IMPACT OF WEB-BASED PUBLIC RELATIONS TECHNIQUES ON ORGANISATION COMMUNICATION WITH CLIENTS: THE CASE OF MAHIGA HOMES REAL ESTATE COMPANY IN NAIROBI, KENYA

ABSTRACT
Modern technologies have greatly revolutionised the manner in which communication is undertaken especially among organisations. This study investigated the influence of web-based public relations techniques at Mahiga Homes Ltd. This study investigated how communication takes place between the company and its immediate clients. The specific objectives that this research sought to investigate were: to investigate how the web-based public relations techniques have influenced the way organisational communication takes place at Mahiga Homes Ltd, to determine the preference of clients on the web-based public relations techniques in organisational communication at Mahiga Homes Ltd and finally to establish the effectiveness of the web-based public relations techniques in organisational communication at Mahiga Homes Ltd. The study was explained by systems theory. This theory illustrated how an organisation functions like a human body, by binding together all the subsystems in an organisation to facilitate internal stability and control of the entire organisation. Anticipatory Model of crisis management also supported this study by elaborating how organisations and clients are prone to mis-understandings, conflicts and feedback problems and hence, they should be addressed on time to avoid disputes with clients. The study relied on descriptive design with a mixed method approach where both qualitative and quantitative method was used. The target population in this study was 300 participants who are clients from Mahiga Homes Ltd, and two participants from the communication department and customer relations department at Mahiga Homes Ltd. The 300 clients were selected using systematic random sampling method from client register maintained by Mahiga Homes, while the two internal participants were selected using the purposive sampling method for the interview. Thematic analysis in form of quotes and narratives were utilised in analysing qualitative data obtained while descriptive analysis were used for quantitative data which was then tabulated using frequency tables. The study results found out that, respondents agreed that web-based PR techniques affected the way organisational communication takes place at Mahiga Homes Ltd and also that it serves as veritable information and communication bridge between the organisation and its clients at Mahiga Homes which they attributed to being easily accessible to many people. The study also found out that web-based PR techniques used at Mahiga Homes were very effective since they allowed a large customer base since customers could easily access all the project information at various web-based sites. The study concluded that most of Mahiga Homes Ltd customers are well accustomed with the main web-based PR techniques with Facebook and WhatsApp platforms being the most known and used by the customers. The study recommended that the management of Mahiga Homes limited should make sure that they are able to keep abreast with the ever-changing web-based PR technologies to provide their customers with more favorable communication platforms and be in position to sell more of their properties.