A STUDY ON THE CONTEXT OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION ON WEB PAGES OF THE STATE UNIVERSITIES IN TURKEY

KURUMSAL İLETİŞİM BAĞLAMINDA TÜRKİYE’DEKİ DEVLET ÜNİVERSİTELERİNİN WEB SAYFALARI ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME

Abstract

New communication technologies are increasingly being used in everyday life, this situation is able to influence on people and organizations in the social life with a combination of many factors. In present, one of the most important tools of new communication technologies is said to be the internet. In these days the usage of internet becoming widespread, universities, like organizations want introduce themselves to the audience, go in to the effort to express themselves on the web page, to reach a wide audience, to demonstrate different aspects. By this way universities have the opportunity to reflect the corporate identity, to increase the level of awareness and preference availability through their web sites. In the past people had to visit institution to recognize organization and had to have face to face communication but in now, with the development of new communication technologies, people can access countless information through web pages of the institutions without leaving their homes. In this sense, in this study an assessment is made on which corporate communication tools is used in what extend in the web pages of state universities in Turkey. Method This study is a descriptive research using the survey method. General screening models, in a population composed of many elements, with the aim of reaching an overall judgment about the population or screening arrangements are made on a group of samples or samples to be taken from it. In this study, corporate communication tools on the web pages of the universities were subject to content analysis to measure the proportion of state universities to include the corporate media websites in Turkey. Population and sampling The population of study is state universities in Turkey. The number of state universities in Turkey is 104. In this study, the websites of all the universities located in the Higher Education Board’s website was examined. At the end of this study, It is aimed to achieve the findings concerning in what extend state universities of corporate communication tools used in web pages. Main web page of the university was examined in the content analysis of the study. Data collection techniques and tool The content analysis was conducted applying the coding table consisting of six major categories to the web sites belonging to 104 universities that determined as research sample. The state universities that partaking in Higher Education Council website are based to determination of the websites. Three coders have been used for web site analyses. All three encoder, associate degree PR is a student, was given training on coding. These encoders analysis was carried out between 30 May - June 2014. A new operational definition list has been prepared to provide a common language while filling the coding table by coders. There are 22 criteria located in 6 categories in the coding table. The categories and criteria used for content analysis applied to Web sites are: Content analysis was carried out to the 104 websites designated as a research sample by applying scale consists of six main categories. • General information on the corporate web page of the university: This category includes four under titles; the history of the university, the message of the rector, that campus map and the organization chart. • Corporate identity elements of the university in the corporate web page: In this part, there are three under titles; the university's vision, mission, and logos. •Social media tools in the University 's corporate website: In this category, the university 's web pages on Facebook , Youtube, Twitter and other social media tools are placed in. • Corporate publications in the University’s corporate website: In this category there are five under titles placed as the university's announcement, news, promotional video, online publications (ejournals, e- newspapers, e-newsletters), online catalogs and brochures. • Media relations at corporate web page of the University, tools or links: In this category there are three under titles that include the university’s press archive, photo gallery, events calendar. • Communication or connection in the University's corporate website: In this category, , there are three under titles; university's contact information , e-mail, and the contact form Data analysis Data transferred to a computer to analyze the data collected in the study and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) has benefited from IBM SPSS Statistics 21 version of the package. Encoders asked to put '1' if the point of the foundation University web sites exists and asked to put '0' if the point of the web sites doesn’t exist to ensure ease during encoding. Krippendorff 's Alpha" the reliability and validity of the formula has benefited from whether consistent answers were given by both encoders. Accordingly, the confidence level was found to be 83.5 % between the three encoders. Result When the web pages are examined in context of general information category, it is clear that, state universities give importance to corporate history in Turkey. This case shows that, universities are willing to target the audience having knowledge about the history of the university via their web sites. But taking place at lower levels of the message of the rector, organizational chart and campus map web reveals that the state universities in Turkey are not willing enough to offer these components. Campus maps are sometimes solution for complex campus layouts, the reason for that campus map isn’t given enough place can be the small size campus area in web pages. However, if the campus map takes place in web sites of universities, web sites can be accessed by both distant usage and from inside of campus. Especially in large campus this situation makes it convenient for newcomers and visitors. Even the use of features such as Google Maps is quite suitable for online usage. The use of these applications is essential in terms of giving tips on a unive

Özet

Yeni iletişim teknolojilerinin gündelik yaşam içinde kullanımı gittikçe artmakta olup bu teknolojilerin en önemli araçlarından birisini internet oluşturur. İnternet kullanımın yaygınlaştığı günümüzde kendilerini hedef kitlelerine tanıtmaya çabalayan kurumlar gibi üniversiteler de web sayfalarıyla kendini ifade etme, geniş kitlelere ulaşabilme, farklı yönlerini sergileme çabası içine girmektedir. Üniversiteler böylece web sayfaları aracılığıyla kurumsal kimliklerini yansıtma, bilinirlik ve tercih edilebilirlik düzeyini artırma imkânına kavuşmaktadır. Eskiden, insanlar kurumları tanımak için kurumları ziyaret etmek ve çalışanlarla yüz yüze görüşmek durumundayken şimdilerde ise yeni iletişim teknolojilerinin gelişmesiyle beraber evlerinden çıkmadan kurumların web sayfaları aracılığı ile sayısız bilgiye ulaşabilmektedirler. Bu çalışma, Türkiye'deki devlet üniversitelerinin bir kurumsal iletişim aracı olarak web sayfalarında hangi özellikleri ya da araçları kullandıklarına yönelik bir değerlendirme yapmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaçla Yükseköğretim Kurulu Başkanlığı'nın web sitesinde yer alan 104 devlet üniversitesinin web sayfaları kurumsal iletişim araçlarına yer verme oranlarını ölçmek üzere incelenmiştir. Genel bilgiler, kurumsal kimlik öğeleri, sosyal medya, kurum yayınları, medya ile ilişkiler, iletişim araçları kategorilerinde incelenen web siteleri içerik analizine tabii tutularak Türkiye'deki devlet üniversitelerinin web sitelerinde kurumsal iletişim araçlarının ne ölçüde kullanıldığı saptanılmaya çalışılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda Türkiye'deki devlet üniversitelerinin kurumsal iletişim öğelerini web sayfalarında büyük ölçüde barındırdığı tespit edilmiştir. Bu sonuçlar, üniversitelerin, web sayfalarını ziyaret edenlere kurumsal iletişim açısından yeteri ölçüde araç sunduğunu göstermektedir