THE USE OF WEB-BASED COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN MANAGING CORPORATE REPUTATION ONLINE BY NSE-LISTED COMPANIES

ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to examine the use of web-based communication tools in managing
corporate reputation online by NSE-listed companies. The objectives were first, to examine the
adoption levels of web-based communication tools by companies listed on the Nairobi Securities
Exchange in managing their corporate reputation online. Secondly, to examine the extent to
which they apply these tools and thirdly, to examine how adoption factors effect on the
companies‟ use of web-based communication tools by testing the strength of the four constructs
effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, performance expectancy and social influence put
forward in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, a popular technology
acceptance model used to predict and explain information systems' users' use intention and
behaviour. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected in Nairobi using a questionnaire and
semi-structured interviews (respectively) from a sample of 11 companies on the Main Investment
Market and Alternate Investment Market segments. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis
techniques were used to analyse the data. Particularly, how these companies use the tools to
manage their corporate reputation online. Six tools were studied – Blogs, Email, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter and Websites. This is important because the activities of companies listed on
the Nairobi Securities Exchange are of great economic and national significance. There has been
a lot of similar research undertaken in other countries (mostly Western countries and some
African countries like Nigeria) but little has been done in Kenya. The research will provide more
information on the use of digital media by large businesses in Kenya. The findings revealed that
all the companies studied used web-based communication tools in managing their corporate
reputation online. The most popular tool was Email which has 100% adoption rate. The
companies use these tools as frequently as several times a day to update their stakeholders and to
respond fast to issues raised online. All the adoption factors (effort expectancy, performance
expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions) have a significant effect on the
companies‟ use of web-based communication tools in managing corporate reputation online,
with effort expectancy being the most dominant. The study recommends that businesses of every
kind and size should incorporate the use of web-based communication tools in their corporate
reputation due to their speed, interactive and dialogical properties