Digital Public Communication in Image Building: A Survey of ASEAN Official Website

Abstract

The advent of the digital era—commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution—has redefined public communication paradigms, with websites increasingly supplanting the traditional role of mainstream media in information dissemination. Within this context, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) maintains an official digital platform [https://asean.org] designed to cultivate a positive institutional image. This study examines the extent to which public engagement with ASEAN’s official website influences the perception of its institutional identity. Grounded in the Social Information Processing (SIP) model and Uses and Gratifications theory, this research employs a positivist quantitative methodology, utilizing a survey of 220 respondents in a Jakarta-based office setting. Path analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between four independent variables—Communicator, Communicant, Message, and Channel—and the dependent variable, institutional image, operationalized through the dimensions of SENSATION, ATTENTION, INTERPRETATION, and SYMPATHY. The findings reveal that while engagement with ASEAN’s official website significantly impacts institutional image, the overall effect remains marginal. Disaggregated analyses indicate that Communicator, Communicant, and Channel exert measurable influence on ASEAN’s image, whereas the Message variable does not yield a statistically significant effect. Among these factors, Channel—representing the selection of digital communication media—emerges as the most influential determinant, accounting for 26.4% of the observed effect. Additionally, key attributes such as domain simplicity, user-friendly interface, dynamic design, and consistent content updates enhance audience retention and website revisitation. This study contributes to the broader discourse on digital media’s role in institutional perception and underscores the critical importance of strategic media channel selection in public communication efforts.