Conceptualizing Web-Based Stakeholder Communication: The Organizational Website as a Stakeholder Relations Tool

Abstract

With the near ubiquity of the organizational website, organizations’ online stakeholder relationships have dramatically increased in prevalence, complexity, and financial and strategic importance. To help advance our understanding of these relationships, we introduce and test the multi-dimensional concept of Web-based stakeholder communication using original data on US community foundations. After presenting the conceptual foundations of Web-based stakeholder communication, we develop operational measures of its key dimensions, namely stakeholder targeting and the balance of organizations’ online stakeholder portfolios. We then explore the outcomes of Web-based stakeholder communication by testing for its relationship to subsequent levels of charitable contributions. We end with an in-depth discussion of the most important implications for organizational theory and practice.

Keywords: stakeholder relations, stakeholder communication, new media, websites, nonprofit organizations, organizational communication, organization-public relations

JEL Classification: L31, O33