Promoting Hospitals’ Reputation through Smart Branding Initiatives. A Quantitative Analysis of the Best Hospitals in the United States

  1. Pablo Medina-Aguerrebere 1
  2. Eva Medina 2
  3. Toni González-Pacanowski 2
  1. 1 Canadian University Dubai
  2. 2 Universitat d'Alacant
    info

    Universitat d'Alacant

    Alicante, España

    ROR https://ror.org/05t8bcz72

Revista:
Comunicación y sociedad = Communication & Society

ISSN: 2386-7876

Ano de publicación: 2024

Volume: 37

Número: 2

Páxinas: 197-216

Tipo: Artigo

DOI: 10.15581/003.37.2.197-216 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso aberto editor

Outras publicacións en: Comunicación y sociedad = Communication & Society

Resumo

Hospitals use different technological tools to implement corporate communication initiatives and, in this way, improve their relationships with stakeholders (employees, patients, media companies) and build a reputed brand. However, they face different barriers: limited budgets for corporate communication, strict legal frameworks, and stakeholders’ new needs regarding information and emotional support. This paper aims to analyze how the 100 best hospitals in the United States manage smart technologies to promote their brand. To do that, we conducted a literature review about smart hospitals, branding, and corporate communication; and then we defined 34 quantitative indicators to evaluate how the hospitals previously mentioned managed their websites, online newsrooms, about us sections, and artificial intelligence department web sites for reputation purposes. Our results proved that most hospitals respected indicators related to the homepage (8.67/11) but not those referring to online newsrooms (4.44/11) or about us sections (2.66/6). Besides, only 23 hospitals had implemented a department specialized in artificial intelligence that collaborated with external organizations. We concluded that most American hospitals focused their reputation efforts on patients rather than other targets (media companies, employees, suppliers, shareholders); and that these organizations did not integrate enough artificial intelligence projects into their smart branding initiatives.

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