The role of corporate social responsibility in online identity construction: an analysis of Turkey's banking sector

PublicRelationsReview40(2014)862–864

ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect

Public

Relations

Review

Research

in

Brief

The

role

of

corporate

social

responsibility

in

online

identity

construction:

An

analysis

of

Turkey’s

banking

sector

Sirin

Atakan-Duman

_,

_Emel

_Ozdora-Aksak

a_{TurgutOzalUniversity,FacultyofEconomicsandAdministrativeSciences,DepartmentofBusinessAdministration,Turkey} b_{BilkentUniversity,FacultyofFineArts,DesignandArchitecture,DepartmentofCommunicationandDesign,Turkey}

a

r

t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Received24November2013 Receivedinrevisedform8July2014 Accepted21July2014

Keywords:

Corporatesocialresponsibility Publicrelations

Institutionaltheory Organizationalidentity Turkey’sbankingsector

a

b

s

t

r

a

c

t

ThisstudyfocusesonTurkey’sbankingsectorandinvestigatestheroleofpublic

rela-tionsandcorporatesocialresponsibilitypracticesinconstructingorganizationalidentities

throughathematiccontentanalysisofbanks’corporatewebsites.Basedonsocialidentity

theory,theresearchrevealsthatregardlessofitscorebusinessfunction,anorganization

mustcommunicatenon-economicsocialconcernstoconstructapublicidentityandgain

legitimacy.

©2014ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved.

1. Introduction

Thisstudyaimstodeterminehoworganizationsdefinethemselvesandcommunicatetheirdistinctivecharacteristics tocreateapositiveidentitythroughtheirwebsites.Thisresearchalsofocusesonunderstandingtheinfluenceofcorporate socialresponsibility(CSR)activitiesonorganizationalidentityconstruction.Theresearchersinvestigatedthepublicrelations andCSReffortsofTurkey’slargestpublicandprivatebanks(with‘largest’identifiedasbankswithmorethan300branches); eightbanksmetthiscriterion.Basedoninstitutionaltheory,thisstudyestablishesalinkagebetweenorganizationalidentity andCSR,whichhasnotbeenexploredindetailintheliterature.Inaddition,thestudypresentsCSRdatafromTurkey’s bankingsector,atopicwhichhasnotbeenaddressedthoroughly.

2. Theoreticalframework

Apartfrombuildingandnurturingmutuallybeneficialrelationshipsbetweenanorganizationanditspublics(Bruning& Ledingham,2000;Ledingham,2006;Ki&Hon,2007),publicrelationsisalsoinstrumentalinprojectingadesirable organi-zationalidentitytoexternalstakeholders(Bromley,1993;Dowling,1994;Dutton&Dukerich,1991;VanRiel,1995).Social identitytheory,rootedinTajfel,1974earlystudies,definesorganizationalidentityas‘whattheorganizationis(Balmer, 1995;Hatch&Schultz2002;VanRekom1997;VanRiel,1995).Whenorganizationsconstructtheiridentities,theyadaptto theirenvironmentsthroughisomorphismmechanismsandconformtoenvironmentalnormstoincreasetheirchancesof survivalandsuccess.Therefore,organizationsshouldadapttotherulesandrequirementsoftheenvironmentnotonlyfor efficiencyreasons,butalsotoincreasetheirabilitytoattainresourcesandgainlegitimacy(Kondra&Hinings,1998).

∗ Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+905322449459.

E-mailaddresses:sduman@turgutozal.edu.tr,sirinatakan@yahoo.com(S.Atakan-Duman),emel.ozdora@bilkent.edu.tr(E.Ozdora-Aksak). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.07.004

S.Atakan-Duman,E.Ozdora-Aksak/PublicRelationsReview40(2014)862–864 863 Gaininglegitimacyhasalsobecomecriticalforcompanies’survivalandsuccess.Corporatesocialresponsibilityisnow partofcompanies’non-economicagendas,withmoral,ethical,andsocialimplicationsthatpromotemutuallybeneficial relationshipsbetweenanorganizationanditsexistingandpotentialpublics.CommunicatingCSRinitiativesshouldfocuson establishingalinkagebetweenanorganization’sidentityanditsCSRpractices.TheauthorsarguethatbecausetheInternetis increasinglybecominganindispensablepublicrelationstool,thismediumisalsoanimportanttoolforCSRcommunication. Infact,theInternetcreatesmanyopportunitiesforTurkey’spopulation.Turkeyhasthefifth-mostengagedInternet audienceintheworld(Comscore,2011).AsofJune2012,45.7%oftheTurkishpopulationcanaccesstheInternet,which equalsapproximately36.5millionpeople,makingTurkeythe15th-biggestglobalInternetuser(InternetWorldStats,2012). PublicrelationseffortsinTurkeyarealsobeenincreasinglygoingonline.AlikilicandAtabek(2012)examinePRprofessionals’ InternetuseinTurkeyandfindthattheyseeonlinecommunicationasanewopportunityforpracticingpublicrelations.

3. Methodology

ThisstudyaimstounderstandtheroleofpublicrelationsandCSRasafactorincorporateidentityconstruction.The languageusedonthewebsitesofTurkey’seightlargestbankstocommunicatetheirorganizationalidentitiesisthemain focusofthestudy.However,toexecutetheconceptualanalysiswithamanageableamountofdata,thestudydoesnotinclude foreign-ownedbanksestablishedinTurkey,foreign-ownedbankswithbranchesinTurkey,privatelyownedcommercial andinvestmentbanks,Islamicbanks,ordevelopmentbanks.Thestudydoesincludestate-ownedmutualsavingsbanks (ZiraatBank,HalkBank,andVakıfBank)andprivatelyownedmutualsavingsbanks(Akbank,TurkEkonomiBank,Garanti Bank, ˙Is¸Bank,andYapıKrediBank)(TBB,2013).

TheresearchersextractedthetextualdataforthisstudyfromtheAboutus,History,MissionandVision,andCorporate SocialResponsibilitysectionsontheofficialwebsitesofeachbankinJuly2013.Throughpre-readingsanddetailedreadings, contentanalysiswasexecutedonthetextualdatatoattainadeeperunderstandingofitandhelpdeterminethemaintopics. Textblocksthatfocusedoncertainissueswereidentifiedandcodedasthemes.Thesethemeswerethencategorizedunder comprehensiveheadings,whichallowedtheresearcherstodevelopthemecategories.Theresearchersnextcomparedthe themesandthemecategoriestodeterminetheuniquepositioningofeachbank,whichqualitiesitemphasizes,andits relativeemphasisonCSR.

4. Findings

Theresultsofthestudy’sin-depthconceptualanalysisrevealthateachbankutilizesadifferentsetofthemestoidentify itselfandthatitcontinuouslycommunicatesitsidentitythroughthosedistinctivewordgroups.Thethemesutilizedbyeach bankweregroupedintotwocontentcategories:generalandcorporatesocialresponsibility.Thegeneralcontentcategory onlyincludestextfromhomepages,AboutUssectionsandotherrelatedgeneralcontentpagesofthebanks’websites.The corporatesocialresponsibilitycontentonlycoverstextpublishedunderthatheading.

Theresearchersbelievethatthethemecategoriesthemselvescanbegroupedintotwomainareas:economicoutputs andnon-economicoutputs.Economicoutputsincludethethemecategoriesofsuperiority(e.g.strong,leader,first)and corebankingfunctions(e.g.productivity,profitability,customerorientation),whilenon-economicoutputsincludeextensive impactanddevelopment(e.g.sustainability,growth,partnership),futureorientation(e.g.change,innovation),andbeingethical (e.g.CSR,fairness,openness).Theresultsshowthatalmostalleightbanksconcentrateonextensiveimpactanddevelopment andcorebankingfunctions;threeemphasizesuperiorityandanotherthreeemphasizebeingethical.Theremainingtwobanks didnothaveadistinctidentityemphasis.

5. CSRasadistinctidentityfactor

Thetwomostcommonthemesemphasizedbyalmostallthebankswerecorporatesocialresponsibilityandsustainability. Theseresultsarestrikingbecausetheymeanthatbanksdonotconstructtheiridentitiesbasedoncorebankingfunctions,i.e. economicoutputs,butinsteadonextensiveimpactanddevelopmentandbeingethical,whicharenon-economicoutputs.More specifically,allbanksstudiedutilizeCSRasadistinctiveidentityfactor,exceptforTurkEconomi.Similarly,sustainabilityis utilizedbyallbanksexceptTurkEconomiandHalk.Themostcommonlyemphasizedeconomicoutputiscustomerorientation, whichisemphasizedbyallbanksexceptforYapıKrediand ˙Is¸.ThesefindingsindicatethatTurkey’seightlargestbanksprefer tohighlightnon-economicoutputswhencommunicatingtheiridentitiestotheirstakeholders.Amongthesenon-economic outputs,CSRplaysanimportantroleinidentityconstruction.

6. Analysisandconclusion

Asinstitutionaltheorysuggests,compliancewithintheenvironmentisvitalfororganizationalsurvivaland competitive-ness.Thispressuretoconformisrootednotonlyinefficiencyconcerns,butalsointheneedtogainlegitimacy(Kondra& Hinnings,1998).Althoughbanksexistontheircorebankingfunctions,whicharesolelyeconomic,theystrivetoconstruct theiridentitiesonnon-economicconcernssoastobeperceivedastrustworthycorporatecitizensthatexistforsociety’s

864 S.Atakan-Duman,E.Ozdora-Aksak/PublicRelationsReview40(2014)862–864

benefit,ratherthanbeingperceivedasrevenue-maximizingentitiesfortheirshareholders.Thisresearchrevealsthat regard-lessofitscorebusinessfunction,anorganizationmustcommunicatenon-economicsocialconcernstoconstructapositive identityaswellastogainandsustainlegitimacy.

AsFombrunandShanley(1990)argue,thepubliccaresaboutorganizations’non-economicagendas.Infact, communicat-ingsuchagendas,especiallyCSR-relatedactivities,hasbecomeacriticalpublicrelationsinstrumentforgaininglegitimacy andacompetitiveadvantage.OrganizationsincreasinglyintegrateCSRintotheirpublicrelationsagendasandemphasizeit asthecorefocusoftheircommunicationefforts.

Utilizinginstitutionaltheory,thisstudycontributestotheliteraturebyrevealingthesignificanceofCSRfororganizations’ publicrelationseffortsandidentityconstruction.Thescopeofthisresearchallowedtheauthorstoidentifythevarietyof themesbanksusetoconstructandcommunicatetheiridentities.Thesefindingsprovideageneralunderstandingofthe topic,butdonotallowforinvestigatingthedifferentthemesindetail.Concentratingonaspecificthemeandconductinga quantitativeanalysiswithalargersamplewilllikelyenablemakinggeneralizationsanddevelopingadeeperunderstanding ofhowCSRrelatestopublicrelationsandidentityconstruction.ThisstudyfocusedonlyonTurkishbanks;theanalysiscould bebroadenedtoacross-culturalexaminationtodeterminewhetherCSRpracticestranscendculturalboundaries.

Acknowledgment

ThisworkhasbeenfundedbyTheScientificandTechnologicalResearchCouncilofTurkey(TUBITAK),grantno.114K096.

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