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Corporate Communications, Identity and Image: A Research Agenda

Article  in  Journal of Brand Management · September 2006

DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550060 · Source: OAI

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 Corporate communications, identity
and image: A research agenda
Received (in revised form): 17th March, 2006

ELIF KARAOSMANOGLU
is a research fellow in the Management Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University and is currently
studying her PhD in Warwick Business School. She holds BSc in Management Engineering and MBA. Apart from
her conference papers in leading international marketing conferences such as EMAC, DSI, CCIRC and CMC, she
has recently published articles in European Journal of Marketing and Journal of General Management. Her research
interest incorporates corporate identity management, corporate branding, corporate communications and consumer
behaviour.

T.C. MELEWAR
is a professor of Marketing and Strategy at Brunel Business School. He was formerly at Warwick Business School,
Coventry; MARA Institute of Technology, Malaysia and De Montfort University, Leicester. He has links with a number
of companies including Corus, Sony and Safeway. He is also Visiting Professor in international marketing at Groupe
ESC Grenoble, France. He published extensively in the leading academic journals such as Journal of International
Business Studies, European Journal of Marketing and International Marketing Review among many others. His research
interest is in the areas of corporate identity management, marketing communication and international marketing
strategy.

Keywords Abstract
corporate image; This paper focuses on the importance of corporate identity mix and unplanned (uncontrolled)
corporate identity; communication elements in corporate image formation. It aims to define the scope of the
company-control- communicators of corporate identity in the consumers’ context. It presents a literature review with
led communication; highlights on corporate identity management and corporate communication fields. Subsequently, the
unplanned paper posits several propositions for future empirical testing.
communication Journal of Brand Management (2006) 14,196–206. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550060

INTRODUCTION claim that ‘a cherished core ideology’ built

Changing trends force companies to find
new ways of communicating with the
general public. Recent developments in
business environment such as the emer-
gence of unionised or newly opened
markets,1 mergers and acquisitions,2 the
increase in the number of companies and
in their numerous and various products/
services, more sophisticated consumers
and their various demands3,4 have started
to force companies to focus on different
T.C. Melewar ways of creating competitive advantage.
Office 053 Elliot Jaques Building
Brunel Business School Businesses need to screen and review their
Brunel University
Uxbridge
competencies, their customer and com-
Middlesex UB8 3PH, West
London, UK
petitive profiles as well as their product
and services to maintain an optimum
E-mail: t.c.melewar@brunel.
ac.uk cost-benefit balance. Collins and Porras5
upon the company’s main purpose and
values is another major competency for
companies.They argue that this is the core
distinguishing characteristic, that is, corpo-
rate identity, which makes the companies
perform well over a prolonged period.
Simoes et al.6 mention that companies
could gain competitive advantage by
managing their identities effectively in
order to have favourable corporate images
in the minds of their stakeholders.
A recent study by Melewar and Kara-
osmanoglu7 shows that companies have
realised that dissemination and alignment
of the core ideology of the company to
the communication processes and activi-
ties is vital to achieve a favourable public

196 © 2006 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD 1350-23IX $30.00 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 14, NOS. 1/2, 196–206 SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2006
www.palgrave-journals.com/bm

exposure. If organisations can constantly
perform well in sustaining a consistent
image over the years, they can achieve a
favourable reputation8 and hence, gain
strategic and competitive advantages such
as high employee satisfaction and commit-
ment, more familiarity with company’s
products and services, increase in sales,
better relations with the community,
opinion leaders, investors and share-
holders.9–14
Although the research in corporate
identity management area assert that
several stakeholders such as employees,
investors, distributors have a stake in
building corporate identity,15 from
marketing point of view, consumers and
their perceptions of organisations’ identi-
ties, that is, corporate image, primarily can
be a strategic asset to gain competitive
advantage in the long run.2,6,10,16,17,18,19
In order to have better company perform-
ance outcomes through a favourable
corporate image, corporate communica-
tion should be seen as the ‘… the nexus
between the company’s identity and
image’.20 The definition of corporate
identity by Van Riel19 suggests that
company-controlled communication, in
other words, the Corporate Identity Mix
(CIM), includes strategic planning of a
company’s symbolism, communication
and behaviour. As Brown and Dacin21
state, even though managers emphasise
the importance of CIM, companies still
do not know which of CIM elements are
influential in building favourable corpo-
rate image. Bhattacharya and Sen22
mention that what makes the customers
build deeper relationships with companies
still remains elusive.
Despite the growing body of literature
emphasising the role of corporate com-
munication at the interface between
corporate identity and corporate image,
there is still a need for empirical research
© 2006 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD 1350-23IX $30.00 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 14, NOS. 1/2, 196–206 SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2006
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IDENTITY AND IMAGE
that examines which communication
elements affect consumers’ perceptions
of organisations’ identities, that is, corpo-
rate image. Moreover, it is also imperative
to understand how unplanned (uncon-
trolled) communication elements can
change the dynamics of corporate image
formation. Bhattacharya and Sen22
and Cornelissen23 argue that corporate
image is not only a product of company-
controlled communications but also
noncompany controlled messages. Corpo-
rate communication takes place amidst
the external message sources that are
interpersonal (word-of-mouth from close
environment), intrapersonal (company–
consumer identification, emotional
attachment, company knowledge) and
intermediary (word-of-mouth via mass
media, nongovernmental organisations
(NGOs), governmental institutions) modes
of communications.23 Dacin and Brown24
assert that the research in corporate iden-
tity and corporate associations areas should
focus on the role of ‘direct communica-
tions from the corporation’, ‘word-of-
mouth or third party communications’
and ‘emotions and feelings of individuals’
in understanding how the constituents of
organisations build impressions of them.
Although these internal and external
factors have been described by anecdotal
articles and some of them have been
studied individually, a comprehensive
framework has not been tested which
integrates all these aspects in one model.
Therefore, this research aims to examine
whether corporate image is a composite
product of corporate identity mix
(company-controlled communication)
elements and unplanned (uncontrolled)
communication factors. It sets a research
agenda in order to examine the relative
impact of unplanned communications
with respect to company-driven commu-
nication (corporate identity mix elements)
197
 KARAOSMANOGLU AND MELEWAR
which have bearing in corporate image
formation.
In the following sections, we provide
a background regarding the definitions
of concepts referred to in this study.
We draw on the papers in corporate
identity, organisational identity, corporate
image and corporate communications
areas to elaborate on the nature of
corporate image formation and provide
propositions in order to set a research
agenda for future empirical testing. We
conclude with a discussion about our
study’s contribution.
MEANING OF CORPORATE IMAGE
AND CORPORATE IDENTITY
Even though the discussion on the
conceptualisation of corporate image
began in the early studies, the terms used
in the area such as corporate identity,
corporate image, corporate reputation and
corporate personality have often been
defined differently by different
authors.6,25,26 In order to avoid such
confusion, the meanings of the concepts
which are of interest to this paper are
presented in the following paragraphs.
Since this paper’s focus is the role of
communication in image formation, all
the definitions are presented within the
borders of communication management
theory. In line with Cornelissen and
Elving,27 we believe that this approach
also gives the opportunity to operation-
alise the concepts for hypothesis testing.
Poiesz28 discusses the image concept
from the perspective of psychology and
concludes that it results from elaborative
thinking. Public relations and marketing
communications academics view it from
the perspective of the receiver10,29,30 and
they all agree that it is the net result of
the impressions about an object17,31,32
which is formed and transmitted by the
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communicators of corporate identity33,34.
In the context of this study, corporate
image is defined as:
‘The set of meanings by which an object
is known and through which people
describe, remember and relate it. That is,
it is the net result of the interaction
of a person’s beliefs, ideas, feelings and
impressions about [organisations at a
particular time].’35
The studies on organisational com-
munication36 consider identity by refer-
ring to the term organisational identity.
The corporate identity practitioners such
as Olins37 and the early writers in the field
discussed that identity is about visual
design.38 Bernstein29 described identity as
the information coded by the organisa-
tion. Ind32 added the concepts of person-
ality and cultural values to the definition.
Zinkhan et al.34 assert that corporate iden-
tity is ‘the ways a company chooses to
identify its [personality characteristics] to
all its publics’. Van Riel19 has provided a
comprehensive definition of corporate
identity embracing all of these contribu-
tions to date which is restated by Stuart40
as follows:
‘The strategically planned expressions of
corporate personality via the cues given by its
symbols, behaviour and communication.’41
THE SCOPE OF CIM AND
UNPLANNED COMMUNICATION
ELEMENTS
According to Christensen and Aske-
gaard,42 corporate image is formed by the
presentation of ‘the total sum of signs that
stands for an organisation’s [identity]’. As
this perspective implies, corporate image
is based on the perceptions of the reflected
identity by any of a company’s commu-
nication tools. Hence, corporate identity

and corporate image should be viewed as
closely related.43 In the model presented
by Birkigt and Stadler,44 the responsibility
of managers of corporate identity is
defined as ‘to create the homology
between the planned identity and the
desired corporate image’. In order to
reach that objective, they should try to
understand what constitutes the content
of their planned communication efforts
(CIM elements) in the consumer’s context.
Shelby45 claims ‘corporate communica-
tion provides an umbrella for a variety of
communication forms and formats’. It
comprises the management’s ability to
communicate with the external stake-
holders, the capability of the organisation
to make comprehensive communication
plans and to organise the channels and
tools either at corporate or at product/
services level. The main assertion of this
approach is that corporate communica-
tion covers a wide range of activities
ranging from a company’s logo and its
managers’ communication in public occa-
sions to promotional activities for
marketing its product and services. Van
Riel19 states a company’s values and prin-
ciples which define its corporate identity
should be embedded in the management,
organisational and marketing communi-
cation activities which are considered as
the foundation of CIM elements, namely
symbolism, communication and behav-
iour.
Stuart46 states that even though commu-
nications can be planned by companies,
unplanned communication is also signifi-
cant in corporate image formation.
According to Cornelissen,23 company-
controlled communication takes place
amidst the other forms of message sources.
The information exchanged during
informal one-to-one communication
(interpersonal communication), the news
received from mass media, NGOs, govern-
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CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IDENTITY AND IMAGE
mental institutions, etc (intermediary
communication) and psychological conse-
quences of the previous experiences and
images stored in the mind (intrapersonal
communication) also define the attach-
ment level of consumers to companies
and the depth of the relationship they
build with them.
This study recognises a wide scope of
the corporate identity communicators
and integrates them in order to investigate
to what extent the CIM elements versus
unplanned communication factors affects
the consumers’ perceptions of companies’
identities, that is, corporate image. By
asking this research question, it also
queries the theories of ‘anything a
company does communicates its iden-
tity’37,47 and ‘company-controlled factors
are more powerful in the long run than
the communication factors external to
organisations’.48
THE CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
AND RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS
The Corporate Communication Insti-
tute’s study (November 1999–March
2000) conducted with 1,000 Fortune
companies showed that there is a relation-
ship between the efforts put into company-
recognition activities and rankings of
organisations.2 It is stressed by the
company executives that corporate
communication has become a strategic
tool which includes a multiple range of
activities such as media relations, public
relations, executive speeches, annual
reports and advertising among many
others.2 However, companies should be
aware of the fact that these tools do not
interact in an isolated environment. The
previously gained information in the
minds of consumers via other sources
affects their views about organisations.23
The communicators that are external to
199
 KARAOSMANOGLU AND MELEWAR
an organisation may be manipulated but
cannot be fully controlled by a company.
For example, although a company can
plan what news they will deliver to the
media about their coming activities, they
cannot control whether an unrevised
version of it will appear in media22 and
hence, the result of this communication
in the minds of consumers cannot be
entirely predicted. Therefore, it is impera-
tive to understand whether there is a
direct or indirect relationship between
company-controlled communication, un-
planned (uncontrolled) communication
factors and corporate image as well as the
relative importance of each factor by
incorporating them all in one model.
Accordingly, we state the propositions
below.
Corporate identity mix
Consumers’ evaluations of a company’s
communication activities are the ante-
cedent of the consumers’ perceptions of
its identity. In other words, when
consumers have positive attitude towards
an organisation’s formal communication
efforts, they will be more likely to inter-
pret the messages sent by those commu-
nicators positively and hence more likely
to form a favourable image about that
company. Therefore, consumers’ attitudes
towards the following CIM elements
should be examined.
Symbolism
The visual expressions of an organisation
provide a powerful way of differentiating
the company, since they represent the
distinctive attributes of a corporation.49
They comprise of an organisation’s
Corporate Visual Identity Systems (CVIS)
(logo, name, slogan, colour and typog-
raphy),50 company aesthetics (eg architec-
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ture, interior design, stationery, retail
stores, etc)49 and staff apparels (the
application of company visuals on the
clothing of the employees).9,18,19
These elements present the values and
philosophy of a company and emphasises
specific attributes of identity such as
openness to communication or a serious
business face.18,51 Since these elements
reflect a company’s identity, consumers’
attitudes towards them will define how
they evaluate its identity. Therefore, we
posit that:
P1a: The more positive attitude the
consumers have towards a company’s
visual identity systems (CVIS), the
more favourable image the consumers
have about the company.
P1b: The more positive attitude the
consumers have towards a compa-
ny’s corporate aesthetics (AEST),
the more favourable image the
consumers have about the company.
P1c: The more positive attitude the
consumers have towards a company’s
staff apparels (EAPP), the more
favourable image the consumers
have about the company.
Communication
Markwick and Fill52 claim that marketing
communications should be used to convey
the distinctive qualities of the corporate
identity. Van Riel19 defines marketing
communication as the form of commu-
nication, which is targeted to support the
products and services of the organisation.
Therefore, in addition to product and
services, advertising, sales promotion,
sponsorship and direct selling are also
considered as one of the parts of CIM.17,19

Marketing communication activities do
not only aim to position a company’s
products and services in the market, but
also focus on promoting the company
itself. Corporate advertising53 and public
relations activities,54 which are directed at
company recognition and familiarity
rather than individual products/services,
contribute to communication of a compa-
ny’s identity. Therefore, we conclude that
the favourability of the consumers’
views about a company will be en-
hanced by their perceptions of how well
the marketing communication activities
mentioned reflect the intended identity
that a company wants to create in the
minds of consumers.55 Hence,
P2: The more the consumers perceive
that the marketing communication
mix elements of a company reflect
the company’s values well, the more
favourable image the consumers have
about the company.
Behaviour
This dimension is divided into corporate
behaviour56 and management communi-
cation.19 Corporate behaviour stems from
the actions about environmental, ethical
and recruitment issues. Notably, due to
high consumer consciousness in recent
years, the corporate behaviour toward
environmental or charity issues are under
intense surveillance with whom organisa-
tions are interacting. Management
communications encompasses employee
behaviour and manager behaviour. Ind39
claims that perceptions of an organisation
are determined by the actions of managers
and staff. Since employees and senior
managers are the face of an organisa-
tion,9,10 managers’ interactions with
external audiences in social events and
employees’ contact with consumers are of
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CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IDENTITY AND IMAGE
importance.18 Therefore, we claim that
managers’ ability to represent a company’s
values and the way the employees treat
consumers have a considerable impact on
corporate image formation. Thus,
P3a: The more the managers of a
company perceived as repre-
senting the company’s values well,
the more favourable image the
consumers have about the company.
P3b: The more the employees of a
company perceived as treating
consumers well, the more the
favourable the consumer have about
the company.
P3c: The more the consumers perceive
the company socially responsible
(CBEH), the more favourable
image they have about the company
(IMAG)
Unplanned (uncontrolled)
Communication
Cornelissen23 claims that the formal
communication takes place amidst other
unplanned communication mechanisms
namely interpersonal (word-of-mouth from
close environment), intermediary (word-of-
mouth disseminated by mass media,
NGOs, governmental institutions) and
intrapersonal (psychological consequences
of previous experiences and images stored
in the mind) communications. In line
with him, we believe that reception of
positive informal information about a
company via intermediary sources as well
as via one-to-one conversations have an
impact on the way the consumers perceive
a company’s identity. Additionally, the
favourability of the image consumers hold
about a company will be dependent on
person-specific psychological factors.
201
 KARAOSMANOGLU AND MELEWAR
Therefore, in order to test the relation-
ships between the external factors stated
by Cornelissen (2000) and corporate
image, the following unplanned commu-
nication elements are examined.
Interpersonal communication
In consumer research, it is widely accepted
that informal person-to-person informa-
tion exchange about an organisation or a
product is one of the major determinants
of consumer attitude and behaviour
change.57,58 Researchers59,60 consider the
positive word-of-mouth received from
close environment is a significant commu-
nication factor in order to attract
consumers to a company or a product. In
this respect, we conclude that positive
informal information received from inter-
personal sources can result in positive atti-
tude change towards a company so that
consumers may have more favourable
image about that company. Thus, we
propose that
P4: The more positive word-of-2mouth
the consumers receive from their
close friends and relatives, the more
favourable image they have about the
company.
Intermediary communication
Similar to the discussion in interpersonal
communication, positive news dissemi-
nated by mass media, NGOs, opinion
leader, etc can influence consumers’
perception of companies. Fombrun and
Shanley8 state that managers should make
sure that non-advertising focused, trans-
parent company information is available
in media and they should achieve positive
coverage in newspapers, nonprofit organ-
isation or governmental institution reports
as much as possible in order to be able to
shape its audiences views about their
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companies. Especially, in recent years, the
ascendance of consumer consciousness
about social and environmental issues
made them to search for more company
behaviour-related issues. The cases such as
Enron (transparency of business actions)
and McDonald’s (issues about obesity)
showed that unplanned media exposure is
an essential aspect of external communi-
cation, which has a significant impact on
how consumers perceive organisations.
Therefore, we propose that the news
received from intermediaries can influ-
ence consumers’ perceptions of compa-
nies’ identities. Hence, we state that;
P5: The more positive word-of-mouth
the consumers receive from interme-
diary sources such as media, NGOs,
opinion leader, etc, the more favour-
able image the consumers have about
the company.
Intrapersonal communication
In this study, we consider two individual-
related communication factors: emotional
attachment and company–consumer iden-
tification. Our main assumption is that
while some of the consumer–company
relationships are not based on rational
decision making (emotional reasons),
some are based on more rational reasoning
in order to fulfil self-oriented needs (the
sense of meaningfulness).
Fombrun et al.61 demonstrated that
corporate reputation, which can be
defined as aggregation of corporate
images consumers hold over time, is
mostly based on nonrational and emotional
reasons. Bhattacharya and Sen22 claim
that when an organisations’ identity
triggers an individual’s self-related
emotions such as self-distinctiveness,
self-enhancement, self-continuity they
will be more likely to be attracted to this
organisation. This may make a person

hold a more positive image about that
company before dwelling into any
rationale decision making by assessing the
actions of that organisation.
Drawing on this conclusion, we propose
that emotional predisposition of consumers
towards a company will influence the
image they hold about a company, and
hence we claim that
P6a: The more the consumers find a
company’s identity emotionally
appealing, the more favourable
image the consumers have about the
company.
Social identity theory posits that people
define themselves by being a member of
certain social groups or categorisations
such as gender, ethnicity, political parties
and so on.62–64 Recent research conducted
by organisational identification academics
such as Pratt65 and Scott and Lane66
showed that people tend to identify
themselves with organisations that they
are not formally involved in order to
fulfil their self-definitional needs such
as oneness and belongingness.67 Drawing
on this discussion and in line with
Bhattacharya and Sen,22 we believe that
company–consumer identification is one
of the psychological consequences of
company messages stored in mind which
in turn may affect how consumers perceive
a company’s identity. Dutton et al.68
claim that ‘the greater the attractiveness of
the perceived identity of an organisation,
the stronger [is] a person’s identification
with it’. Inspired by this proposition, we
claim that emotional attachment is a
necessary condition for consumer–
company identification, since an organisa-
tion that consumers identify themselves
with should have a certain level of
emotional appeal for them. Lastly, we
propose that the relationship between
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CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IDENTITY AND IMAGE
emotional attachment and corporate
image will also be mediated by company–
consumer identification. The propositions
developed on the basis of these arguments
are as the follows:
P6b: The more the consumers find a
company’s identity emotionally
appealing, the more they identify
themselves with that company.
P6c: The more consumers identify them-
selves with a company, the more
favourable image they will have
about the company.
P6d: Emotional appeal of an orga-
nisation’s identity positively effects
corporate image through company–
consumer identification.
As it is diagnosed in the literature, some
direct relationships are defined within the
communication channels and tools, but
how strong the linkage between each of
the single element and corporate image
has not been discussed thoroughly.
Williams and Moffit48 claim that the
impact of communicators that formally
planned by companies are more influen-
tial than the noncompany driven commu-
nication factors in the long term. However
they have not, empirically examined this
claim by regarding the two major sources
of communication proposed in this study.
Therefore, there is a need to investigate
the relative impact of each communica-
tion function under CIM and unplanned
communication on image formation.
Accordingly, the following proposition is
addressed to be explored.
P7: The effect of CIM (company-
controlled communication) elements
is stronger than the unplanned
(uncontrolled) communication ele-
ments on corporate image
203
 KARAOSMANOGLU AND MELEWAR
CONCLUSION
Corporate image is inherently a composite
product of various factors which reflect
and communicate the identity of an
organisation. Therefore, it is important to
define the main aspects of corporate iden-
tity and communicate them with the best
communicators to the target groups. An
important evaluation criterion for commu-
nication managers is whether corporate
image positioning attempts to achieve the
objectives decision makers designed them
to achieve. Given that the people will be
influenced by any type of corporate
communications, it is important that
companies make every effort to ensure
that all company cues conveyed by
symbolism, communication and behav-
iour are coherent and the ultimate influ-
ence is positive. Therefore, it is essential
for a company to assess ‘…whether its
corporate identity has been effectively
communicated’.41 Our paper addresses
this issue by focusing on CIM and
unplanned (uncontrolled) communication
elements and the links between them and
corporate image construct. We also claim
that not only planning controlled commu-
nication is enough, but also external
factors, that is, intrapersonal, interpersonal
and intrapersonal communications, should
be monitored in order to find out whether
communicated identity is complemented
or undermined by unplanned communi-
cators.
In this paper, we have theoretically
outlined what constitutes each element
of identity communicators. The next
step is to examine the relationships
proposed above, which will provide
empirical evidence for the theories of
‘anything a company does and says has an
impact on its identity’s perception’,3,47
that is, corporate image and ‘corporate
image is inherently a composite product
204 © 2006 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD 1350-23IX $30.00 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 14, NOS. 1/2, 196–206 SEPTEMBER–NOVEMBER 2006
of company-driven and noncompany
driven communication’23 and company-
controlled communication is more influ-
ential than noncompany driven
communication in the long run.48 We
believe that further empirical testing of
the propositions above could be a starting
point for senior company management to
formulate the appropriate corporate iden-
tity and corporate communication strate-
gies towards consumers by referring to
the CIM elements that are specified in
the background.This could help organisa-
tions use resources for communication
more efficiently.40
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