Digital corporate identity congruence analises: highlighting critical issues and untapped opportunities. A focus on Italian SMEs of the dairy industry

Firms often signal their identities through their digital footprints. The context chosen for this research is the Italian dairy industry, which is fragmented with many product-oriented smaller farms. Corporate identity congruence (CIC) refers to the fit between several corporate identity meanings. These meanings are signaled to stakeholders by multiple vehicles, some of which are digital in nature. Digital signal analyses could reveal misalignment between offline and online communication. The research design involves multiple studies: phenomenological interviews on 7 case studies, using NVIVO to analyze transcripts and other documents; nutritional and chemometric analysis on dairy products; corporate identity congruence meaning based analysis, with a particular focus on digital communication. Misalignments discovered between what companies do, who they are, and what they say (offline and online) are discussed as critical issues. This digital CIC analysis strives to highlight new opportunities for companies that want to evolve their digital corporate identity