidelines for examining diverse communication phenomena and outputs, and the examination procedure is often called a fantasy theme analysis. This procedure identifies aspects of a message/story that contain hidden meanings or display underlying themes of that message/story. The term fantasy implies that the themes are not substantive, explicit, or denotative in a message. In this regard, in the context of SCT, “fantasy” is not meant to point out something imaginative or glamorized in daily usage, but rather refers to “the creative and imaginative interpretation of events” (Bormann, 1983a, p. 434). Simply put, fantasies are stories that contain emotion, events from a group member’s past, or an event that will happen in the future.
A fantasy may be described in terms of its symbolic cue, fantasy type, and saga, which are unique derivations of fantasy themes (Bormann et al., 2001). The symbolic cue is a shorthand term meant to indicate a formerly shared fantasy theme that raises the collective consciousness of people, often represented as a sign or symbol (Bormann, 1982; Bormann et al., 2001; Cragan & Shields, 1995). A typical example of a symbolic cue is making a V with one’s index and middle fingers, which triggers “memories of victory fantasies” (Bormann et al., 2001). A fantasy type is a fantasy theme reiterated within a particular rhetorical vision or across various rhetorical visions. In Western cultures, “the golden rule,” “a team player,” and “the bottom line” are commonly presented fantasy types (Cragan & Shields, 1995). Hence, the fantasy type is a setting applied to clarify new episodes in a famous dramatic structure. Watergate, for example, describes not only a historic incident but also the ideas of dishonesty and government concealment in a broader sense (Bormann et al., 2001; Cragan & Shields, 1998). Saga is a repetitive story of the accomplishments and events of an individual, group, organization, or larger entities such as a community or a nation (Cragan & Shields, 1995). Cragan and Shields (1992) noted that “the spirit of entrepreneurship,” “the power of the ballot box,” and “work ethic” are some long-established American sagas. Saga usually signifies the symbolic realization of an organization as culture and in so doing may bind together organizational members who take part in various rhetorical visions (Bormann, 1983b; Bormann et al., 2001).
SCT’s structural terms act as a camera lens for envisioning communication (Cragan & Shields, 1995). Thus, these terms are denotative cues of fantasy themes. A rhetorical vision, which is the major dramatic structural term, is a composite performance that gathers up enormous groups of people into an ordinary symbolic reality. SCT researchers selected the name “rhetorical” because imaginative rhetorical communication activates communal fantasies, which in turn create larger symbolic formations. Meanwhile, the term vision constructs the range of other perspectives such as the visions of large paradigms (Bormann et al., 2001). Cases of rhetorical visions in various conditions of growth and decline include the Me Generation (1970s), Reaganomics (1980s), and the New Deal (1930s; Cragan & Shields, 1995).
Bormann (1972) explained that communicators knit fantasy themes into the substructural essentials of a rhetorical vision as characters (dramatis personae), action (plot lines), components of the setting (scene), and the legitimizing person (sanctioning agent). As such, a rhetorical vision encompasses SCT’s dramatic structural terms. The dramatis personae consist of characters portrayed in contexts that bestow life on a rhetorical vision. The particular characters in a rhetorical vision may contain heroic or wicked personae. A plot line offers the action of a rhetorical vision and scene specifies the place of the action (Cragan & Shields, 1995). A sanctioning agent legitimizes the symbolic reality described by a rhetorical vision (Bormann, 1972; Cragan & Shields, 1995), and consequently validates the approval and dissemination of a rhetorical vision.
Cragan and Shields (1995) indicated that three master analogues represent alternative justifications of symbolic reality. The rhetorical visions revealing a righteous master analogue emphasize the right way of doing things with concern for what is proper and improper, just and unjust, right and wrong, and moral and immoral. In addition, visions with a social master analogue underline principal human relations relating to family ties, brotherhood, sisterhood, friendship, companionship, trust, and humanity, whereas visions reflecting a pragmatic master analogue stress simplicity, utility, parsimony, efficiency, practicality, and cost-effectiveness (Cragan & Shields, 1995).
The evaluative terms of SCT offer a guideline for determining whether the depicted procedure happens in the communication phenomena under examination. Thus, these three terms allow assessments of the values and consequences of fantasy sharing among the people of rhetorical collectivities (Bormann et al., 2001). Cragan and Shields (1995) noted that group consciousness shared within a rhetorical community allows for a “fantasy theme to chain out, a saga to exist, a symbolic cue to convey meaning, or a rhetorical vision to evolve” (p. 42), and a rhetorical vision reality link empowers a feasible rhetorical vision to explain evidence of authentic thoughts and accounts of events. In addition, fantasy theme artistry centers on the rhetorical skill necessary for exhibiting scenarios in a striking structure so that members will come to share them (Cragan & Shields, 1995).
Figure 1 shows the processing of SCT and the relationships and comparisons of each of the terms in SCT. First of all, fantasy theme, SCT’s central idea, unites with symbolic cue, fantasy type, and saga. In addition, rhetorical visions presented by repeating and chaining fantasy themes in the communication messages convey with dramatis personae, plot line, scene, and sanctioning agent, and compete with three master analogues such as righteous, social, and pragmatic master analogues. Finally, after the whole processing of SCT, the group consciousness is constitutive of the collectivity’s view of reality.
Symbolic convergence of fantasy themes.
The Applications of Symbolic Convergence Theory
There are two trends in SCT research. One is to analyze symbolic convergent processes or the dynamic route of fantasy sharing among communicators in society (Bormann, 1990; Chesebro, Cragan, & McCullough, 1973) and the other one is to unveil explicit and implicit message themes, which message senders or makers made regardless of receivers’ decoding processes (Bormann, Kroll, Watters, & McFarland, 1984; Cragan & Shields, 1995; Foss & Littlejohn, 1986). In this study, we try to focus not on the symbolic convergent processing but on the disclosure of both denotative and connotative themes in messages because we aim to reveal encoders’ intended themes in “About us” stories of Fortune 500 companies. Although examining the convergence or collective sharing of symbolic realities among people is beyond the scope of this study, analyzing the fantasy themes and rhetorical visions embedded in the Web pages is important because people who are repeatedly exposed to such symbolic reality are likely to shape corresponding perceptions or images of the organization.
In both trends, most studies have entailed qualitative methods (Bormann et al., 2001; Chesebro et al., 1973). However, SCT researchers contended that studies should incorporate a quantitative method as they are extended to diverse research contexts (Bormann et al., 2001; Cragan & Shields, 1981). According to Bormann and colleagues, Professor David Rarick made an attempt to quantify SCT concepts using the Q method in 1972. (Bormann et al., 2001). Such an application made SCT studies powerful and allowed researchers to confine data empirically (Bormann, 1972; Bormann et al., 2001). Although a few studies were conducted using different quantitative methods, such as an experiment and a survey (Bormann et al., 1984; Cragan & Shields, 1995; Foss & Littlejohn, 1986; Rosenfeld & Schrag, 1985; Vasquez, 1994), such trials are still limited in SCT research. Adhering to the calls for one or more scholars to utilize new methodological approaches and develop quantifiable measurements in SCT research, this study proposes a new approach to examining the “About us” stories of Fortune 500 companies. Based on a conceptual understanding of the basic and structural terms of SCT and inductively analyzing online content (“About us” pages), this study suggests operational definitions of the structural sources of fantasy themes and rhetorical visions that can be applied to the quantitative analysis of Fortune 500 companies’ Web sites.
In the context of SCT, specifically, the content of “About us” pages functions as a tool for the public’s interpretation of the dramatis personae, scene, symbolic cue, plot line, and other subdimensions of SCT terms. The controlled image, which is reiterated continuously through the online information provided by companies, creates specific fantasy themes, which in turn constructs a rhetorical vision that creates a shared vision for the organization (Bormann, 1972). As discussed earlier, the rhetorical vision is the main message structure concept of SCT, and it is “a composite drama that catches up large groups of people in a symbolic reality” (Bormann, 1972, p. 398). In corporate settings, fantasy themes are repeated to structure a rhetorical vision that creates a symbolic consciousness among people, that is, when the same set of fantasy themes is used repeatedly across many groups, it creates a new view of the reality regarding an organization. The first set of research questions, thus, asks to identify rhetorical visions, supporting structural terms, and fantasy themes found in the “About us” pages of Fortune 500 corporations as follows:
This study also asks if there are differences in fantasy themes and rhetorical visions in “About us” pages according to the corporations’ business classification. Previous studies showed that how corporate Web sites are maintained to deliver the personality of corporations often depends on the nature of business industry (Chun & Davies, 2001; Perry & Bodkin, 2000). This study identified three business categories (retailer/distributor, manufacturers, and financial/informational/recreational services) guided by industry classifications from the Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB), which is an annual series that provides national and subnational data on the distribution of economic status by enterprise size and industry (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Thus, the initial questions are revisited with special attention to the business categories as follows:
Method
A content analysis of the “About us” pages of Fortune 500 Web sites was conducted to identify the structures of SCT. Links to the 500 Web sites were retrieved from Fortune’s Web site and analyzed in June 2010. The researchers structured the coding scheme based on the literature and preliminary analysis of corporate Web sites. Although previous research—Fombrun, Gardberg, and Server’s (2000) corporate reputation scale, Carroll and McCombs’ (2003) list of corporate attributes, and Carroll’s (1998) four types of corporate citizenship—were used as an initial guide to code the content of “About us” pages, the coding scheme was primarily constructed through the review of a subset of the 500 corporations with dozens of Web site samples in an inductive way. Any conflicts among the coders (the authors and three graduate research assistants) were resolved, and the coding scheme was articulated and finalized through their roundtable discussions. Detailed categories of the analysis are addressed in the following subsection titled “Measurement.”
Unit of Analysis
The unit of analysis was the “About us” page of official corporate Web sites, which mostly included the mission and vision statements, code of ethics, and philosophy of business management. Previous studies (S. Kim, Park, & Wertz, 2010; S. Kim & Rader, 2010) explained that the “About the company” section in a company’s official Web site is an appropriate unit of analysis to examine corporate-level communication efforts, and regarded as applicable to the study of which primary interest is how corporations construct rhetorical visions and fantasy types through their “About us” web pages.
Coding Procedure
Two coders, including the lead researcher, coded the Web sites. Coders were given coding sheets and practiced analyzing the “About us” pages of corporate Web sites outside the Fortune 500 list before coding the actual study material. The Scott’s Pi formula was used to calculate intercoder reliability for nominal data on 50 Web pages (Scott, 1955). The intercoder reliability scores were in an acceptable range between 0.72 (master analogue) and 0.93 (business classification).
Measurement
Business classification
Types of businesses were classified into three different groups according to industry classifications from SUSB. The “retailer/distributor” group acts as middlemen in getting goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumer, generating a profit as a result of providing sales or distribution services. Most consumer-oriented stores and catalogue companies are distributors or retailers (such as Walgreens or Costco Wholesale). “Manufacturers” produce products from raw materials or component parts, which they then sell at a profit (such as Ford Motor or Dover). Companies that make physical goods, such as cars or pipes, are considered manufacturers. “Financial/Informational/Recreational services” include banks and other companies that generate profit through investment and management of capital (financial), or offer intangible goods or services and typically generate a profit by charging for labor or services (such as Citigroup, AT&T, or Microsoft, Disney).
Fantasy type
Fantasy type was coded using four different categories, plus a category labeled “other.” “Superiority” applies to corporate messages that illustrate the superior performance of a corporation from a global scale. Corporations included in this category described themselves as a global leader or as an internationally recognized frontier/leader. “Competent and stable” refers to the financial competence and stability of the corporation. Corporations in this category are likely to highlight the stable source of investment, high economic value of their products and services, well-established economic foundation/infrastructure, and cost-efficient management in their “About us” pages. “Futuristic” applies to the fantasy type that illustrates the corporation’s innovative aspect, aspiring corporate development, guidance, and creative structure. On the other hand, “admirable” applies to the fantasy type that emphasizes that the corporation is trustworthy, credible, socially responsible, and ethical. Each company was coded based on the most prominent fantasy type presented in the “About us” page. All those messages that did not apply to the aforementioned categories were coded as “other.”
Rhetorical vision
The shared rhetorical vision was coded in terms of “economy” versus “responsibility.” The rhetorical vision of economy illustrates that the corporation carries its own weight or fulfills its economic interests so that stakeholders are assured of the continuity of the business. The vision of responsibility consisted of philanthropic corporate management (corporations should be “giving back” to the community or its publics) and ethical and legal corporate management (corporations should engage in ethical responsibility such as preserving the environment and obeying the law and fulfilling their legal responsibilities). On the guidance of Carroll’s (1998) different aspects of corporate citizenship—the economic face, the legal face, the ethical face, and the philanthropic face—“philanthropic,” “ethical,” and “legal” corporate managements were initially coded separately. However, they were later combined because the presentation of these aspects was often mixed in the “About us” pages, which encompassed the social value of corporations’ reliable behaviors, as opposed to profit-driven economic vision. In addition, given that the economy-oriented rhetorical vision was highly dominant, combining ethical, legal, and philanthropic corporate management categories was a reasonable decision for analytic purposes.
Dramatis personae are the characters or models that appear in the message. The CEO is coded as the head of the corporation. Pictures that have the actual employees of the corporation were coded as employee. Pictures that have a “third person” were coded as related public. Mascots, such as Mickey Mouse, were coded as the symbol or mascot of the corporation. All characters or models that did not apply to these categories were coded as “other.”
Plot line is the action or behavior embedded in the rhetorical vision. Actions of employees getting along and being friendly with each other or working like a family were coded as cooperating workers. Actions of satisfied customers and key stakeholders were coded as customer satisfaction. Actions that showed benefiting and improving the wellness of people’s lives were coded as larger social welfare. Competence and superiority were coded when actions showed that the corporation is the leader or the top performer in the industry. Finally, actions illustrating the corporation reaching out to the world and performing on a global scale were coded as globalization. All actions that did not apply were coded as “other.”
Scene is the place or background where the dramatis personae and the plot line takes place. Pictures of the exterior or interior of the actual corporation were coded when the interior/exterior of an actual corporation appeared. Scenic surroundings were coded when scenes showed nature settings such as mountains, ocean, and clouds. Corporate product or logo was coded when the Web page had pictures that showed the product made by the corporation or the symbol, mascot, or logo of the corporation. Person was coded when the scene was taking place through a person.
Sanctioning agent is the justification and the representing agent of the rhetorical vision. Harmonizing agent is the description of the corporation working harmoniously with its employees and social surroundings. Globalizing agent is the description of the corporation being world class and internationally recognized. Social responsibility agent describes the corporation as ethical and giving back to the community. Competence agent describes the corporation as profitable and as a leader in its field. All those descriptions that did not apply were coded as “other.”
Master analogue was operationalized as the second most dominant rhetorical vision, and this is the structural tension between the different “shared visions” of the reality. The coding categories were the same as the rhetorical vision.
Because the focus of this study was to examine how the fantasizers (the Fortune 500 companies) create different fantasy types and structure rhetorical visions through their “About us” Web pages, the evaluative terms of SCT (group consciousness, rhetorical vision reality link, and fantasy theme artistry) were beyond the scope of this study, although future research examining how these Web pages are evaluated is highly encouraged.
Results
The first set of research questions asked about the major rhetorical visions (Research Question 1-1a) and fantasy themes (Research Question 1-2a) and how the SCT structural terms were used to differentiate rhetorical visions (Research Question 1-1b) and fantasy themes (Research Question 1-2b) in the “About us” pages of Fortune 500 companies. The most frequently appearing fantasy type was superiority (49.8%, n = 249), followed by admirable (25.2%, n = 126), competent and stable (18.8%, n = 94), and futuristic (4.2%, n = 31). Approximately 62% of the companies’ “About us” Web pages illustrated the rhetorical vision of economic corporate management (62.4%, n = 312), while 37.6% illustrated the responsibility-centered rhetorical vision (n = 188). In terms of dramatis personae, about half of the companies (50.2%, n = 251) did not have any dramatis personae in the “About us” Web page. When dramatis persona were incorporated, employees appeared most frequently (18.8%, n = 94), followed by related public (13.6%, n = 68), CEOs (7.6%, n = 38), corporate symbols or mascots (7.2%, n = 36), and others, such as corporate products or animals (2.6%, n = 13). The most frequently appearing plot line was the story of a competent and superior corporation (45%, n = 225), followed by customer satisfaction (23.2%, n = 116), globalization (15.8%, n = 79), larger social welfare (10.8%, n = 54), and cooperating workers (3%, n = 15). For the scene, 37.2% (n = 186) did not have a scene, while 19.2% (n = 96) illustrated person(s), followed by the corporation itself (16.6%, n = 83), scenic surroundings (14.6%, n = 73), and the corporate product or logo (12.4%, n = 62). Competence was the most dominant sanctioning agent in the 500 Web pages (52%, n = 260). In addition, corporate social responsibility (23%, n = 115), globalization (12.8%, n = 64), and harmony (11.4%, n = 57) were occasionally found. Finally, more than 45% of the corporations did not have a master analogue (46.8%, n = 234). For the rest, responsibility-focused rhetorical vision (35.8%, n = 179) outnumbered economy-focused rhetoric vision (17.4%, n = 87) as a master analogue.
Cross-tabulations were analyzed to examine whether there were differences in the structural terms of SCT depending on the major fantasy types (Research Question 1-2b). Because this analysis involved the census of Fortune 500 corporations, a statistical test, such as chi-square calculation, was not necessary. The results showed that, first, rhetorical visions were different according to the corporations’ fantasy type. The most frequently appearing rhetorical vision in the superiority fantasy type was economic corporate management (82.7%, n = 206), whereas for the admirable fantasy type, the rhetorical vision of social responsibility (77%, n = 97) was the most prominent. Economy-centered rhetorical vision appeared most frequently for competent and stable fantasy types (66%, n = 62), while futuristic fantasy types utilized both fantasy types in approximately equal proportions (economy centered: 48.4%, n = 15; social responsibility centered: 51.6%, n = 16).
In terms of dramatis personae, all four fantasy types did not involve any type of dramatis personae in the “About us” Web page, for the most part (superiority: 51.4%, n = 128; admirable: 34.1%, n = 43; futuristic: 54.8%, n = 17; competent and stable: 67%, n = 63). Notably, admirable fantasy types (27.8%, n = 35) were more likely to report related publics as the dramatis personae compared with superiority (8.8%, n = 22), futuristic (6.5%, n = 2), and competent and stable fantasy types (9.6%, n = 9).
The most frequently appearing plot line was competence and superiority for superior (58.6%, n = 146), competent and stable (54.3%, n = 51), and futuristic fantasy type (61.3%, n = 19). For the admirable fantasy type, on the other hand, a competence and superiority plot line was rarely found (7.1%, n = 9), but customer satisfaction (60.3%, n = 76) and larger social welfare (25.4%, n = 32) appeared most often.
Scene showed some differences according to the corporations’ fantasy type. The fantasy types of superiority (34.9%, n = 87), admirable (36.5%, n = 46), and competent and stable (51.1%, n = 48) did not have any scene, for the most part. However, one fourth of Web pages with a futuristic fantasy type (25.8%, n = 8) involved the corporate product/logo in the scene.
The most frequently appearing sanctioning agent for superiority (64.7%, n = 161), futuristic (48.4%, n = 15), and competent and stable (63.8%, n = 60) fantasy types was competence, which did not apply to the admirable fantasy type. Instead, for the admirable fantasy type, corporate social responsibility (37.3%, n = 47) outnumbered other sanctioning agents, including competence (19.0%, n = 24), harmony (33.3%, n = 42), and globalization (9.5%, n = 12).
Last, master analogues were mostly absent in superiority (49%, n = 122), futuristic (38.7%, n = 12), and competent and stable fantasy types (62.8%, n = 59). However, economic master analogue was the most frequently appearing master analogue for admirable fantasy types (41.3%, n = 52). Detailed findings are illustrated in Table 2.
Cross-Tabulation of Fantasy Type and the Basic and Structural Terms of SCT.
Note. SCT = symbolic convergence theory.
Another cross-tabulation was run to examine whether the structural terms of SCT would differ according to the rhetorical vision (Research Question 1-1b). Table 3 shows the detailed distribution. For dramatis personae, neither social responsibility-centered (48.4%, n = 91) nor economy-centered (51.3%, n = 160) rhetorical vision had any dramatis personae in the “About us” Web page, for the most part. The plot line showed somewhat different patterns according to the rhetorical vision. The most frequently appearing plot line in the social responsibility rhetorical vision was customer satisfaction (38.3%, n = 72), while competent/superiority was the most prominent plot line for companies with economic rhetorical visions (57.7%, n = 180).
Cross-Tabulation of Rhetorical Vision and the Basic and Structural Terms of SCT.
Note. SCT = symbolic convergence theory.
In terms of the scene and the rhetorical vision, a substantial number of Web pages with economy-centered (37.5%, n = 117) and social responsibility-centered (36.7%, n = 69) rhetorical visions showed no scenes in the same manner. However, those with the rhetorical vision of social responsibility were more likely to involve persons (31.4%, n = 59) than those with the economic rhetorical vision (11.9%, n = 37). In addition, Web pages with the rhetorical vision of social responsibility tended not to use corporate-related scenes (such as corporation itself, product, and logo). For the sanctioning agent, competence (72.4%, n = 226) was highly dominant for the economic rhetorical vision while corporate social responsibility turned out to function most often as a sanctioning agent for the rhetorical vision of social responsibility (49.5%, n = 93).
Finally, in terms of master analogues and rhetorical visions, master analogues were not popular for either responsible (41.5%, n = 78) or economic (50%, n = 156) rhetorical vision. However, economic rhetorical vision (45.8%, n = 143) was more likely than responsible rhetorical vision (39.4%, n = 74) to project economic master analogues, and less likely to reflect responsible master analogues, such as philanthropic and ethical/legal management.
The second set of research questions asked differences in the business classifications (retailer/distributor, manufacturers, and financial/informational/recreational services). Of the 500 corporations examined, 44.4% (n = 222) were financial/informational/recreational services, 29.6% were manufacturers (n = 148), and 26% (n = 130) were retailers or distributors.
Research Question 2-1 asked how the major fantasy themes and rhetorical visions in the “About us” page of Fortune 500 companies differed by business classifications. First, fantasy types were analyzed in relation to business classifications. While the superiority fantasy type appeared most frequently for all business categories—retailers or distributors (46.2%, n = 60), manufacturers (61.5%, n = 91), and financial/informational/recreational services (44.1%, n = 98)—the fantasy type of admirable corporation appeared more frequently for retailers or distributors (26.2%, n = 34) and financial/informational/recreational services (28.8%, n = 64) compared with manufacturers (18.9%, n = 28).
Rhetorical visions also showed remarkable differences according to the business classifications. Manufacturers (78.4%, n = 116) and financial/informational/recreational services (59.9%, n = 133) were reported to demonstrate the rhetorical vision of economic corporate management most frequently. On the other hand, Web pages of retailers or distributors tended to use the rhetorical vision of social responsibility more substantially (51.5%, n = 67).
The next research question asked whether there were differences in the structural terms of SCT related to the business classifications (Research Question 2-2). For dramatis personae, there was no popular type of dramatis personae encompassing all three business classifications. In fact, a vast majority of retailers or distributors (53.1%, n = 69), manufacturers (42.6%, n = 63), and financial/informational/recreational services (53.6%, n = 119) did not involve any specific dramatis personae. However, manufacturers (28.4%, n = 42) were more likely than retailers or distributors (12.3%, n = 16) and financial/informational/recreational services (16.2%, n = 36) to utilize employees as the dramatis personae in “About us” Web pages.
The most frequently occurring plot line for all three of the business classifications of retailer/distributor (46.2%, n = 60), manufacturer (43.9%, n = 65), and financial/informational/recreational services (45%, n = 100) was competence and superiority. However, retailers or distributors (21.5%, n = 28) and financial/informational/recreational services (28.8%, n = 64) were more likely than manufacturers (16.2%, n = 24) to project the customer satisfaction plot line.
The scene also differed according to the business types. The use of scenes was not general; no scene was found for 32.4% of manufacturers’ Web pages (n = 48) and 45.5% of financial/informational/recreational service category Web pages (n = 101). Only for the retailer/distributor Web pages involved a person as a scene (29.2%, n = 38), and this ratio was slightly higher than the proportion of Web pages with no depicted scene (28.5%, n = 37).
Sanctioning agents were also different depending on the business classification. Specifically, the most frequently appearing sanctioning agent for retailers or distributors was corporate social responsibility (46.9%, n = 61), whereas competence appeared most frequently for both manufacturers (61.5%, n = 91) and financial and informational/recreational service businesses (56.3%, n = 125). Harmony and globalization were also commonly found across the three business classifications.
Last, the majority of retailers’ and distributors’ “About us” pages did not present any master analogues (57.7%, n = 75), and about a half of the corporations in the financial/informational/recreational services category did not show any master analogue (47.7%, n = 106). However, for manufacturers, the rhetorical vision of social responsibility appeared most frequently (45.9%, n = 68). Detailed findings are provided in Table 4.
Cross-Tabulation of Business Classification and Basic and Structural Terms of SCT.
Note. SCT = symbolic convergence theory.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to identify fantasy themes and rhetorical visions used in the “About us” Web pages of Fortune 500 companies. Through the process of deconstructing the major fantasy themes and rhetorical visions in these corporate Web pages, the researchers identified how world-leading corporations structure their corporate images through their web sites. Differences in business categories led to distinct foci of fantasy themes and rhetorical visions in the Web pages.
In the context of the basic terms of SCT, superiority was the most frequently appearing fantasy type, followed by admirable, competent and stable, and futuristic. Considering the fact that Fortune’s criteria for choosing top 500 corporations are based on their economic revenues, it is logical that the most popular fantasy type emphasizes their financial stability and superior economic performances. For the structural terms, the story of a superior corporation was rationalized through the sanctioning agent of competence, without any specific dramatis personae. Such findings indicate that corporations, specifically powerhouse companies with high financial performances such as those of Fortune 500 companies, still build the rhetoric of corporate ability and economic superiority most frequently rather than emphasizing corporate social responsibility activities. This finding is somewhat corresponding to Connolly-Ahern and Broadway’s (2007) highlight that competence was the most frequently used impression management strategy in Fortune 500 companies’ Web sites. In addition, the absence of dramatis personae with no specific scenes suggests that corporations can benefit from utilizing such structural tools involving SCT as dramatis personae, plot line, scene, and sanctioning agent to build a more consistent and stronger rhetorical vision. For example, the company information section for the Walgreens Web site is greeted by a group of smiling employees all dressed in the blue Walgreens uniform. By strategically using satisfied employees as the dramatis personae, the corporation promoted the fantasy type of an admirable corporation, and this in turn created the rhetorical vision of social responsibility.
It is meaningful to note that different fantasy types illustrated differences in the structural terms of SCT. First, the most frequently appearing rhetorical vision in the superiority fantasy type was economic corporate management, while for the admirable fantasy type, social responsibility appeared the most frequently. From an inductive perspective, it is logical that corporations that promote the fantasy type of being a superior company attempt to build the rhetorical vision of being an economic, profitable corporation. Such fantasy types were demonstrated through plot lines that illustrated competence and superiority, as well as globalization of the company, and supported through the competence sanctioning agent. By the same token, corporations that emphasize their admirable characteristics were more likely to structure a rhetorical vision that they manage the corporation philanthropically, ethically, and legally, supported by plot lines that demonstrated customer satisfaction and the sanctioning agent that illustrated corporate social responsibility as the core value. As such, basic and structural terms of SCT are closely interrelated. Particularly, each structural component creates a larger fantasy theme and communal fantasy (or rhetorical vision). Thus, the congruency among the terms is believed to be reinforcement of a specific fantasy theme and rhetorical vision, rather than a worthless repetition. However, the existence of a certain fantasy theme (such as superiority) does not always go hand in hand with a specific plot line (such as competence sanctioning agent). In fact, for some corporations, such as Intel, the Web site clearly emphasized the innovative leadership position of the corporation in the field of semiconductors, while at the same time it created a rhetorical vision of a socially responsible and admirable corporation by stressing that the corporation not only adheres to the essential business ethics and governance practices of an admirable corporation, but is also actively involved in Going Green and practicing community outreach.
The findings from the dramatis personae in the fantasy types also reveal interesting patterns. While characters were mainly absent among all four fantasy types, the superiority fantasy type and futuristic fantasy type portrayed CEOs as the second most frequent dramatis personae. On the other hand, admirable fantasy portrayed related publics as models in their Web pages.
In addition, the master analogue, which is the alternative justification of symbolic reality, revealed to be opposing the symbolic reality of the dominant rhetorical vision. Specifically, it is noteworthy that half of the superiority fantasy types did not have a master analogue, while the admirable fantasy type had economic corporate management as the master analogue. Such findings can be examined by Carroll’s (1979) assessments of core business values. According to Carroll, the core value and responsibility of a corporation is to create economic values and produce desirable goods and sustainable resources. However, with the public closely watching how companies practice business within society and with the public’s increased attentiveness to ethical business practices, corporations are pressured not only to conduct sound economic practices but also to have legal, ethical, and philanthropic discretionary responsibilities (Maignan & Ferrell, 2001). Case in point, Du, Bhattacharya, and Sen (2010) explained that Target donated 5% of its income to support education programs that promote access to arts and community safety, and General Electric (GE) also invested substantial amounts of money to improve health care technology to improve patients’ lives. Both actions were widely appreciated by the public: GE and Target were hailed as two of the most ethical corporations in America in terms of business practices (Cruz, 2012). In this sense, corporations that illustrate the fantasy of superiority may not feel the need to propose a competing master analogue as it already fulfils the core value of businesses, whereas corporations that present the admirable fantasy type feel the added need to demonstrate that the corporation is also meeting the core value of businesses, all the while striving to meet the discretionary responsibilities of being a good corporate citizen.
Previous studies showed that corporate Web sites are a means of presenting diverse aspects of their social responsibilities, including economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic, and environmental ones (Capriotti & Moreno, 2007; D. Kim, Nam, & Kang, 2010). Corresponding to these studies, this study showed that the rhetorical visions of Fortune 500 Web sites centered on either economic practice or legal/ethical/philanthropic practices of business. This finding corresponds to the fact from Overbeeke and Snizek’s (2005) study that all the 12 analyzed multinational corporations portrayed themselves as “being aware and responsible corporate citizens” (p. 354) through a means of visuals and texts in their Web sites. Interestingly, probably because of such nature of corporate Web sites, a previous study showed that customers’ experiences with corporate Web sites led them to consider the corporations as being socially responsible, which in turn encouraged them to involve positive word-of-mouth communication about the corporations (Hong & Rim, 2010). Although neither type tended to involve any specific dramatis personae, the latter had related publics as the second most frequent dramatis personae while economic rhetorical vision had employees as the second most frequent dramatis personae. The plot line mostly displayed customer satisfaction as the core story for the rhetorical vision of social responsibility, but the economic rhetorical vision presented competent and superiority as the plot line. The scene was mainly absent while the corporate social responsibility sanctioning agent legitimized the rhetorical vision of social responsibility of the corporation. In contrast, the rhetorical vision of economic corporate management structured its symbolic reality by telling the story of being a competent and superior company through its plot line and sanctioning agent. For example, organizations such as Morgan Stanley emphasized that they are the preeminent financial advisors, and Wells Fargo also emphasized that they are a corporation that is aiming for greatness. In this regard, structural tools, such as dramatis personae, plot line, scene, and sanctioning agent, not only serve as technical elements of corporate Web sites but also contribute to reinforce the rhetorical vision of the corporation.
The differences between the fantasy types and the rhetorical visions among business classifications show that corporations attempt to create fantasy types that best represent their core characteristics of business. For example, manufacturers were most likely to build the fantasy type of being superior and to create the rhetorical vision of strong, economic-minded corporate management. They did so mainly without any dramatis personae, with the plot line of competence and superiority and the sanctioning agent of superiority. Meanwhile, retailers or distributors were more likely than manufacturers to create the rhetorical vision of being socially responsible through the fantasy type of an admirable corporation. This finding was presented through the plot line of customer satisfaction, using persons as the scene and corporate social responsibility as the sanctioning agent. For example, corporations such as Johnson & Johnson or CVS stressed their community giving and actions to improve the quality of human life, while manufacturing corporations such as Ford or Exxon Mobil emphasized their world-leader status. More direct contact with customers seemed to lead retailers and distributors to represent their social rather than economic aspects. As such, world-leading corporations, such as Fortune 500 companies, appear to strategically use their online space to better express their identity through SCT-related structural tools, rhetorical vision, and fantasy theme, depending on the nature of their business. Thus, the findings guide corporate management to tailor the construction of rhetorical visions and fantasy types according to the corporations’ business category to create a congruent image in the public’s mind. Such practices may allow the corporation to be more salient and reputable among publics, and allow continuous engagement with the public.
SCT also has theoretical implications for scholars in business management and/or corporate communication. The process of forming a fantasy theme and constructing a rhetorical community calls for two-way symmetrical communication between the public and the organization. Beyond such organizational communications, an important aspect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is to emphasize the organization’s legitimacy as a function of its contributions to society through philanthropic giving and ethical practices (Maignan & Ferrell, 2001). In this sense, the SCT analysis will help practitioners understand what types of fantasies and symbolic realities the public is constructing based on CSR messages provided by organizations. This understanding will help both practitioners and scholars to understand what constitutes organizational reputation and corporate identity, and aid them strategically to manage emerging issues and practice effective two-way symmetrical communication.
Applying SCT to business sectors can also complement literature in corporate image creation. For example, Burke (1973) insisted that people impose attitudes toward a substance by naming it in a certain way. In that regard, Burke (1973) explained rhetoric as “the dancing of an attitude” (p. 9), and Borchers (2006) also noted that these attitudes imply our position toward the substance and advise how others should view the substance. Eventually, rhetoric, seen as the hopeful attempt to identify with relevant publics, is a moralizing strength for social constructions of realities. Relying on the SCT framework, therefore, it is feasible that corporate management may determine the ways in which they share corporate values with the public.
In addition, scholars can agree that rhetorical endeavors toward various socially shared messages such as Web content have valuable interpretations. From the image construction perspective, because image construction is a social process of adapting and responding to the feedback of stakeholders, corporations must establish their legitimacy with key stakeholders (Gilpin, 2010; King & Whetten, 2008). In this sense, rhetorical vision, which is the shared reality for members of the community constructed through repeated fantasy types, serves as a legitimate image that transcends across key stakeholders. From the methodological standpoint, this study extended the scholarly body of both business management and SCT literature. This study is a pioneer work that incorporated SCT in the analysis of corporate Web pages, and SCT successfully guided the comprehensive analysis of organizational self-presentation via corporate Web sites. This study also contributed to the research inquiry into SCT by providing a framework that allows quantitative synthesizing beyond manifest content. The SCT-based coding procedure allowed researchers to explore further from the denotative content of SCT structural terms to a more connotative meaning of the corporate Web messages, and helped researchers better tap the underlying symbolic reality intended by the corporations. Such an approach, like Babbie (2007) suggested, overcame the limitation of quantitative analysis and maximized its benefits. By doing so, the study tackled the criticism that SCT is not a general theory as it fails to demonstrate a case geared toward mass publics. This study included 500 leading companies’ Web sites in the analysis and pursued empirical validity. In addition, this study showed that SCT has a capability as a theoretical and analytic framework for exploring diverse latent contents of corporate messages. Further studies that analyze a variety of corporate messages, such as corporate advertising and CSR reports, are expected in this line of inquiry based on SCT.
Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
While this study attempted to build the case for a quantitative content analysis of corporate Web sites, limitations should be discussed. First of all, the unit of analysis of this study was the “About us” page on corporate Web sites. While the “About us” page allows corporations to articulate themselves while providing control over the presented contents, there may be contextual considerations such as other pages on a Web site and search engine optimization (SEO) practices that influence the content on the “About us” page. Therefore, future research should examine other artifacts of corporations, such as annual reports, or examine other parts of the corporation’s Web site such as the “Corporate history” page.
Future research should also examine whether corporation size or the geographic base (Europe vs. North America vs. Asia) and geographic scope of business practice (domestic vs. global operations) influence how corporations construct rhetorical visions and fantasy types. With the majority of Fortune 500 corporations being global, and more corporations attempting to expand the boundaries of their business practice, a comparison based on the amount of corporate resources and scope of business may shed more light on how effectively corporations can construct symbolic realities in online environments.
In addition, by focusing on Web content, this study examined the symbolic reality from the provider’s viewpoint. The actual convergence of symbolic meanings among people in the rhetoric community was not investigated, although the present study assumed that the symbolic reality created by corporations is gradually shared by the community, and the reiterated processes lead to a convergence of symbolic meanings between a corporation and its publics. To understand comprehensively the interactive process, the application of other research methods appropriate for identifying meaning creation in a group of people (such as a focus group interview) is desirable.
Footnotes
The article was accepted during the editorship of Duane Windsor.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.