Corporate reputation

Vanessa Pires,Guilherme Trez

doi:10.1108/rege-11-2017-005

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the different approaches to the corporate reputation construct, in order to identify a comprehensive definition that can be used for measurement purposes, gaps identified by previous literature identified.Design/methodology/approachThis is a theoretical essay. The authors analyzed studies that involve the relationship between corporate reputation and organizational performance, and the attributes of national and international corporate reputation ratings.FindingsThe authors identified a more comprehensive definition for the reputation construct, and indicated courses for the construct’s measurement, by considering: the judgment by the stakeholders (internal, suppliers, clients and the financial market); periodical evaluations under different organizational perspectives; attention to theoretical assumptions, among other aspects.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is a theoretical paper that presents that the research field has many definitions that cannot be used interchangeably. It indicated how the reputation construct should be operationalized for measurement purposes. This study presented a reflection on the relationship between corporate reputation and performance, showing that it is not a settled topic in the academy.Practical implicationsThe study advances the understanding of the reputation construct measurement, considering the adopted definition and the discussion of the attributes of the main ratings on corporate reputation. The adoption of a measurement method that takes into account the definition used in this study and the features of the methodologies discussed will improve the corporate reputation assessment.Social implicationsLiterature indicates that a good corporate reputation can affect organizational performance and the inverse relationship is also true. As a social implication, it is extremely relevant to improve the understanding the definition and measurement methods of this construct.Originality/valueThis study discusses one of the most important intangible resources for organizations, contributing to the understanding of the difference between the market value and the book value of public companies. Besides it should be considered that there is one lack of a definition directly related to the measurement of the reputation construct in the literature, a gap in which this study contributes.

Highlights

The central goal of strategic business management is to understand why some organizations perform better than others (Crook et al, 2008)
In the Brazilian business scenario, we identify cases that show the impact of intangible resources on organizational performance, considering the relationship between corporate reputation and the organizations’ value
A measurement method that is aligned with the definition adopted for Barnett et al.’s corporate reputation construct and with the attributes of the methodologies presented in Table VII should consider: the collective judgment by a representative part of the organization’s stakeholders – internal, suppliers, customers and market analysts; the use of different organizational dimensions/perspectives in the evaluation; systemic assessments of corporate reputation; theoretical assumptions in building the evaluation scale; and the understanding that stakeholders may have different perceptions about the reputation of organizations