Employees: The key link to corporate reputation management

Employees and corporate reputation are unique resources that generate positive financial performance and ultimately create sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate reputation is vital to the organization, and employees are the key link to managing it. By recognizing the synergistic role that employees can play in the overall positioning of corporate reputation, management can obtain significant achievements in terms of satisfying corporate strategic objectives. Initiatives essential to gain employee commitment to corporate reputation enhancement are examined, along with the use of the balanced scorecard to integrate corporate reputation metrics into the incentive system.     

Corporate Reputation Through Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Insights From Service Industry Companies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained global awareness in recent years. The proponents of CSR state that a good corporate reputation may be beneficial to an organization. This research paper reviews the theoretical basis of CSR, and by adopting a qualitative methodology examines the characteristics of CSR strategies and CSR communication tactics of eight companies in Cyprus market through personal in-depth interviews. Results reveal that CSR has a positive impact on the company's employees, the environment, stakeholders and the general public, and highlight that CSR is an important ingredient for the success of the organizations in the Cyprus market.     

Reputation as Matching Identities and Images: Extending Davies and Chun's (2002) Research on Gaps between the Internal and External Perceptions of the Corporate Brand

Corporate reputation is defined as a construct representing aggregated perceptions of people in and around companies. A corporate personality scale was developed to measure identities as internal perceptions and images as external perceptions with the same instrument. We report here an application of this instrument and the replication of a previous study conducted by Davies and Chun in 2002 (Corporate reputation review 5(2/3): 144–158), by comparing two similar companies operating in the same industry. Perceptions of employees, students, journalists and professional colleagues were measured for each company. The reputations of the two companies were different in synchronization of perceptions of respondent groups for each company (one high and one low) and in their comparative scores from different respondent groups. The study discovered that two companies could be equally successful in performance while their reputations can be significantly different. The second significant theoretical implication of the study was the finding that a composite, aggregate measure of a corporate reputation can obscure as much as reveal perceptions of different valuing groups. The main practical implication of the study is that companies can achieve comparable performances despite having different personalities both in profile and in coherence. This implies that executives need to observe their organizations through various views, which should allow them more freedom of action and experimentation.     

In search of the roots of corporate reputation management: Being a consistent corporate social performer

Corporate social performance (CSP) has received a particularly high share of attention as one of the main determinants of corporate reputation. However, few studies have tested the extent to which the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation may be affected by industry, country, or other context-related variables. Besides, some conceptual thinking suggests that the impact of CSP on corporate reputation may vary according to the level of consistency of a firm's behaviors. However, this view has not been empirically addressed. For this reason, the main objective of this study is to explore the impact of consistency in CSP management on corporate reputation. Specifically, we analyze both the effect of CSP internal consistency (or consistency between environmental and social performance) and CSP consistency over time on corporate reputation. The results based on data from an international sample of 133 companies for the period 2011 to 2016, support either CSP internal consistency or CSP consistency over time (positive increment of CSP over time) positively affecting corporate reputation. The results also confirm the moderation effect of CSP internal consistency on the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation. These results reveal that consistency in social responsibility management helps a firm to consolidate its corporate reputation.     

Balancing acts: Managing employees and reputation in social media

Abstract

Although previous studies have shown that social-media platforms offer companies new ways to gain business value, they have also identified fundamental brand-related challenges in social media. The purpose of this paper is to complement the extant literature by addressing the ways in which companies manage their reputation in social media, focusing on the role of employees. We first illustrate how social-media environments amplify the need for distinct corporate reputation-management practices and, second, how challenges and solutions vary across companies in different sectors and businesses. We contribute to prior research by conceptualising corporate reputation management in social media as balancing acts, which take place in relation to different, contradictory, and sometimes paradoxical priorities related to branding and managing employees.     

社会责任、信誉资本与企业价值创造

信誉资本作为企业的一种无形资源,在社会责任与企业价值创造关系中发挥了价值传导的中介作用。社会责任通过信誉资本对企业价值的影响方向并不是单一的,而是一个相互影响、相互促进的循环和协同作用过程。企业承担社会责任对企业价值创造和财务绩效具有正向影响,而财务绩效的优化使企业具有更多的资源和能力进行信誉资本投资,反过来又可以推进企业社会责任活动的开展。     

仆从领导文化与企业声誉管理

本文将Grahame企业声誉的理论模型运用于仆从领导文化与企业声誉管理内在关系的研究。通过对仆从领导的“齿轮传动模型”的阐释,本文分析了仆从领导文化与企业声誉管理相关的四个特征,即领导知名度、员工参与度、顾客满意度与社区和谐度,揭示了企业文化作用于企业声誉管理的“光环效应”。     

社会责任履行与企业信誉资本生成——基于问卷调查的实证分析

信誉是企业利益相关者对企业的一种综合评价,社会责任影响利益相关者行为,因此对企业信誉可能产生积极的影响。通过问卷调查的实证分析,发现顾客责任、环境责任和慈善责任对企业信誉有显著的正向影响,而政府责任和员工责任对企业信誉影响不明显。     

Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives

Firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) because they consider that some kind of competitive advantage accrues to them. We contend that resource-based perspectives (RBP) are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Investments in socially responsible activities may have internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities which are related namely to know-how and corporate culture. In effect, investing in social responsibility activities and disclosure has important consequences on the creation or depletion of fundamental intangible resources, namely those associated with employees. The external benefits of CSR are related to its effect on corporate reputation. Corporate reputation can be understood as a fundamental intangible resource which can be created or depleted as a consequence of the decisions to engage or not in social responsibility activities and disclosure. Firms with good social responsibility reputation may improve relations with external actors. They may also attract better employees or increase current employees’ motivation, morale, commitment and loyalty to the firm. This article contributes to the understanding of why CSR may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how RBP can be used in such endeavour. Manuel Castelo Branco is Invited Lecturer of Accounting at the Faculty of Economics, University of Porto. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Economics and Management, University of Minho. His research has been published in journals such as the Social Responsibility Journal and Corporate Communications: An International Journal. Lúcia Lima Rodrigues, Ph.D is Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management, University of Minho. She is the Head of the Department of Management and the Director of the Master in Accounting and Management. She is the Editor of the Portuguese Journal of Accounting and Management, Editor for Europe of the international journal Accounting History. She is referee in several Portuguese and International journals. Her research has been published in several major international journals in Accounting such as The Accounting Historians Journal, Accounting Education: An International Journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting and Accounting Forum.     

Corporate Image: Employee Reactions and Implications for Managing Corporate Social Performance

Corporate image is a function of organizational signals which determine the perceptions of various stakeholders regarding the actions of an organization. Because of its relationship to the actions of an organization, image has been studied as an indicator of the social performance of the organization. Recent research has determined that social performance has direct effects on the behaviors and attitudes of the organization's employees. To better understand these effects, this study develops and empirically tests a model which links corporate leaders' actions, employees' perceptions of corporate image, and the employees' level of association with the organization. The effects of managing the social environment of an organization on its employees' perceptions of image, attitudes, and intended behaviors are discussed.     

The customer-based corporate reputation scale: Replication and short form

Corporate reputation attracts significant attention among marketing scholars. However, researchers often overlook customers' opinions specifically. Walsh and Beatty [Walsh, G., Beatty, S.E., Measuring Customer-based Corporate Reputation: Scale Development, Validation, and Application. J Acad Mark Sci 2007; 35(1): 127–143.] identify dimensions of customer-based corporate reputation (CBR); they develop scales to measure these dimensions. Researchers in the present study use the Walsh and Beatty CBR scale in the UK and Germany across contexts to study the cross-cultural validity of the measure of customer-based corporate reputation. This study assesses an abbreviated version of the CBR scale (with 15 items). The CBR Short scale has equally good dimensional properties as the original scale. The paper ends with implications for cross-cultural marketing research and management.     

Value Priorities as Combining Core Factors Between CSR and Reputation – A Qualitative Study

This article explores the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate reputation using qualitative research approach. Specifically, the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation is examined from the viewpoint of value theory. This paper brings up for discussion the various value priorities lying in the background of CSR actions. The aim is to form categories of value priorities around CSR and reputation, based on qualitative research approach. The main concepts in this paper – CSR, reputation and value – are also defined. This paper further discusses the theory of value structure and content, which identifies certain principal values among different cultures. The data consist of eight interviews with employees of a newspaper company. The results suggest that value priorities play an influential role in CSR actions, influencing to the essence of certain reputation stories in the corporate context.     

The effects of institutional development and national culture on cross-national differences in corporate reputation

Corporate reputation is becoming more important to managers and scholars around the world. However, little is known about how much or why reputation differs across countries. We use institutional theory to fill this gap. We focus on institutional development, reflecting the expansion of formal institutions, and national culture, an important informal institution. We find that reputation is negatively related to institutional development and masculinity and positively related to power distance in a sample of 401 corporations from 25 countries. We recommend that institutional theory complement signaling theory in cross-national studies of corporate reputation.     

辽宁沿海经济带中华老字号服务创新与企业声誉研究

通过构建中华老字号服务创新与企业声誉之间的关系模型,并选取辽宁沿海经济带中华老字号企业作为调查对象,实证分析发现:中华老字号企业进行服务创新可以提升企业声誉。服务创新主要有服务理念创新、服务界面的创新和服务传递的创新三个要素。企业声誉由情感声誉与认知声誉两个要素组成。服务创新的三个方面对情感声誉都有直接正向的影响,而三要素中只有服务界面的创新直接正向影响认知声誉,其它两个方面没有直接正向的影响作用。     

企业声誉的话语性修复——基于海底捞公开话语的案例研究

公开发布致歉信及事件处理方案已经成为企业在危机中即时修复声誉的常见做法,但并非所有的话语都能实现预期的声誉修复目标。鉴于此,文章将声誉管理和话语分析相结合,对2017年海底捞在后厨卫生危机后第一时间发布的致歉信及处理通报进行话语分析,详细探讨及时、准确的话语如何帮助企业在较短时间内实现声誉的初步修复。案例分析表明,公开话语的语篇、概念及人际三大元功能与声誉修复过程中的问题识别、解决方案及关系调节存在侧重性对应关系,通过准确表述、传达企业的态度、行动及持续改进能力来改变利益相关者的负面看法,实现企业声誉表层与实质修复的结合。基于这些发现,文章提出企业声誉的话语性修复模型,该模型有助于探索、理解危机中企业声誉的修复过程,并在实践上为企业声誉管理、组织沟通提供借鉴。     

Social Responsibility and Performance: Does Strategic Orientation Matter for Small Businesses?

This paper examines whether strategic orientation toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) is instrumental in shaping small firms’ social responsibility practices leading to their enhanced financial performance and reputation. Data were collected from 182 small businesses operating in Malaysia based on random sampling technique and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. Analysis of the findings confirm that small firms’ long‐term strategic approach toward CSR is critical in driving their responsible practices toward environment, customer, community, employees, and suppliers which in turn impact small firms’ financial performance and better reputation building. These findings suggest that customers' and employees’ interests are strategic imperatives that small firms should address in enhancing their financial performance and building better reputation in the community. These findings have important implications for small firms’ strategic policy posture which are highlighted in the paper. The paper also identifies the possible limits of the research and suggests avenues for future studies.     

Linking corporate reputation and shareholder value using the publication of reputation rankings

Good corporate reputation is one of the most valuable assets and causes a multitude of favorable impacts within different stakeholder groups. As a consequence, a lot of studies analyze the relationship between corporate reputation and financial performance. However, most of them raise the question of causation due to their methodology. In order to isolate the causal impact of corporate reputation on financial performance, some authors conduct event studies, but without remarkable success. Therefore, this study provides initially a comprehensive theoretical background for why reputation should affect financial performance. According to the resulting hypotheses, an event study is conducted to analyze the impact of the publication of reputation rankings by the German Manager Magazin on share prices. As hypothesized, positive and negative announcement effects exist regarding upgraded or downgraded companies respectively. Consequently, investors gain new information from the published rankings (increases or decreases in reputation) to adjust share prices.     

Inside your social media ring: How to optimize online corporate reputation

Although it is well accepted that corporate communication has a direct impact on corporate reputation, little is known about the link between firms’ social media communication strategies and the formation of firms’ reputations in an online environment. This article contributes to this body of knowledge by studying the impact of social media communication strategies on firms’ reputations. The setting for our study is the hotel industry. The results offer insights regarding the challenges of developing online communication strategies that affect corporate reputation.     

产品伤害危机属性对横向溢出效应的影响研究——产品相似性和企业声誉的调节作用

产品伤害危机不仅会降低危机产品的销售,还可能负面影响非危机产品,形成横向溢出效应。文章归纳提出产品伤害危机危害性、责任性、无德性、违约性和频发性等五个主要属性,探索这五个属性对产品伤害危机横向溢出的影响,并识别出企业声誉和产品相似性两个重要的调节变量。研究发现,危害性、无德性和责任性较高的产品伤害危机更容易产生横向溢出,企业声誉和产品相似性仅能调节部分产品伤害危机属性对横向溢出的影响,并且它们具有双重调节作用。     

Does the perception of incongruence hurt more? Customers’ responses to CSR crises affecting the main reputation dimension of a company

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) generates benefits for companies and society. However, CSR exposes a company to potential damage when a critical event, such as a crisis, disconfirms the CSR of a corporate reputation. The present article introduces to the crisis management literature the notion of consumer-perceived incongruence (CPI) between corporate reputation and crises. Our first experimental study demonstrates that a high CPI – compared to a low CPI – worsens consumer responses in terms of attitude towards the corporation (ATC), word of mouth (WOM) and purchase intention (PI). The second study shows that these effects are mediated by the perception of a state of discomfort on the part of the consumer. The third study suggests that, in cases of high CPI, the corporate crisis response strategy of apology outperforms that of compensation in reducing the negative effects of discomfort on consumer responses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.