Intangibles Disclosure on Entrepreneurial Small Businesses’ Websites to Influence Stakeholders’ Impressions

This study examines the ways in which entrepreneurs influence stakeholders to form perceptions using intangibles disclosed on business websites. Interviews were conducted with 10 entrepreneurs, each representing an entrepreneurial business, and 17 intangible capabilities disclosed to impress three stakeholder groups using five impression-management tactics were uncovered. The study uses an entrepreneurship perspective to investigate entrepreneurs’ motivation to share their beliefs with stakeholders, and resource-based theory to posit that intangibles combined with business capabilities are competencies for such communication, in addition to stakeholder theory for targeting specific stakeholders.