What is Reputation, Really?

Abstract

This paper suggests that an ontological enquiry into the nature of organisations can lead to a hermeneutic methodology for reputation analysis that provides a rich interpretation of the nature of an organisation's reputation. An ontological analysis of the nature of organisations is used to derive a hermeneutic questionnaire, which was used to gather data about the reputation of a large developmental finance organisation in South Africa. The data is hermeneutically analysed and an assessment of the perceived nature and identity of the finance organisation provided. The finance organisation was found to be lacking a coherent reputation. This is important, and was not necessarily evident from more quantitative research. This finding suggests that the ontological analysis of the nature of organisations provided a robust basis for studying this particular organisation. The ontological approach allowed for the exploration and understanding of defining notions and narratives of stakeholders and stakeholder groups about the nature and identity of a particular organisation. The research findings provide critical insight for the communications efforts in building a corporate identity that allows for the strategic objectives of the organisation to be achieved. This type of approach goes beyond suggesting changes to be made merely to specific aspects of the organisation and communicating them, to guide reputation management and corporate branding efforts at a more primordial level in creating a vivid and sustainable image of the organisation for stakeholders.