Chiara Valentini

Towards a More Holistic Stakeholder Analysis Approach. Mapping Known and Undiscovered Stakeholders from Social Media

This paper proposes a conceptual direction for organizations of how they could map their stakeholders in a more holistic way. Study suggests, that stakeholder theory is useful in identifying and prioritizing stakeholders that organization is aware of. However, theory is argued being ineffective in finding stakeholders on new environments (social media), where connectivity and relationships play a key role. The argument stems from the need to assess stakeholder presence beyond the dyadic ties. Consequently, the combination of the Stakeholder Salience Model (SSM) and social network analysis (SNA) is proposed as a more holistic solution for stakeholder identification including those from social media. A process of finding “unknown” but important stakeholders from social media was identified incorporating the content search and the principles of SNA. Consequently, stakeholders from social media are identified based on the dimensions of connectivity and the content shared. Accordingly, the study introduces four groups of important actors from social media: unconcerned lurkers, unconcerned influencers, concerned lurkers and concerned influencers and integrates them into the existing Stakeholder Salience Model (SSM).

Blogging about crises: The role of online conversations in framing Alitalia's performance during its crisis

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the role of the blogosphere in framing Alitalia’s performance during its 2008 crisis. Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was chosen as research method to investigate bloggers’ perceptions of Alitalia’s crisis. Five major Italian blogs were selected and each blog was operationalised in units of analysis and explored for posts and post comments. The final sample comprises 27 blog posts and 467 blog post comments. Findings – The results show that the Italian blogosphere was mostly interested in the exploration of technical, economic aspects of the crisis and consequences for the community. Although some differences in the way the crisis was discussed by bloggers and blog readers are visible, both bloggers and blog readers primarily framed Alitalia’s crisis with a negative tone and were extremely critical towards the Italian government and Alitalia management in the way they handled the crisis. Research limitations/implications – Because of the choice of a qualitative inquiry, based on a single case study, generalisability of results is not possible. Practical implications – This analysis suggests that crises are framed differently in the blogosphere than in traditional media and therefore, public relations managers should differentiate their crisis response strategies addressed to the blogosphere from those for traditional media. The lack of official statements by Alitalia also shows that public relations practitioners should have taken a more active role in the discussions in the blogosphere to correct wrong or distorted information in posts and comments. Originality/value – This study provides practitioners and scholars with interesting insights into the blogosphere and bloggers’ opinions during a crisis situation.

Alitalia's crisis in the media – a situational analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this investigation is to explore Alitalia and the Italian Governments crisis response strategies (CRSs) implemented in three specific periods of 2008 to understand Alitalia and the Italian Governments approach in communicating with media stakeholders as well as to examine how main Italian and international newspapers framed Alitalias CRSs.Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts a content analysis approach to evaluate CRSs used by Alitalia and the Italian Government in their official press releases then reported by the main Italian and international newspapers.Findings – Both Alitalia and the Italian Government focused mostly on corrective action – however, some differences in their choice of CRSs are visible during the three periods. Alitalia provided more information on the situation through its press releases than the government, whereas the government used in a larger measure excuse strategies, especially in the later period. In terms of news coverage, the content an...

Mediatization and Government Communication Press Work in the European Parliament

Social actors see exposure in the news media as attractive for publicity purposes and are under pressure to adapt their press work to a “media logic” to be attractive sources for journalists and editors. This article investigates the European Parliament’s press officers’ professional practices in the light of mediatization and government communication theories. Without one pan-European public sphere, the European Parliament, like the other European Union (EU) institutions, competes with national actors for the news media’s attention in the EU’s twenty-eight national public spheres, where EU affairs do not tend to get a media coverage that matches the EU’s considerable influence on European citizens’ daily lives. This study, which is based on in-depth interviews with European Parliament press officers, concludes that these professionals are indeed attuned to a “media logic” in their communication efforts, and that they face a daily professional challenge as they attempt to promote the European Parliament and its activities to the news media in a way that will not compromise their credibility as government sources. The study provides new insights into communicative aspects of EU governance, and particularly into the thinking that guides the efforts of these European Parliament officials to increase European citizens’ awareness of, and support for, the European Parliament that is meant to voice the citizens’ concerns in political processes at the EU level.

Blogging as a Communication Strategy for Government Agencies: A Danish Case Study

More and more government agencies are starting to use social media as part of their communication strategy to increase organizational transparency, collaborations inside and outside the organization, and public participation. In this study, we investigate how civil servants use a blog in a government agency in Denmark and their viewpoints on the actual contribution of blogging for their organization’s communication goals. The study is longitudinal and qualitative. We collected and analyzed data from focus groups, interviews, observations and document analysis at different points of time from 2007 until 2013. The results indicate that the agency’s primary scope for blogging is increasing its visibility and being perceived as an expert source of information among the media and specialized publics. To a lesser extent, the government agency was able to communicate with the general public and involve its stakeholders by posting content of recreational nature and even less to develop dialogue with them. The analysis indicates that over the years blogging has become highly specialized and has lost part of its relevance, as it has not contributed to increasing agency visibility in the media nor to promote a more participatory and transparent government agency. This study shows that strategic communication via blogging for a government agency is often a complex, full of dilemmas activity to engage with, and its real value is often overestimated.

A “practice turn” for global public relations: an alternative approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on global public relations in order to scrutinize how contemporary transformations are conceptualized in the field, and what this means for the understanding of public. Design/methodology/approach – The authors offer a critical analysis and discussion of recent publications in order to explore the nexus of “public”, “culture” and “global”, questioning whether the increased interest in a specific understanding of culture actually contributes to the field’s ability to deal with complex and transforming publics in a meaningful manner. Findings – The majority of global public relations literature applies redundant understandings of globalization. It attaches prime importance to the concept of culture and contributes little to the understanding of transforming publics. Few scholars acknowledge the limitations of using “culture” for the definition of publics in global contexts. Alternative approaches to understanding “publics” in global public r...

Measuring online dialogic conversations’ quality: a scale development

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement scale for assessing the quality of dialogic conversations among companies and digital publics in social media. Dialogic conversations are defined as sequences of communicative actions and counteractions taken by social actors for different purposes based on specific linguistic choices and characterised by diverse communicative approaches and the role played by the involved parties. Design/methodology/approach A multidimensional scale for measuring dialogic conversations is developed from relevant literature concerning dialogue and public engagement in the fields of corporate communication, public relations, management studies and conversation analysis. The scale is built on three main dimensions: organisation turn-taking, sequencing of conversation, repair strategies and procedures. A pilot study was conducted to purify it from irrelevant variables. Findings Results of the pilot study show a general good level of reliability for the majority of the proposed variables for Facebook but not for Twitter. This may indicate that Facebook is a more dialogical forum than Twitter. Originality/value This is the first study proposing a systematic measurement of the dialogue orientation of online conversations that takes into consideration the role of language and communicative actions. The proposed measurement offers corporate communication managers a concrete tool for evaluating the quality of their online communications and for identifying those areas of their online communication that need improvement.

“Walking the environmental responsibility talk” in the automobile industry: An ethics case study of the Volkswagen environmental scandal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the corporate behavior of Volkswagen in its emissions scandal. It describes and analyzes a complex ethics dilemma within the purview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS) and examines how this dilemma impacts critical stakeholders, thus offering several “opportunities to learn” for professionals. Design/methodology/approach The case takes a stakeholder perspective, applying Cavanagh et al. (1981) and Gao’s (2008) ethical judgement framework. It is situated within a qualitative approach to textual analysis. Social actors, topics and evaluative statements were identified and grouped into broader categories. Findings Six major stakeholders were directly affected by Volkswagen’s behavior: customers, investors and shareholders, the US Environmental Protection Agency, German authorities, European institutions and society-at-large. Stakeholder concerns were condensed into three dominant themes: economic, legal and environmental. According to the ethical judgment framework, Volkswagen corporate behavior showed ethical problems, theoretically demonstrating that under no ethical principle was Volkswagen’s actions justifiable, even under instrumental justifications. Research limitations/implications The analysis was primarily based on corporate material and news media reporting. Consequently, diverse managers’ prospectives and opinions are not entirely captured. Practical implications This paper offers several “opportunities to learn” for corporate communication professionals. Originality/value The focus on stakeholder perspectives allows professionals to take an outside-in approach when evaluating the impact of corporate actions on stakeholders’ interests. The case analysis through Cavanagh et al. (1981) and Gao’s (2008) ethical judgment framework provides a practical theoretical instrument to assess corporate behaviors that can be used both as pre- and post-evaluations of corporate actions on CSR and CS issues.