Journal of Communication and Religion

Vol. 34 No. 1 May 2011, pp. 88-104

Applying Relationship Management Theory to Religious Organizations: An

Assessment of Relationship Cultivation Online

Richard D. Waters ∗, Christine S. Friedman, Brittney Mills, Lei Zeng

Abstract: Previous research on the presence of religious organizations on the

Internet revealed that their Web sites were largely electronic brochures. With more
than 28 million Americans annually using the Internet to communicate with their
churches, religious organizations must adapt to the increasingly technical society.
Modified from interpersonal communication, public relations scholars have
proposed several strategies that organizations can use to develop relationships with
their stakeholders in both the physical and virtual environments. Through a content
analysis of 270 randomly sampled Church Web sites from a national database, this
study found that religious organizations were open and transparent in their online
communication; however, they failed to use the interactive strategies to foster long-
term relationship growth with their constituents. Key words: Public relations,
relationship management, online communication, religious communication, religion

Introduction

Public relations has traditionally focused on the management of strategic

communication between an organization and its stakeholder groups. However, the
emergence of relationship management as the dominant paradigm in public relations
has resulted in a shift to focusing on relationship growth and cultivation (Ledingham
& Bruning, 1998).
The relationship management perspective is beginning to explore specific
strategies that organizations can use to foster relationship growth with their
stakeholders in physical settings even though increasingly individuals are using the
Internet to stay connected with organizations (Waters, 2008; Ki & Hon, 2009).
Despite the development of scales to measure relationship cultivation strategies,
there have been few attempts to measure how organizations incorporate these
relationship maintenance strategies into their Web presence, especially for religions
organizations.
However, online communication is becoming increasingly important as
denominations and religious figures establish a significant presence on the Internet.
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI created a partnership with YouTube to launch a
specific online channel to reach out to Catholics worldwide. Yet, little research has
been conducted to provide benchmark numbers for how religious institutions are
communicating with their virtual audiences.

∗
Author contact: Dr. Richard D. Waters, North Carolina State University, 201 Winston Hall, Campus
Box 8104 Dept. of Communication Raleigh, NC 27695-8104 Email: rdwaters@ncsu.edu

© 2011 Religious Communication Association

 Relationship Cultivation Online 89

Tapping into the spiritual dimensions of the Internet is not uncommon.

Larsen (2000) found that more than 28 million Americans use the Internet for
spiritual reasons, ranging from online Bible studies and virtual prayer groups to
communicating with religious advisors. As the Internet becomes more pervasive in
the everyday activities of the public, more individuals are using the Internet to seek
religious information and strengthen their relationships with religious organizations
(Ess, Kawabata, & Kurosaki, 2007). Religious institutions need to assess their Web
sites to make sure they are sufficiently focused on relationship cultivation and
management and not simply serving as an informational brochure. The purpose of
this study is to use content analysis methodology to assess how religious
organizations utilize relationship cultivation strategies on the Internet, as proposed
by Hon and Grunig (1999).

Literature Review

Religious organizations online. Despite the emerging prevalence of Web

sites with connections to religious organizations, Smith and Rupp (2002) found that
these organizations were among the last in American society to develop an online
presence. Not surprisingly, their adoption rates were significantly behind that of
for-profit organizations and government institutions, who often have more
significant financial resources. But, religious organizations were among the last
types of nonprofits to create Web sites (Norris, 2003) despite being warned in the
1990s that religion must embrace the emerging technology because it will shape
religious communication in the future (Lukacs, 1997).
Research has identified several reasons for the reluctance of religious
institutions to develop Web sites. Campbell (2007) suggested that religious
institutions, particularly Conservative ideologies, may be reluctant to become active
on the Internet because of the interactive nature of a Web site. The time and
resources required to monitor and maintain a site may take time away from
performing other duties in the organization and its community. Research also
revealed that a significant number of clergymen were skeptical that a religious-
based site would generate the Web traffic needed to necessitate having an online
presence (Campbell, 2007). Hill and White (2000) found that most organizations
simply lacked the training and skills necessary to create the organization’s Web site.
As the Internet becomes even more ingrained into American society,
religious organizations cannot ignore the Internet’s impact in staying connected to
churchgoers and in reaching out to interested individuals. Every year, more than 28
million Americans use the Internet for spiritual reasons according to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project (Larsen, 2000). These individuals primarily used
the Web to search for information on their own faith, but not all of their actions
were solitary in nature.
Many engaged in activities to promote socialization within the church, such as
online conversation with other church members and online group studies, and to
seek counseling with clergy and religious advisers (Campbell, 2005).
90 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

Individuals have warmly welcomed the Internet into their spiritual lives.
Kluver and Cheong (2007) found that individuals who regularly use the Internet for
personal and professional purposes were very receptive to seeking out religious
information on the Internet. Research from Ess, Kawabata, and Kurosaki (2007)
echoed these sentiments as he found that religious individuals felt that religion
needed a stronger presence on the Internet. They wanted to use this growing
technology to meet their spiritual needs.
Religious organizations have been encouraged to think about the broad
range of needs churchgoers may have when designing their Web sites. Bailey and
Storch (2007) stress that these organizations need to move beyond simply providing
a brochure-type Web site that is used to send messages from the church to visitors to
the site. They should embrace interactive technologies to allow the individual to ask
questions and become fully engaged with the organization. Blogging and social
media applications, such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, have also been
suggested as Internet tools that could help individuals become more connected and
dedicated to the religion (Cheong, Halavais, & Kyon, 2008). By assessing how they
currently use their Web sites to reach out to parishioners and individuals interested
in learning more about the institutions, religious leaders can use strategies outlined
in organizational communication literature to develop and cultivate relationships
online to the benefit of the organization and individual in an offline setting.

Relationship Management

The relationship management perspective argues that the primary goal of

public relations practitioners should be to create, sustain, and promote long-term
relationships between an organization and its various stakeholder groups whether
they be customers, volunteers, or churchgoers (Ferguson, 1984). This focus is a
substantial departure from the manipulation of public opinion to the incorporation of
ethical, two-way communication. Though it took more than 15 years for public
relations scholars to embrace the relationship perspective, this emerging paradigm
has generated significant interest among the scholarly and practitioner communities
because of the focus on relationship management. This new perspective has been
embraced by public relations scholars to the extent that the discipline is increasingly
being defined as relationship management rather than strategic communications
(Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 2000).
Relationship management is not unique to public relations as it has been
widely embraced by marketing, corporate communications, and integrated
marketing communication programs. Morgan and Hunt’s (1994) seminal article on
relationship marketing introduces the concepts of building a foundation of trust and
commitment with an organization’s stakeholders, whether they be marketing’s
traditional customer base, a nonprofit organization’s donors, or the parishioners of a
church. One of the first attempts to measure relationships in an organizational
context came from the SERVQUAL scales from marketing literature (Parasuraman,
Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988). These scales measure the assurances given to a
stakeholders’ concerns and measure the organization’s willingness to assist the
stakeholder.
 Relationship Cultivation Online 91

Since the introduction of these scales, relationship management scholars

from several disciplines have proposed examination of several different aspects of
the organization-public relationship, ranging from leadership (Bull, 2003) and
culture (Eagle & Kitchen, 2000) to message development (Duncan & Moriarity,
1998) and interactivity (Grönroos, 2004). All of these factors influence how an
organization develops and maintains relationships with its audience; however, they
all reflect various dimensions of organizational communication.
Baker (2000) bases the covenantal model of public relations around
symmetrical communication. This model of public relations fosters individual,
spiritual growth as well as growth between clergy and individual congregants
because of the open exchange of ideas between the groups. Tilson and
Venkateswaran (2006) reiterate that devotional-promotional communication “aims
to establish and maintain good clergy–congregant/ devotee relations as well as
inspire devotion to the faith” (p. 115).
Tilson and Chao (2002) note that the covenantal model of public relations
can be used outside of the confines of the church to the greater community.
Through an examination of two case studies on the Hindu temples in the United
States, this model is shown to be an effective form of communication through a
variety of channels, interpersonal (word-of-mouth, face-to-face, and telephone
conversations), organizational (newsletters and direct mailings), mass media
(advertisements and community calendars on PBS broadcasts), and the Internet
(Web sites).
Despite having access to a wider variety of communication channels,
organizations develop relationships with individuals in similar patterns reflected by
the relationship development process between two individuals. Public relations
scholars “have looked to the literature on interpersonal communication for concepts
that can be adapted or modified for a theory of organization-public relationships”
(Grunig & Huang, 2000, p. 36). Grounded in interpersonal communication theory,
standardized scales have been developed for evaluating organizational relationships.
These scales primarily focus on the measurement of the four dimensions of
relationships—commitment, power balance, satisfaction, and trust (Hon & Grunig,
1999). Studies replicated in multiple settings and have found that relationships
producing higher levels of these four dimensions are more likely to produce lasting
relationships between an organization and individuals.
Following a cursory overview of cultivation strategies by Hon and Grunig
(1999), Toth (2000) called for additional inquiries into relationship management and
detailed explication of the interpersonal strategies that could be applied to the
organizational context. Much of the research stemming from interpersonal
relationships has involved the strategies explicated by Stafford and Canary (1991).
After studying the relationship dynamics and communication exchanges among
married couples, six principle relationship strategies emerged as being among the
most important for healthy, successful relationships. These strategies include
access, assurances, networking, openness and disclosure, positivity, and sharing of
tasks. Public relations researchers have begun explicating these six strategies and
exploring their impact on organizational relationships.
92 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

Access. Organizations need to offer individuals the ability to communicate

with the appropriate staff members when questions or concerns arise.
Organizational leadership also needs to be able to communicate with key audiences
when decisions are being made that impact them. For both parties, access to the
other side is critical for maintaining a healthy dialogue. Hon and Grunig (1999)
stress that even though access can be achieved simply by providing contact
information, organizations must be willing to engage in that conversation. Members
of religious organizations must be given access to communicate with church leaders
in private when the need arises.
Assurances. Providing verbal and written assurances to another party can
enhance a relationship by expressing the acknowledgement of those concerns
(Canary & Stafford, 1992). Looking at the relationship between organizations and
stakeholders, assurances occur when “each party in the relationship attempts to
assure the other that it and its concerns are legitimate and to demonstrate that is
committed to maintaining the relationship” (Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier, 2002).
When churchgoers have concerns about their churches’ operations or personal
spiritual concerns, the representatives of religious organizations must work to
address those needs through sincere acknowledgement.
Networking. Central to its operationalization, networking involves
building alliances that benefit an organization and its stakeholders. Waters and
Lord (2009) note that seeking out partners with similar visions allows organizations
to position themselves better in regards to achieving their own goals. For religious
organizations, these partnerships may involve working with other religious
organizations, government institutions, or nonprofit organizations to carry out social
services for a community. They may also offer a more direct benefit to churchgoers
by partnering with restaurants and community organizations who offer discounts
when membership cards or weekly church bulletins are shown.
Openness. Grunig and Huang (2000) suggested that monitoring openness
provides an effective gauge of relationship quality because it involves direct
discussions about the relationship. Openness involves the full disclosure of
thoughts, feelings, and behavior among all members of the relationship. Given
demands for more accountability in recent years due to scandals involving religious
organizations, full disclosure can generate increased levels of trust and satisfaction
in the relationship (Waters, 2008).
Positivity. Quite simply, this concept has been conceptualized as behaviors
designed to make interactions more pleasant. Hon and Grunig (1999) defined it as
“anything the organization or publics do to make the relationship more enjoyable for
the parties involved” (p. 14). Whether that be through the incorporation of proper
etiquette in office communication or by making information easy to find on a Web
site, religious organizations can generate positive feelings toward the institution by
ensuring its leaders, employees, and volunteers create a pleasant environment.
Sharing of tasks. The final relationship cultivation strategy involves both
sides of the relationship, in this case the religious organization and individuals share
responsibilities and work together to make decisions that benefit each other.
Stafford and Canary (1991) found that sharing of tasks is a strong predictor of how
 Relationship Cultivation Online 93

individuals evaluate the balance of power in a relationship and that it greatly

impacts willingness to continue the relationship.
These six strategies—access, assurances, networking, openness, positivity,
and sharing of tasks—have had a significant impact on how individuals maintain
relationships with one another. Research has examined how these strategies can be
used in physical settings to develop relationships with donors (Waters, 2009) and
members of nonprofit associations (Ki & Hon, 2009). Though these strategies have
frequently been discussed conceptually in their applicability to the organization-
public relationship, few attempts have been made to document how they are
implemented in a virtual setting. Ki and Hon (2006) provided insights into how
Fortune 500 companies use five of these strategies in their Web sites, but they
maintained their initial analysis should be replicated to revise the measurement
schema and expanded to other domains to see how organizations use the Internet to
develop relationships. Given the growing importance of having an active Internet
presence for religious organizations, this study seeks to address the following
research question:
RQ1: To what extent are religious organizations in America’s “Bible Belt” working
to develop and maintain relationships with their online audiences?

Methodology

To analyze the presence of relationship cultivation strategies on religious

organizations’ Web sites in the United States, the researchers conducted a content
analysis of 270 sites that were randomly chosen from the Church Angel directory,
an online national directory of religious institutions in the United States. Thirty
institutions were chosen from the nine states that comprise the “Bible Belt” region
as defined by Heatwole (1977). Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Churches within the Bible Belt region of the United States were chosen for
several reasons. First, several scholars from various academic disciplines have
concluded that churches in this region have some of the strongest bonds with their
church-goers of all religious institutions in the World (e.g., Carter, 2007; Bradley,
1995; Tweedie, 1978). Additionally, Bible Belt churches are proactive in their
communication efforts with their parishioners both within the walls of the church
and in the community (e.g., Harvey, 2004; Pattillo-McCoy, 1998). But, perhaps
most importantly for the current study, the Bible Belt region was one of the first
areas of the United States to embrace the Internet to counter the nation’s religious
decline (Malphurs & Malphurs, 2003).
The research was conducted to determine how well the six relationship
cultivation strategies were incorporated into the religious institutions’ Web sites.
Access, networking, openness, positivity, and sharing of tasks were measured using
revised scales created by Ki and Hon (2006). This study also includes an original
scale for the assurances strategy proposed by Hon and Grunig (1999). Although
scholarship originally focused on how these strategies can be applied in physical
settings, the explication of these concepts below demonstrate how they were
measured in a virtual environment. The strategies were coded using a 4-point scale
94 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

where 1 meant the organization did not include the cultivation strategy in their Web
site and 4 meant the organization excelled at implementing the strategy.
For an example of how ease of navigation was coded, a site received a
score of one if it contained only a basic home page without links to additional
sections or pages. Sites received a score of two if they had three or more
inaccessible links from the homepage while sites with only one or two non-
functioning links received scores of three. Finally, a four was assigned to those
Web sites whose links were all working properly.
The first strategy, access, was defined as providing information to a Web
site visitor to assist in communicating with the organization. Sites were analyzed to
determine how well they provided telephone numbers, a company address, and an e-
mail address. To illustrate the 4-point coding schema, the operationalization of the
telephone number criteria is highlighted. Web sites that provided no telephone
numbers were assigned a rating of one. Web sites that provided only a central or
main organization telephone number were assigned a score of one. When a site
listed multiple telephone numbers (e.g., departments) but did not include specific
names of contacts at the organization, a score of three was given to the site. Finally,
sites that offered multiple telephone numbers and included a contact person’s name
were given the highest rating.
Assurances sought to identify the ways that churches could let Web site
visitors know that their questions and concerns were being considered by
organization leaders. Sites were coded for items such as the provision of feedback
forms, the ability to e-mail the organization with comments, providing a secure site,
and the ability to register for updates about the organization and the Web site.
Networking was measured by identifying whether organizations had
existing partnerships with other religious organizations, government agencies,
community groups, and nonprofit organizations. The Web sites were coded based
on whether these relationships existed and how well they were publicized on the site
through the inclusion of links to partner Web sites, logos, and information about the
partnership.
Conceptualized as making the communication process more transparent,
openness on a Web site was documented by notifications of changes to
organizational finances and restructuring in addition to providing information on the
operations and history of the religious institution.
Positivity, defined as any attempt to make a visit to the Web site more
efficient and effective, included items such as ease of navigation, search engine,
sitemap, and main menu. Researchers determined that sites with these navigational
tools are more user-friendly and foster positivity between the organizations and their
target publics.
Web sites were coded for the sharing of tasks strategy by searching for
activities that indicate a partnership between the organization and its members.
These activities included leading church programs and participating in church
activities, educational events, and volunteer efforts.
 Relationship Cultivation Online 95

Three coders were trained during a two-hour long session, which ended
with the coders coding 10 percent of the sample to determine if additional training
was needed. Intercoder reliability scores for the 32 measures ranged from a low of
α = .86 to α = .94 for all variables using Scott’s π.

Results

As previously stated, 30 religious organizations’ Web sites were coded from

each of the 9 states that comprise America’s “Bible Belt.” In terms of religious
denomination, the most represented religious affiliation was Baptist (32 percent).
The next largest denominations were Methodist (8 percent), Pentecostal and
Presbyterian with 7 percent each, and the Church of Christ (6 percent). Catholic
and Episcopalian churches each represented 3 percent of the sample, and the
Lutheran church represented 2 percent of the sample. Non-denominational churches
represented 14 percent of the sample, and the catch-all category of “Other
affiliations” represented 20 percent of the sample.
To answer the study’s research question, descriptive statistics were run
using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. To determine which strategies were most often
incorporated the individual items used to measure the six strategies were combined
into their representative indices. The mean scores were then calculated for each of
the indices with higher scores indicating a stronger performance of incorporating the
strategies into the organizations’ Web sites. The two strategies most often used by
the sites were positivity (m = 2.38, sd = 0.35) and openness (m = 2.35, sd = 0.63).
Access (m = 2.22, sd = 0.53) and sharing of tasks (m = 2.13, sd = 0.95) were the
only other cultivation strategies that scored slightly above the midpoint of the scale.
Networking (m = 1.51, sd = 0.62) and assurances (m = 1.42, sd = 0.44) were used
less often than the other strategies.
Although these mean scores offer a glimpse into how religious
organizations in the Bible Belt region attempt to cultivate relationship with visitors
to their Web sites, the scores do not provide significant information as to the
specific devices used to carry out those strategies. Table 1 presents the frequencies
of each variable examined for the six indices.
Overall, the churches had a marginal performance in providing specific
contact information for the religious organizations. The vast majority of church
Web sites provided only a generic phone number for the entire church (80.4%)
rather than giving specific phone numbers for key leaders (8.7%). Similarly, 85.5%
of Web sites provided only a central mailing address for the institution. Nearly 46%
of the organizations in the sample provided a generic e-mail address for the
organization while 28% of the sample provided e-mail addresses for specific
departments and specific individuals inside the church.
The Web sites’ least-incorporated strategy was assurances. Therefore, not
surprisingly, the sites performed poorly on all four index items. Three-fourths of
the Web sites in the sample failed to provide visitors the ability to offer feedback
forms so they could express their concerns to the organization, and 48% failed to
provide a dedicated link to e-mail the organization with comments or questions.
96 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

Additionally, 86.9% of church websites failed to offer a secure site for their
online tithing efforts, and 81.8% of church websites provided no opportunity to sign
up for e-mail updates, thus receiving a rating of one.

Table 1. Frequency of Relationship Variables on Church Websites

High Medium Low None
Positivity
Ease of Navigation 243 16 10 6
Search Engine 5 9 45 216
Sitemap 7 10 12 246
Main Menu for 116 128 15 16
Entire Site
Openness
Organization 106 57 82 30
Overview
Releasing News 101 55 66 53
Church Reports 2 18 5 250
Church Activities 152 44 32 47
Sharing of Tasks
Volunteering to Lead 19 23 27 206
Programs
Participate in Church 93 47 52 83
Activity
Education Activity 71 51 62 91
Networking
With other Religious 44 67 24 140
Groups
With Government 1 8 4 262
Agencies
With Community 12 33 8 222
Groups or other
Nonprofits
Access
Telephone Numbers 21 10 221 23
Church Address 7 22 235 11
Staff E-mail Address 77 25 125 48
Assurances
Feedback Form 11 43 14 207
E-mail for 7 20 116 132
Comments/Questions
Secure Site for 14 8 14 239
Fundraising/Store
E-mail Update 11 9 30 225
Statements
 Relationship Cultivation Online 97

For positivity, the vast majority of churches received a high rating (88.4%)
for ease of navigation, whereas the majority of churches did very poorly in terms of
providing a search engine (78.5%) or a sitemap (89.5%) for visitors to their Web
sites. Overall, the organizations performed reasonably well in terms of providing a
main menu for the entire site as 59.2% of the sample received scores representing
the top two categories.
Openness was one of the strategies that was most often incorporated into the
Web sites. More than 56% of the sample provided a detailed listing and description
of the church activities, and nearly 40% provided a comprehensive overview of the
organization. Additionally, 37.4% of the religious institutions provided regular
news updates about events occurring at the organization and news about their
members. Despite the disclosure of information about organizational histories and
church events, the organizations overwhelmingly failed to provide comprehensive
reports, whether in the form of newsletters, annual reports, or weekly bulletins
(90.9%).
For sharing of tasks, organizations performed moderately well in terms of
incorporating these strategies into their Web sites. The organizations tended to be
more adept at providing information on how visitors to the Web site could become
involved in church activities (51.8%) and educational activities (45.2%). Only
15.6% of the religious organizations provided detailed information on how
individuals could become involved in church-supported volunteering efforts while
76.3% of sites failed to mention how to become volunteers for church activities
even though they provided information on how to participate in these church and
education activities.
Networking was one of the relationship cultivation strategies that was
rarely used by the religious organizations in the sample. Nearly 97% of the sample
failed to mention their involvement in government agencies. Nearly half of the
sample publicized their involvement with other religious organizations but only
16.3% of the sample provided logos of these partner organizations in addition to
linking directly to their Web sites. Similarly, the sampled organizations were less
likely to overtly publicize their involvement with other nonprofit or community
groups through links and logos (4.4%), but they did acknowledge their partnerships
with these organizations (17.8%).

Discussion

This study sought to determine how religious organizations used their Web
sites to cultivate relationships. Recapping the study’s findings, positivity and
openness were the strategies that were most often used while networking and
assurances were the strategies that were rarely incorporated into the Web sites’
content. The most often implemented relationship cultivation elements were to
make the site easy to navigate, to provide a permanent main menu on the site, and to
offer details about the organization and its programs. The findings echo previous
studies finding that nonprofit organizations fail to take advantage of the interactive
nature of the Internet. However, the lack of engagement is somewhat surprising
given the proselytizing nature of religious organizations. Hackett (2006) proposed
98 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

that religious organizations should be examined not only in terms of their presence
online, but also by their actions online. However, the results of this study indicate
that the churches examined in this study are not having much success with
interactivity.
Bedell (2000) suggests that Protestant churches online have begun using the
Internet to reach out to others through the Web to answer questions about specific
church events and engage in spiritual questions. Online behaviors of this type rely
on the organization providing methods to reach out and communicate with church
leaders; however, this study found that Bible Belt churches rarely provided a
feedback form or encouraged e-mailing questions or comments. Instead,
organizations largely kept their Web sites as virtual brochures. Brasher (2001) felt
that religious organizations should reach out through all of the Web’s
communication mechanisms (e.g., instant messaging, online chatrooms, social
media, Web site forums) to spread religious beliefs to others, but Bible Belt
churches failed to demonstrate any significant networking opportunities with other
religious or secular groups.
Nonprofit organizations, including religious organizations, have
consistently been found to use the Internet primarily as a one-way information
source rather than as a communication tool to dialogue with their audiences
(Coombs, 1998). Given the continued expansion of the Internet into the American
daily life, it is important for organizations to recognize that simply providing Web
site content that could be placed in a brochure will not suffice (Kelleher, 2006).
Organizations need to strive to better use this medium that promotes two-way
communication and relationship cultivation with key stakeholders. Bailey and
Storch (2007) urge religious groups to learn how to incorporate a relationship-based
approach into their Web site quickly or they risk falling out of touch with their
constituents.
This encouragement not only comes as a sound practice in relationship
management but also because of the evidence of the growing number of
cyberchurches. Cyberchurches may not have a physical building, but they offer
their followers regular sermons, inspirational music, multimedia Bibles, and virtual
sanctuaries. Helland (2005) found that the number of virtual churches was growing
quickly because of popularity among teenagers and young adults.
Indeed, one in six teenagers said that they first turn to the Internet for their
spiritual needs and that they expect to stop attending a brick-and-mortar church in
the near future because of the growth of cyberchurches (Barna Research Group,
1998). The same report estimated that up to 20% of American Internet users will
rely on the Web for all of their religious activities within 20 years. Traditional
churches may not be forced to abandon their physical buildings; however, they need
to recognize that the public increasingly is using the Internet for spiritual
information and they need to rethink their communication strategies to foster
relationship growth with these individuals (Ess, Kawabata, & Kurosaki, 2007)
Although the churches in the study moderately incorporated the principles
of relationship cultivation into their Web sites, there were several items that were
largely ignored. Spirituality is a personal topic that often involves one-on-one
conversations and consulting with religious leaders. However, overwhelmingly the
 Relationship Cultivation Online 99

organizations in this sample did little to promote a personal relationship with church
leaders. The organizations did provide general phone numbers and email addresses
via the Web site, but rarely provided a more comprehensive directory so that visitors
to the site could reach a specific leader at the church.
Additionally, the sites rarely offered the ability to communicate with the
church directly through feedback forms or encouraging comments or questions
through emails to the organization. Failing to assure Web site visitors that their
concerns and comments were wanted can damage existing relationships with
churchgoers and others who visit the Web site before physically going to the
religious organization. One additional challenge to proper relationship cultivation
involved the sharing of tasks variable, which concentrated on getting individuals
involved with the organization. The research team found that the sampled Web sites
often did include information about volunteering with the church, becoming
involved with educational activities, or participating in specific activities. However,
this information was not always easy to find. This information was consistently
omitted from the Web sites’ main menus, and failing to provide search engines or a
site map made it more difficult to find this needed information.
Finally, the Web sites were generally successful in terms of being open
about the organizations. The content consistently provided solid, quality
information on the organization’s overview and history as well as specific activities.
The organizations even provided recent news about individuals and events.
However, provision of financial, governance, and attendance reports was found to
be one of the least used cultivation strategies.
Armfield and Hobert (2003) stressed that the virtual experiences of visitors
to religious Web sites impacts their involvement with the church offline. Providing
regular reports for members allows the organizations to demonstrate their desire to
be more transparent in their operations and foster feelings of trust and satisfaction
with the relationship with the church. The absence of these reports may cause
unintended skepticism or distrust of church leadership among target audiences. By
incorporating relationship management principles into their organizations’ Web
sites, religious leaders can strengthen personal relationships with existing members
while creating positive impressions for new visitors.
Esrock and Leichty (1998) maintain that the Internet is an effective and
cost-efficient way for an organization to communicate with its stakeholders. The
results of this study suggest that incorporating cultivation strategies into the design
and content of Web sites can play an important role in maintaining relationships
with current churchgoers and fostering relationship growth with potential new
members. Without maintenance all relationships will deteriorate. Therefore,
religious groups should take advantage of the Internet and maximize its potential for
relationship cultivation.
100 Waters, Friedman, Mills & Zeng

Nevertheless, creating better Web sites is not, and should not be, the end all
for relationship management. Even though the Pew Research Center’s “Internet and
American Life” project has found that Internet use for professional and personal
reasons is rapidly increasing by every generation (Jones & Fox, 2009), religious
groups should not be negligent in continuing traditional activities, such as weekly
services and fellowship events for all church members. Off-line and on-line
activities should be simultaneously used to create lasting relationships with
audiences.
Horsfall (2000) found that religious organizations are using the Internet to
supplement their traditional communication activities. By using the Web site as a
virtual brochure, religious organizations can keep people up-to-date on current
events and news. Malphurs and Malphurs (2003) concluded that religious
organizations need to pursue communication online to maximize their impact;
however, they should do so in a manner that works in tandem with their traditional
communication methods. For example, weekly religious services could be recorded
and distributed as a podcast over the Web while prayer requests and news could be
listed in dedicated sections on the organization’s Web site or blog. Using the
Internet in this manner has a dual purpose of reiterating key messages conveyed
through interpersonal communication channels while reaching out to the growing
religious audiences online (Dawson, 2004).

Conclusion

Based on the results of this study, churches of the Bible Belt are using Web
sites to reach key publics, but are not utilizing their Web sites as effectively as they
could. Churches can improve their communication with key publics by improving
their Web site content and design. Rather than using a simplified coding schema
that checked for presence or absence of cultivation strategies, this study sought to
identify and measure the quality of strategy items. By focusing attention on
measuring quality, this study was able to identify key areas that religious
organizations could address to enhance their relationship management efforts.
Limitations. First, the results of this study cannot be generalized to all
religious organizations. Despite using a source that was identified by several
religious organizations as being the most comprehensive database of religious
organizations in the United States, the research team recognized after the coding had
begun that several religious affiliations appeared to be excluded from the database,
including Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu organizations. Additionally, the study did not
examine religious organizations across the United States. It solely looked at
churches in the nation’s Bible Belt. Although the Pew Center has found that
Internet technology has been widely adopted throughout the nation, the possibility
remains that religious organizations in small communities in the South have not
deemed the creation of a fully developed Web site as a necessity for their
congregations.
 Relationship Cultivation Online 101

Future research. This study did not measure the effect of relationship
cultivation strategies on the Web site visitors. Measuring the effects of the strategies
could provide better insights about the significance of the Web sites for religious
organizations. In addition, this study did not explore relationship maintenance
strategies focusing on specific audiences, such as existing church members, new
visitors to the organization, or even segmenting the congregation into different
demographic groups. Moon (2002) emphasized the need to customize messages for
different audiences in the computer-mediated-communication environment to seek
true benefits from relationship cultivation.
Finally, additional research needs to be conducted to determine how
religious organizations, including affiliations sampled in this study and those not
included in the Church Angel directory, are using social media (e.g., blogs, social
networking sites, podcasting and Web casting) to reach out to individuals online.
Given that these sites are among the most frequently visited sites on the Internet, it
would be helpful to see how they are also being used to meet the spiritual needs of
the American public.

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