Effecten van positief geladen informatie en geografische nabijheid in de corporate communicatie van een waterschap

A good reputation has become increasingly important for governmental organisations. These organisations can promote their reputation by means of their corporate communication. In this study, the effects of two textual characteristics of a District Water Board’s leaflet are measured: the presence of positively charged information and geographical vicinity. It was expected that both characteristics would have positive effects on the readers’ appreciation of the leaflet, on the organisation’s reputation and on the readers’ compliance (willingness to pay taxes). The presence of positively charged information did not have any effect, but geographical vicinity had positive effects on all three variables. Participants who read a leaflet with information about the Water Board’s activities in their home town appreciated the information more, were more positive about the organisation’s reputation and had higher compliance scores, compared to participants who read a leaflet with information about the Water Board’s entire control area.