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Introduction
Corporate communication management (CCM) has instigated the interest of several researchers and practitioners in response to an increasing concern for the communication process in complex and sophisticated organisations. It entails the process of communicating information, organisational views and objectives to eminent stakeholders and is a key component to any successful management strategy (Goodman, 2000; Yamauchi, 2001). Over the past two decades, academics and practitioners have undertaken different forms of research to define and develop varying methods of measuring CCM to provide a more systematic and coherent concept that is operational and measureable. Nevertheless, no one method has been defined as the most effective, and assessment methods remain unclear (Christensen and Cornelissen, 2011; van Riel, 1995).
Although most corporate communication and information professionals could benefit from using an integrated and more organised framework, the academic field of corporate communication remained scattered, divergent and lack coherence (Belasen, 2008; Christensen and Cornelissen, 2011). This confusion, regarding the central concept of CCM, has still not been resolved (van Riel, 1997) and the knowledge about this phenomenon is still limited. For example, review of the literature suggests that there have been many attempts to define CCM; unfortunately, there is no conclusive definition for the term. It has been defined differently in various research areas and there is a lack of understanding of CCM in organisations.
The objective of this paper is to review and analyse the determinants and consequences of CCM by providing an integrative framework and to suggest directions for future research. It is posited that a broader view of corporate communication is needed to capture its dimensions; therefore, this paper will attempt:
* to define CCM, particularly in marketing, information and communication research; and
* to conceptualise CCM as a multidimensional construct to capture all its peculiarities. Implications exist for both researchers and practitioners alike.
The rest of the paper is organised into three main parts. First, corporate communications are defined and their properties are discussed. Second, the determinants of CCM are explored. Third, the relationships between CCM and its consequences are examined. The paper concludes with a number of incisive recommendations.
Defining corporate communication
The definition of corporate communication has been tackled with by many scholars and can be seen from different perspectives. In comparison, Table...