Impacts of Go-Jek Executives Statement of Support For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Community Towards Corporate Reputation
Rissia Priyahita (a*), Ummi Salamah (b)
a) Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Indonesia
Jalan Salemba Raya 4, RT.4/RW.5, Jakarta Pusat 10430, Indonesia
*rissiapriyahita[at]yahoo.com
b) Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Indonesia
Jalan Salemba Raya 4, RT.4/RW.5, Jakarta Pusat 10430, Indonesia
Abstract
The study focuses on a statement from Go-Jeks executive supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community in Indonesia that has induced an outburst of pros and cons from Go-Jek users on social media. This descriptive qualitative research explains how the statement from Go-Jeks Vice President of Operations and Business Development, Brata Santoso, was perceived by the companys stakeholders and how it has affected the companys reputability and accountability in the eye of its users. One of the impacts primarily at hand was the mass uninstalling of the Go-Jek app from their phones in protest of what they perceived as Go-Jeks approval of homosexuality. Primary data in this study is compiled through in-depth interviews with Go-Jek users, and secondary data are news articles and documentation compiled from the internet. The criteria for informants in this study are 1) active users of Go-Jek application, 2) followers of Brata Santosos social media account, 3) derived from millenials. The results of this research explores the impacts from the users perspective, showing how perception of a company is shaped and altered through actions of its employees, based on Henri Tajfels and John Turners Social Identity Theory. The study also indicates the influence of executive-level personal branding in shaping corporate reputation, that is able to earn or lose the trust of its stakeholders.
Keywords: corporate reputation; social identity; LGBT; Go-Jek; Indonesia
Topic: What are the topics?