Presentation done by Ibrahim Mohammed, Basak Denizci Guillet and Rob Law, during "Website analytics" workshop, of the ENTER2015 eTourism conference.

1. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 1
Corporate identity communication on
corporate websites: Evidence from the Hong
Kong hotel industry
Ibrahim MOHAMMED, Basak DENIZCI GUILLET and Rob LAW
School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
ibrahim.mohammed@connect.polyu.hk; basak.denizci@polyu.edu; rob.law@polyu.edu

2. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 2
Outline of presentation
• Motivationfor the study
• objectives
Introduction
• Conceptualizationof CI
• Empirical Studies
Literature review
• Sampling and data collection
• Data analysis
Methodology
• CI elements communicated
• Differences in CI communication by hotel groups
Results and discussion
• Major findings and implications
• Limitations and suggestionsfor future research
Conclusions

3. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 3
Definition of corporate identity
Identity…
“the individual characteristics by which a person or
thing is recognized” (Collins English Dictionary, 2002, p.201)
Corporate identity (hereafter CI)…
“refers to the characteristics by which an organization
can be differentiated from another” (Melewar, 2003, p.196)

4. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 4
Background
Increasing awareness of the importance of developing
and managing CI.
Practitioners and academics have directed increasing
attention to the field, leading to the formation of The
International Corporate Identity Group (ICIG) in 1994
by [Strathclyde, Harvard Business school, Erasmus, Warwick,
…, management consultants]

5. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 5
Why CI has become important
Increased
competition
Globalization
Public
expectation for
CSR
Break-down of
internal and external
boundaries of
organization
Shortage
of high-
caliber
personnel
Merges,
acquisitions and
divestiture
Technological
changes
(Melewar, 2003; Meijs, 2002; Balmer and Gray, 1999; Markwick and Fill, 1997; Ind, 1992)

6. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 6
Significance of CI communication
– Establish the individuality of an organization and
increase stakeholder awareness (Lippincott and Margulies, 1988)
– Create competitive advantage (Downey, 1987; Bickerton,1999)
– Attract high-caliber personnel (Olins, 1990; Melewar and
Saunders,1998)
– Build customer loyalty and trust (Balmer, 2008)

7. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 7
Motivation for the study
o CI has been recognized as important in the hotel industry
(Mohammed, Denizci Guillet and Law, 2014; Baloglu and Peckan, 2006; Zhou and
Zhang, 2002)
o Corporate websites are important sources of information in
hospitality and tourism industry (Jenkins & Karanikola, 2014; Hsieh, 2012;
Holcomb, et al., 2007; Buhalis and Law, 2008; Buhalis 2003; Winter et al.,2003)
o No study has examined CI communication on hotels’ websites;
yet, such a study can be helpful to enrich CI content

8. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 8
Objectives
To offer the first empirical evidence to explainhow far hotels
use their websites to communicate their identities by:
Determining the extent to which hotels in Hong Kong
present information on their CI on their websites; and
Examining the differences, if any, in the CI information
presented by hotels in different segments or groups

9. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 9
Conceptualization of CI
What the entity is;
What it stands for;
What it does;
How it does it; and
Where it is going.
(Melewar& Saunders, 1999; Melewar,2003; Balmer,1998)

10. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 10
Dimensions, sub-dimensions
and elements of CI
Dimension Sub-dimension Elements to consider
Design Visual Name, slogan, logo, location, typography and colour
Aesthetics Architecture, office design, staff appearance, etc.
Communication Marketing In-house newsletters, manuals, videos, social media link etc.
Management Public Relations (PR) contact, direct marketing, etc.
Organisational Media/press releases,
Behaviour Corporate behaviour Annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, etc.
Staff behaviour Hiring policy, statementsof staff friendlinessor behaviour, etc.
Management behaviour Management reports, profile of managers etc.
Culture Corporate culture Objectives, mission, vision, values, principles, philosophies, history, founder,
country of origin, self-image (imagery) etc.
Strategy Positioning Leader/follower, growth, product/market development etc.
Differentiation specialty products, cost leadership, etc.
Structure Organizational structure Organogram, standard of operating procedures,
Brand structure Brand expression, endorsement etc.
Source: Compiled from Melewar and Karaosmanoglu (2006); Bravo et al. (2013); Bravo and Pina (2012)

11. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 11
Empirical studies on CI
• Non-hospitality-relatedstudies
– Higher institutions of learning(Ozturk, 2011; Opoku et al., 2006)
– Financial institutions(Bravo et al., 2013; Bravo & Pina, 2012)
• Hotel-relatedstudies
– Significance of CI communication (Zhou & Zhang, 2002; Schmitt & Pan, 1994)
– CI communication and management (Baloglu & Pekcan, 2006; Kedidi & Torfve, 2005)
– Use of CI for competitive set selection (Mohammed et al., 2014)

12. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 12
Methodology
Developing an initial checklist for
CI dimensionsand elements
Descriptivestatisticsfor the dimensions
Statisticalcomparisons across hotel
categories
Developing a final check list
Data collection
Data analysis and reporting
• Exploratory and
descriptive research
design
The membership list of the HKHA
constituted the sample(123)
Concordance coefficientsfor reliabilityand
validity

13. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 13
Sample profile
27 (22%)
24 (19.5%)
19 (15.4%)
33 (26.8%)
20 (16.3%)
<6
6 --10
11--20
21--30
>30
Composition of hotels by age -
years
12 (9.8%)
56 (45.5%)
54 (43.9%)
1 (0.8%)
Small (<151)
Medium (151-400)
Large (401-1500)
Mega (>1500)
Composition of hotels by size,
rooms
19 (15.4%)
16 (13%)
27 (22%)
29 (23.6%)
32 (26%)
Luxury
Upper Upscale
Upscale
Upper Midscale
Midscale
Composition of hotels by class
53 (43.1%)
6 (4.9%)
64 (52%)
Independents
Franchise
Chain management
Composition of hotels by
opeartion

14. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 14
Communication of CI elements
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Name
Logo
Location
Architecture
Slogan
Socialmedialink
Media/Press
PRcontact
A&R
Qualitystatement
Masterplan
Positioning
Differentiation
Employmentpolicy
CSRinformation
Annualreport
Managementreport
History
Origin
Founder(s)
Mission
Values
Philosophies
Vision
Principles
Organogram
Corporate designCorporate communicationCorporate strategy Corporate behaviour Corporate culture Corporate struc

15. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 15
CI communication: Independent
hotels vs. chain-affiliated
Corporate identity elements
Hotel Operation(%)
Sig. (2)
Independent Chain-affiliated
Corporatestrategy
Quality statement 2.4 22.8 0.000*
Strategic plan 3.3 18.7 0.001*
Corporateculture
History 5.7 35.8 0.000*
Founder(s) 0.8 30.1 0.000*
Origin 8.1 30.1 0.000*
Mission 2.4 15.4 0.002*
Values 1.6 9.8 0.021*
Resultsare based on two-sided testswith significancelevel .05. * = significant

16. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 16
CI communication: Independent
hotels vs. chain-affiliated
Corporate identity elements
Hotel Operation(%)
Sig. (2)
Independent Chain-affiliated
Corporatebehaviour
Annual report 3.3 20.3 0.000*
CSR information 11.4 32.5 0.001*
Employment policy 16.3 39 0.001*
Corporatecommunication
Media/Press 26 48 0.003*
PR contact 15.4 39.8 0.000*
Social media link 30.1 48.8 0.032*
Resultsare based on two-sided testswith significancelevel .05. * = significant

17. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 17
CI communication by hotel groups
• Luxury hotels compare favourably to all other hotel classes
especially Midscale and Upper Midscale hotels.
For example, in terms of CSR as a sub-dimensionof corporatebehaviour, the proportion
of Luxury hotels (13.8%) communicatingthis informationwas statistically different and
higher than Upper Upscale (4.9%), Upper Midscale (11.4%) and Midscale (1.6%).
• Mid-scale hotels are the least communicative of CI information

18. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 18
Discussions
• Similar to studies on CSR and environmental policies
communication, the findings show that Independent hotels are
less communicative of CI information than chain-affiliated hotels
(Jenkins & Karanikola, 2014; Hsieh, 2012; Holcomb, et al., 2007)
• Consistent with the conclusions of earlier studies on CI
communication, design-related elements are mostly
communicated by hotels (Bravo et al., 2013; Bravo & Pina, 2012; Ozturk, 2011; Opoku et al., 2006).

19. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 19
Conclusions and implications
• There is room for enriching hotels’ websites with CI information
• For most of the hotels CI information on founder(s), history,
management, vision, mission, values, and employment will be
required.
• Independent hotels can benchmark chain-affiliated hotels in the CI
elements that they do not match up to.

20. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 20
Limitations and future research
• Limitations
– Snapshotevaluation of websites’content
– Exclusion of other channelsof communicating CI
• Directions for future research
– CI communication on other platforms such as social media can be
investigated to unearth consistency
– Follow-up study could investigate how the communicated elements contribute
to hotels’ competitiveadvantages

21. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 21
Thank you
your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome