Ethos: Communicating corporate ethos on the websites of PR industry members in Turkey

Abstract

Scholarly literature, including textbooks on communication, highlights the importance of source credibility in communication and attention to be paid by communicators. The notion of source credibility and its rhetorical companion of ethos are at the center of scholarly interest. Studies show the signs of corporations becoming more focused on being transparent and expressive. This leads to the widespread introduction of corporate websites for communicating with clients. This research examines credibility in the discourse offered on the corporate websites of 44 Turkish public relations (PR) agencies. This study's purpose was to to reveal the rhetorical patterns and linguistic interpretation in the corporate discourse at PR agencies. Also, the study aimed to put forward the strategies embraced by industry members for their corporate self-presentations. The authors have done this by unfolding the rhetoric and language of PR agencies websites. Thus, the study is expected to show how PR agencies seek to build credibility and unique images. In analyzing the data, it is found that PR agencies assign relative importance to expertise which is followed by trustworthiness and empathy respectively. © 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.