Conveying Trust: Transparency and Credibility Methods in Corporate Blogs

Authors:
Adeline Chua, University of Otago
Kirsten Robertson, University of Otago
Mathew Parackal, University of Otago
Kenneth R. Deans, University of Otago

Abstract: Web 2.0 social media tools such as corporate blogs are helping to improve marketing communication strategies by allowing companies to interact with their online audience. However, despite their many espoused marketing benefits, corporate blogs still face transparency and credibility-related issues, which inevitably affect the question of trust. To understand the impact of trust on corporate blogs, an overview of transparency and credibility-related methods found in the corporate blog literature and their association to trust is presented. Based on an interpretive study of 16 companies operating in four service industries in New Zealand, empirical methods adopted by the companies to appear more trustworthy via eight transparency and five credibility factors are revealed. Implications of the findings could help academics and practitioners to highlight more effective corporate blogging strategies aimed at conveying trust online.