When Corporate Websites Appear as Sources in Research
Malaysian postgraduate researchers in business, marketing, technology, and corporate governance studies sometimes need to cite information from corporate websites — company mission statements, product specifications, investor relations disclosures, sustainability commitments, or official company positions on particular issues. Knowing how to cite corporate websites and product pages in APA correctly ensures these sources are attributed with appropriate specificity and that readers can locate the exact content being referenced.
Before citing any corporate website content, apply the same source evaluation criteria you would apply to any source: who authored the content, when was it published or last updated, and is this the most credible available source for this specific claim? Corporate websites are authoritative sources for a company’s own positions, products, and official statements — they are rarely appropriate as evidence for objective facts about the external world that should be supported by independent research.
The APA 7th Format for Corporate Website Pages
For a specific page on a corporate website: Organisation Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of the specific page. Organisation Name Website. URL
Example: Maybank. (2024, October 15). Maybank sustainability commitments 2030. Maybank Official Website. https://www.maybank2u.com.my/maybank2u/malaysia/en/personal/corporate/sustainability.page
Several elements require particular attention. The year should be the date the page was published or last updated, which is often found at the bottom of web pages or in the URL. If no date is available, use “n.d.” If the content on the page changes over time — and most corporate website content does — add a retrieval date: “Retrieved October 15, 2024, from https://…” This retrieval date is important for corporate website citations because a company may update its sustainability commitments, product specifications, or official positions, and a reader accessing the same URL later may see different content.
When the Author and Publisher Are the Same Organisation
For most corporate website citations, the organisation is both the author of the content and the publisher of the website. In this case, APA 7th instructs you to list the organisation as the author and omit the organisation name from the publisher position to avoid repetition. The website name — “Maybank Official Website” — takes the publisher position instead of the organisation name. This distinction — organisation as author, website name as publisher — is a specific APA 7th convention for corporate and institutional websites that differs from how print sources are cited.
Product Pages and Specification Sheets
For product pages or technical specification sheets on corporate websites, treat the product name as the page title and the company as the author. If the product page includes a specific model number or product code, include it in parentheses after the title for precision. For technical specifications that exist as downloadable PDFs from a corporate website, cite the PDF document using the format for digital documents — treating it as a report — rather than as a standard web page. Citing corporate websites and product pages in APA with this level of specificity ensures that your business and technology sources are attributed as carefully as your academic literature.
