"Although less conventional, online media sources are gaining strength, but they have yet to be established as credible channels of information in Asia-Pacific."
The Edelman finding may help explain why only 41 per cent of Asian companies consider responding to bloggers a good idea, according to another new research study, this time by Weber Shandwick.
The latter report, furthermore, found that attitudes towards bloggers remained broadly consistent among its global business leader respondent base.
"This is not surprising, since our research also reveals that only a minority of companies pay attention to online coverage of their company's reputation," said Weber Shandwick chief reputation strategist Leslie Gaines-Ross.
Edelman's stakeholder research, now in its fourth year, also found that employee relations are becoming an important factor in terms of corporate reputation, surging from nine per cent in 2005 to 15 per cent in 2006.
"Increased accountability and scrutiny of corporate business practices have resulted in slightly higher corporate trust ratings across the region," said VanderMolen.
"Further, the study reveals that stakeholders are significantly more likely to mention 'strong management' and 'leadership' as a distinguishing characteristic of corporations today than they were four years ago."
