The effects of media reputation on third-party funding of Swiss universities

Abstract

PurposeThis study analyzed the effects of the visibility and evaluation of universities in news media coverage on the development of their private and public third-party funds.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the concept of media reputation to investigate the effects of news media coverage on the outcome of funding decisions by firm managers and scientific experts. Extensive news media data from 2011 to 2017, collected with manual content analysis, were combined with economic data on Swiss universities.FindingsThe results show that a more positive evaluation in the news media leads to the positive development of private, but not public, third-party funding. Surprisingly, visibility in the news media has a negative effect on private third-party funding.Research limitations/implicationsThe effects of media reputation are dependent on the stakeholders under review. However, this study's design does not yield evidence on direct causal effects. Further studies could, therefore, use surveys to analyze the decision-making processes of individuals regarding their relative dependency on news media consumption.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates that positive evaluation in the news media represents an asset for universities when striving for more private third-party funding. Public relations (PR) activities aimed at the news media, therefore, can help universities attract additional funding.Social implicationsThe paper shows that in a digitized media environment, the news media still represent an important source for information about scientific organizations.Originality/valueThe study was the first to analyze the effects of media reputation on the third-party funding of universities.