Portrayals of Large Corporations in the English and German Version of Wikipedia – Exploring Similarities and Differences

Thomas Roessing and Sabine Einwiller
Additional contact information
Thomas Roessing: Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
Sabine Einwiller: University of Vienna

Corporate Reputation Review, 2016, vol. 19, issue 2, No 2, 108-126

Abstract: Abstract High search results for Wikipedia articles in web search engines and the large number of Wikipedia articles about companies contribute to the online encyclopedia’s relevance for communication and reputation management. In this research, we compare Wikipedia articles of 30 US and 30 German corporations in both the English and German version of the online encyclopedia. Using content analysis, the articles’ structure, content and tone are analyzed and compared. Apart from broad similarities in regard to article structure, results reveal some striking differences between the versions. It shows that companies are portrayed more extensively in their domestic than in the foreign version of Wikipedia. This refers to the length of the overall article, the use of photographs as well as the validation of content. Detailed analyses of article content also reveal that companies are covered more extensively on the different reputation dimensions in their domestic than in the foreign version. Apart from the elaborateness of the portrayals, there is also more criticism in the form of a specific criticism section in domestic compared to foreign version articles. A general negative tendency can furthermore be observed particularly for content on workplace environment and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Contrary to the findings on criticism, content on CSR is more negative in the foreign compared to the domestic version of Wikipedia for both US and German corporations. The findings indicate that Wikipedia content is influenced by how the volunteer contributors to Wikipedia perceive and assess a corporation. Implications for communication management are discussed.

Keywords: content analysis; corporate reputation; Germany; USA; Wikipedia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/crr.2016.3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:crepre:v:19:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1057_crr.2016.3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41299

DOI: 10.1057/crr.2016.3

Access Statistics for this article

Corporate Reputation Review is currently edited by Guido Berens

More articles in Corporate Reputation Review from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().