CEOs of dual marketers organizations: Communication and reputation management issues

Titolo Rivista MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ
Autori/Curatori Francesca Conte, Agostino Vollero
Anno di pubblicazione 2018 Fascicolo 2018/3
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 19 P. 21-39 Dimensione file 129 KB
DOI 10.3280/MC2018-003003
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

The paper aims at analyzing how Chief Executive Officers of dual marketers organizations are engaged in corporate communication and reputation management activities. The analysis of the literature enables to define the research questions and an exploratory survey was carried out, involving 82 CEOs from large companies located in Italy, included in the Report of Mediobanca. Results show that CEOs play a strategic role in corporate communication. Particularly, CEOs are strongly engaged in institutional and internal communication, even if they are still reluctant in the use of personal social media. Findings also highlight CEOs are strongly committed in corporate reputation management, above all in activities related to leadership, workplace and performance. The paper is the first of its kind in the Italian context. It sheds light on CEO communication dynamics and contributes to the debate on CEO role in reputation management of dual marketers organizations.

Keywords:Dual marketing, CEO communication, social media, corporate reputation

  1. Argenti P.A, Howell R.A., Beck K.A. (2005). The strategic communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(3): 83-89.
  2. Argenti P.A., Druckenmiller B. (2004). Reputation and the corporate brand. Corporate reputation review, 6(4): 368-374. Babbie E.R. (2012). The basics of social research, 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth publishing company.
  3. Bates S. (2011). Discover your CEO brand: secrets to embracing and maximizing your unique value as a leader. New York: McGraw Hill Professional.
  4. Biemans W. (1998). Marketing in the twilight zone. Business Horizons, 41(6): 69-76.
  5. Biemans W. (2001). Designing a Dual Marketing Program. European Management Journal, 19(6): 670-677.
  6. Blake, R.R., Mouton, J.S. (1968), The Managerial Grid; Key Orientations for Achieving Production through People, Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX.
  7. Brennan R., Croft R. (2012). The use of social media in B2B marketing and branding: An exploratory study. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 11(2): 101-115.
  8. Brønn P.S. (2014). How others see us: Leaders’ Perceptions of Communication and Communication Managers. Journal of Communication Management, 18(1): 58-79.
  9. Bryman A. (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  10. Carpenter M.A., Geletkanycz M.A., Sanders W.G. (2004). Upper echelons research revisited: Antecedents, elements, and consequences of top management team composition. Journal of management, 30(6): 749-778.
  11. Carter S.M., Greer C.R. (2013). Strategic leadership: Values, styles, and organizational performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(4): 375-393.
  12. CEO.com, DOMO (2016). “Social CEO report”, -- available at https://www.ceo.com/social-ceo-report-2016-report/ (accessed 12 June 2017).
  13. Chung C., Chatterjee S.C., Sengupta S. (2012). Manufacturers’ reliance on channel intermediaries: Value drivers in the presence of a direct web channel. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(1): 40-53.
  14. Conte F., Siano A., Vollero A. (2017). CEO communication: engagement, longevity and founder centrality: An exploratory study in Italy. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 22(3): 273-291.
  15. Cornelissen J. (2011). Corporate Communications: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. London: Sage Publications.
  16. Dijkmans C., Kerkhof P., Beukeboom C.J. (2015). A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47: 58-67.
  17. Donaldson B. (1996). Industrial marketing relationships and open-to-tender contracts cooperation or competition?. Journal of Marketing Practice, 2(2): 23-31.
  18. Duncan T. (1995). The concept and process of integrated marketing communication. IMC Research Journal, 1(1): 3-10.
  19. Dutta S. (2010). What’s your personal social media strategy?. Harvard Business Review, 88(11): 127-130.
  20. Economist Intelligence Unit (2005). Reputation: Risk of risks. Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Risk Briefing, 4, December, pp. 1-23.
  21. Esteves J., Bohorquez V. (2008). Analyzing the Topics Discussed in CEO Blogs: A Content Analysis Approach. In: Information Management and Evaluation proceedings of the 2nd European Conference in Royal Holloway, University of London, Academic Conferences Limited, London, pp. 149-158.
  22. Fairhurst G.T., Connaughton S.L. (2014). Leadership: A communicative perspective. Leadership, 10(1): 7-35.
  23. Finkelstein S., Hambrick D.C. (1996). Strategic Leadership: Top Executives and Their Effects on Organizations. Minneapolis/St. Paul: West Publishing Company.
  24. Fombrun C.J., Van Riel C.B. (2004). Fame & fortune: How successful companies build winning reputations. London: FT Press. Gaines-Ross L. (2008). Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
  25. Graffin S.D., Pfarrer M.D., & Hill M.W. (2012). Untangling executive reputation and corporate reputation: Who made who. In: The Oxford handbook of corporate reputation, pp. 221-239.
  26. Gray E.R., Balmer J.M. (1998). Managing corporate image and corporate reputation. Long range planning, 31(5): 695-702.
  27. Hambrick D.C. (2007). Upper Echelons Theory: An update. Academy of Management Review, 32(2): 2-10.
  28. Hutt M.D., Speh T.W. (2001). Business Marketing Management: A Strategic View of Industrial and Organizational Markets. Fort Worth: The Dryden Press.
  29. Jian G., Shi X., Dalisay F. (2014). Leader-Member Conversational Quality Scale Development and Validation Through Three Studies. Management Communication Quarterly, 28(3): 375-403.
  30. Kaplan A.M., Haenlein M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1): 59-68.
  31. Kitchen P.J., Laurence A. (2003). Corporate reputation: An eight-country analysis. Corporate Reputation Review, 6(2): 103-117.
  32. Kitchen P.J., Schultz D.E. (2003). Integrated corporate and product brand communication. Advances in Competitiveness Research, 11(1): 66-86.
  33. Kitchen P.J., Siano A., Confetto M.G., Palazzo M. (2009). Working toward Dual Marketing Communications. Conference proceedings, 14th International Conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications, April 23-24, Cyprus.
  34. Leonardi P.M., Huysman M., Steinfield C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition, history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of Computer_Mediated Communication, 19(1): 1-19.
  35. Newell F. (2000). Loyalty.com. Customer Relationship Management in the New Era of Internet Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  36. Payne A., Holt S. (2001). Diagnosing customer value: integrating the value process and relationship marketing. British Journal of Management, 12: 159-182.
  37. Pincus J.D., Robert A.P., Rayfield A.P., DeBonis J.P. (1991). Transforming CEOs into Chief Communication Officers. Public Relations Journal, 47(11): 22-27.
  38. Quelch J.A. (1987). Why not exploit dual marketing?. Business Horizons, 30(1): 52-60.
  39. Reputation Institute (2015). Global RepTrak 100. The World’s Most Reputable Companies, February 28, -- available at: http://www.ideeideas.it/press/global_reptrak_2017.pdf (accessed 5 June 2017).
  40. Rialti R., Zollo L., Caliandro A., Ciappei C. (2016). Social media strategies to protect brand image and corporate reputation in the digital era: a digital investigation of the Eni vs. Report case. Mercati & Competitività, 4: 65-84.
  41. Roberts P.W., Dowling G.R. (2002). Corporate reputation and sustained superior financial performance. Strategic management journal, 23(12): 1077-1093.
  42. Sa Vinhas A., Chatterjee S., Dutta S., Fein A., Lajos J., Neslin S.A., Scheer L., Ross W.T., Wang Q. (2010). Channel design, coordination and performance: Future research directions. Marketing Letters, 21(3): 223-237.
  43. Sarantakos S. (2005). Social Research, 3rd ed.. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
  44. Shockley-Zalabak P. (2011). Fundamentals of organizational communication. Toronto: Pearson Education. Simsek Z. (2007). CEO tenure and organizational performance: An intervening model. Strategic Management Journal, 28(6): 653-662.
  45. Smircich L., Morgan G. (1982). Leadership: The management of meaning. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 18: 257-273.
  46. Solomon B.D. (1985). An alternative to new product development – business products for consumer markets. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2(1): 56-60.
  47. van der Jagt R. (2005). Senior business executives see communication and reputation as a crucial part of their leadership role. Corporate Reputation Review, 8(3): 179-186.
  48. Vera D., Crossan M. (2004). Strategic leadership and organizational learning. Academy of management review, 29(2): 222-240.
  49. Vernuccio M., Vescovi T. (2016). Branding in the digital era. Mercati & Competitività, 4: 15-22.
  50. Waldman D.A., Siegel D.S., Javidan M. (2006). Components of CEO Transformational Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Management Studies, 43(8): 1703-1725.
  51. Wang H., Tsui A.S., Xin K.R. (2011). CEO leadership behaviors, organizational performance, and employees’ attitudes. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(1): 92-105.
  52. Webb K.L. (2002). Managing channels of distribution in the age of electronic commerce. Industrial Marketing Management, 31(2): 95-102.
  53. Weber Shandwick (2013). 2013 CEO.com Social CEO Report. New York, NY, -- available at: https://web-assets.domo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2013-Social-CEO-Report-Final.pdf (accessed 1 June 2017).
  54. Weber Shandwick (2014). Socializing Your CEO III: From Marginal to Mainstream. New York, NY, -- available at: http://www.webershandwick.com/uploads/news/files/socializing-your-ceo-iii-exec- summary.pdf (accessed 10 June 2017).
  55. Westley F., Mintzberg H. (1989). Visionary leadership and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 10(1): 17-32.
  56. Williams L., Cothrell J. (2000). Four smart ways to run online communities. Sloan Management Review, 41(4): 81-91.
  57. Yucel I., McMillan A., Richard O.C. (2014). Does CEO transformational leadership influence top executive normative commitment?. Journal of Business Research, 67(6): 1170-1177.
  58. Zerfass A., Huck S. (2007). Innovation, Communication, and Leadership: New Developments in Strategic Communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 1: 107-122.
  59. Zerfass A., Schwalbach J., Bentele G., Sherzada M. (2014). Corporate Communications from the Top and from the Center: Comparing Experiences and Expectations of CEOs and Communicators. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 8(2): 61-78.
  60. Zerfass A., Sherzada M. (2015). Corporate communications from the CEO’s perspective: How top executives conceptualize and value strategic communication. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(3): 291-309.
  61. Zerfass A., Verˇciˇc D., Wiesenberg M. (2016). Managing CEO communication and positioning: A cross-national study among corporate communication leaders. Journal of Communication Management, 20(1): 37-55.

Francesca Conte, Agostino Vollero, CEOs of dual marketers organizations: Communication and reputation management issues in "MERCATI & COMPETITIVITÀ" 3/2018, pp 21-39, DOI: 10.3280/MC2018-003003