Reputation Advantage Research Articles

Resonance of Review Behavior: Will People Follow in Their Friends’ Footsteps?

This study investigates factors affecting users’ review behavior on electronic word-of-mouth platforms, with a focus on the motivating influence of friends’ review contributions. Drawing on the theory of competitive altruism, the authors analyze how users perceive reputation-related competition on a platform. They additionally identify attributes related to friends, users, and companies that influence users’ review contributions. The authors obtained data from Yelp and constructed a data set of more than two million user–restaurant–week triads for analysis. The findings suggest that amateur friends’ reviews more strongly affect a user's likelihood of reviewing than expert friends’ reviews. In addition, users who have gained expert status are less influenced by their friends’ reviews than amateur users. As users’ review experience and social reach increase, the roles of friends’ reviews diminish when a person has a lower status than their friends. Moreover, the motivations stay focused on the reviewed company and do not spill over to other companies even when the motivations are recurring and prolonged. Following expert friends leads to user reviews that are more readable. Competing with low-status friends can afford users a reputational advantage particularly when these users have a higher status.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in Shariah Banks: A Review

This review explores the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and financial performance in Shariah banks. Shariah banks, operating under Islamic principles, face unique challenges and opportunities in integrating CSR into their operations. The essay reviews empirical research on the correlation between CSR initiatives and financial performance in Shariah banks, highlighting studies indicating a positive relationship, potential benefits, and stakeholder satisfaction. Counterarguments and conflicting findings are also addressed, acknowledging challenges and limitations. The review discusses the reputational advantages of CSR, including enhanced brand image, customer loyalty, and attraction of socially responsible investors. Moreover, it explores how CSR initiatives align with Islamic values, strengthening the bank's position within the Muslim community. The essay further delves into the challenges faced by Shariah banks in implementing CSR, ensuring compliance with Islamic principles while meeting regulatory requirements. It also addresses potential conflicts between CSR practices and financial goals, emphasizing the need for careful balance and alignment. Lastly, the review explores resource constraints and cost considerations for smaller Shariah banks and proposes strategies for overcoming these challenges. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between CSR and financial performance in Shariah banks, offering insights into the significance and implications of CSR integration in the Islamic finance industry.

Enhancing green brand equity through environmental reputation: The important of green brand image, green brand trust, and green brand loyalty

AbstractWhile previous research have established the advantages of environmental reputation (ER) in the realm of brand development, this article examines the role of ER on the value of green brands in the green food production industry, based on customer perceptions in a newly emerging market, using insights from signal theory and the Hierarchy of Effects Model (HEM). The study data was obtained from consumers who regularly make purchasing decisions for green‐labeled food in Vietnam. The study results suggest that the ER is a critical factor to develop green brand equity (GBE). This is achieved by developing the green brand image (GBI), establishing the green brand trust (GBT), and fostering the green brand loyalty (GBL). The results provide a significant contribution to promoting the development of green brand value in customers' awareness by encouraging activities and programs that enhance ER to strengthen GBI, GBT, and GBL towards green food brands. In addition to the findings, the research has limitations and suggests future research directions.

Research on Digital Credit Behavior of Farmers’ Cooperatives—A Grounded Theory Analysis Based on the “6C” Family Model

As the main demand side of rural financial services, farmers’ cooperatives are an important part of China’s rural finance. However, due to the lack of effective collateral, farmers’ cooperatives have problems such as difficulty in obtaining loans or expensive loans, which not only hinder the high-quality development of farmers’ cooperatives, but also limit the development of regional rural finance. Digital credit as a new financing model can effectively alleviate the problems of difficult and expensive loans and has received wide attention from the government and academia. Based on this, this paper analyzes the digital credit behavior of farmers’ cooperatives in detail by applying the “6C” family model to the grounded theory, and constructs a theoretical analysis model of farmers’ cooperatives’ digital credit behavior. The findings are as follows: The motivation for the digital credit of farmers’ cooperatives is that the credit procedures are simple, the loan period is short, and the loan interest rate is low; the condition is the farmers’ cooperative reputation advantage and government policy support,; the main form is the participation of cooperatives in short- and long-cycle digital credit; and the consequence is reflected in increasing the income of cooperative members, improving the availability of cooperative loans, promoting cooperative credit building, and achieving sustainable agricultural development. Different participation motivations have different effects on the form of credit. When motivated by simple credit procedures and short loan periods, farmers’ cooperatives choose “Huinong e-loan”; when motivated by simple procedures and low loan interest rates, farmers’ cooperatives choose “Funong Loan”. Different forms of credit will produce different performances. Farmers’ cooperatives choosing “Huinong e-loan” will produce economic performance; farmers’ cooperatives choosing “Funong Loan” will produce economic performance and social performance. In order to deal with the problem of digital credit of farmers’ cooperatives, the government needs to improve the relevant policies and regulations, reduce credit risks, and establish a sound credit system to provide credit guarantees for cooperatives and farmers. Financial institutions need to improve their financial services and innovate financial products and services to meet the multi-level credit needs of cooperatives.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS REGARDING THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF A LEADER IN PREVENTING AND DETECTING BRIBERY

Worldwide studies show that society sees a direct link between bribery and a leader, regardless of whether this leader is an official of public law or the head of a private enterprise. Global legal regulations and recommendations of international organisations say that the role of the leader (both at the country level and within an individual organisation) is crucial in the development of an integrity environment within the organisation. The article is devoted to the study of the international concept of "Tone at the Top" or "Leader's Voice" in preventing bribery within an organisation. At the same time, each institution needs an individual approach and establishment of an algorithm for developing an anti-bribery system and implementing a corporate culture based on the principles of ethics and integrity. The study is aimed at systematizing international standards in the field of bribery prevention and determining the role of the leader of each organisation in their implementation. For this, the leader needs to determine the key areas to make an effort in building the bribery prevention system within the organisation. The article summarizes the requirements of international standards, in particular, ISO 37001 "Anti-bribery management systems" and ISO 31000 "Risk Management", the recommendations of international organisations on the development of an effective system to prevent bribery, and defines the priority measures that should be implemented by the leader of the organisation in order to develop an integrity environment and to implement a corporate culture based on the principles of accountability and transparency. The article defines the following mandatory elements of such work: distributing the responsibility for anti-bribery policies of an organisation, establishing an anti-bribery unit and ensuring its activities, researching the anti-bribery context of the organisation and assessing bribery risks; raising awareness of the organisation's antibribery policies; fostering a culture of exposing bribery within the organisation; analysing the effectiveness of the organisation's anti-bribery policies. Such a system is able to provide a number of reputational advantages, the expansion of opportunities for foreign economic activity, the expansion of partnership and most importantly – the prevention of corruption abuse and attention to the organisation and its officials of law enforcement agencies.

Assembly dissolution powers and incumbency advantages in coalition formation

Are dominant governing parties with discretion to call early elections better able to negotiate their return to office? Dominant incumbents in parliamentary democracies sometimes have extensive powers to dissolve parliament, which enables them to affect coalition bargaining. Yet, whether these powers advantage them in forming the next coalition remains poorly understood. To address this gap, this article develops a theory of coalition formation in the shadow of parliamentary dissolution. Incumbents who can dissolve the assembly, it argues, are more likely to return to government than their peers who lack this power because they enjoy greater bargaining leverage and reputational advantages in coalition formation. The article tests this expectation using mixed and conditional logistic regression analysis of data on 631 government formation opportunities and 433,401 potential coalitions and finds that coalition leaders with discretion to dissolve parliament secure significant advantages in negotiating their return to power.

ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ ПРАКТИКИ ESG В ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ КОМПАНІЙ У ВОЄННИЙ ПЕРІОД

The article examines the state and trends in the development of the practice of ESG implementation in the activities of Ukrainian companies during the war period and offers recommendations for the adaptation of this practice in modern conditions. Achieving the goal of the research made it necessary to set and solve the following tasks: to define the basic concepts and principles of ESG practice and their adaptation in the conditions of a military conflict; analyze the benefits and challenges of implementing ESG practices in wartime; explore the roles of government institutions in encouraging companies to implement ESG practices during wartime. Recognition of this practice, which is interconnected with corporate social responsibility, is a vague construction that requires the company to increase the level of operating expenses and give up the wealth of shareholders, on the other hand, compliance with ESG principles provide companies with reputational advantages, increase investor confidence, optimize use of resources and create new market opportunities, which over time can be positively evaluated by the capital markets. Overall, wartime can be a challenge for Ukrainian companies to implement ESG practices, but government institutions can play an important role in encouraging these practices by providing security, financial support, legalization and incentives, cooperation and support for innovation. The proposed scheme for the implementation and adaptation of ESG in the conditions of the military conflict in Ukraine can be implemented by Ukrainian companies as a reference point, which will provide an opportunity to adjust it to new challenges and needs. Despite all the problems and obstacles, the implementation of ESG practices is an important step in the direction of sustainable development for Ukrainian companies. Achieving environmental, social and corporate goals can not only strengthen the reputation of companies, but also accelerate recovery from military conflict and contribute to the sustainable development of the country as a whole. In wartime, when the country is in a tense situation, the activities of Ukrainian companies become especially important for ensuring the economic development of the country and its defense capability.

What Factors Drive MNEs’ CSR Practices? An Analysis of Subsidiary and Supplier Reputation Risk

We analyze the drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) adoption in multinational firms. Building on internalization theory and the view of the multinational as a network, we argue that the reputation risk within the multinational’s portfolio of subsidiaries and suppliers determines its adoption of CSR. Specifically, we propose that multinationals facing higher internal (subsidiary) and external (supplier) reputation risk are likely to adopt more CSR practices, thereby preventing stakeholder backlash and protecting reputational advantages. We also propose that these relationships differ for state-owned firms, because they are created to promote social agendas like employment, public goods, and development. Hence, we argue that state-owned multinationals, in comparison to private ones, have a stronger CSR response to risk in their suppliers and subsidiaries. We find robust support for these ideas in an unbalanced sample of 726 multinationals from 40 home countries during 2008-2018.

Leveraging entrepreneurial marketing processes to ameliorate the liability of poorness: The case of smallholders and SMEs in developing economies

This study explores how entrepreneurial marketing can reduce the liability of poorness by enhancing the performance of smallholder agribusinesses in developing economies. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analyzed surveys from a judgment sample of 190 Vietnamese SME tea producers. Entrepreneurial marketing processes, including innovation, customer-linking, and reputational advantage, were positively related to cost advantage for the SME tea producers but not with differentiation advantage. This implies that SME agribusinesses in developing economies should focus on their cost-based advantage and leverage their customer-linking capacity to create premium-priced offerings. This could be enabled by participating in capacity-building opportunities such as Vietnam's One Commune One Product branding program. The OCOP program offers the opportunity to shift SME agribusiness from a substance orientation toward a more positive entrepreneurial mindset and develop entrepreneurial capabilities to facilitate a more prosperous future.

Evaluation of customer satisfaction attributes on hospitality services

Customer satisfaction is an indicator of an organization's overall health and future prospects. The study evaluated the impact of customer satisfaction attributes on hospitality services. Data were collected from 680 guests of one to three star rated hotels in the Greater Accra Region. The hypothesized relationships were supported by the data. The results show an insignificant relationship between accessibility and hospitability services. Reliability had an insignificant relationship with hospitability services. The results also show that competence had a significant relationship with hospitability services. The results further show that friendliness had an insignificant relationship with hospitality services. The generalizability of the results obtained may be constrained since the present study focused on the hotel industry with its unique characteristics. The study suggests the enhancement of customer satisfaction to establish customer loyalty, improve brand reputation and competitive advantage. The study adds to the extant literature by empirically evidencing that customer satisfaction attributes significantly impact hospitality services.

CONTRIBUTION OF POLICE COMMUNICATION SKILL FOR NATIONAL REPUTATION

The aim of this article is to explain the advantages of national reputation. In globalization, reputation for a country is needed to get more potential investors, exporters, and travelers. One of the many ways to build a national reputation is through political or military diplomacy because it provides security guarantees for the international public. As an element in the defense department, the police must participate through reputation management strategies to gain national standing. The police must work professionally in order to contribute to building a national reputation. This article uses the comprehensive literature study and meta-synthesis analysis method to explains how the police performance, in communication perspective, can contribute to the national reputation. Policymakers could use this article to assist public policies designed to improve national, primarily through political diplomacy.

Corporate reputation and stakeholder engagement: Do assurance quality and assurer attributes matter?

The objective of this research is to determine the impact that sustainability assurance services have on corporate reputation and stakeholder engagement, delving into the differentiating effect of certain attributes of the assurer and the quality level of the assurance. After an initial exploratory analysis in which the added value that the assurance service has on the external business image and on the relationships with stakeholders is evidenced, the results obtained for a sample of 604 multinational corporations for the period 2011–2017 show the existence of a reputational advantage for those companies that have contracted for a higher quality assurance service. On the contrary, the attributes of the assurer have no direct and indirect effect on corporate reputation unless the assurer is an auditor, which favours a higher quality of assurance service and indirectly affects the probability that the company will be included in a reputation ranking. The intrinsic characteristics of this service do not translate into active stakeholder engagement. From a theoretical and practical point of view, this evidence contributes to the knowledge of the effect of assurance on stakeholder engagement and corporate reputation by improving the climate of trust around the company's disclosure.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN UKRAINE: ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (ESG) AS A TOOL FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS IN THE CONDITIONS OF OVERCOMING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The article deals with current issues of the essence and significance of ESG as a tool of the circular economy to strengthen the sustainability of socially responsible business in the context of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Particular attention was paid to the report based on ESG criteria to improve the implementation of management decisions. It was emphasized that in Ukraine the ESG strategy at the enterprise level is only developing. It was noted that the intention to implement ESG practices promoted by the UN is not the prerogative of exclusively large companies, but rather organic business development, since traditional financial accounting includes only internal resources and flows and economic (and some social and environmental) consequences of activities. It was also noted that in a circular economy, those companies that cannot respond to the necessary and expected changes go out of business. The traditional orientation of reporting on the disclosure of financial indicators is a thing of the past. Today, only socially responsible companies that focus on such approaches to attract investment can succeed: human rights and inclusion, combating climate change, ensuring sustainability. It wasargued that the spread of ESG practices in the long and medium term may result in improved transparency and accountability of companies that combine high-quality traditional corporate governance with ESG factors, increasing their own investment attractiveness and creating reputational advantages for Ukraine and the business environment as a whole.

Did you hear what she did to me? Female friendship victimization disclosures offer reputational advantages

Although gossip is a common tactic of women's same-gender competition, it carries social costs. Overtly malicious gossipers are generally disliked, suggesting those who transmit gossip in more palatable forms may be favored as social partners. Four studies (N = 1653) tested the hypothesis that women's heightened sensitivity to transgressions in friendships prompts divulgence of those violations, allowing women to covertly (and perhaps unintentionally) transmit reputation-harming information about same-gender peers. In Study 1, women were more likely than men to question a same-gender friendship following violations denoting a friend's lack of commitment or kindness. In Study 2, women were more likely than men to report disclosing such friendship violations to others. In Study 3, first-person disclosures about one's own victimization were more trusted and approved than third-person disclosures about others' victimization, suggesting such statements are not readily recognized as gossip. In Study 4a, men and women reported that their female friends disclosed all types of friendship violations more frequently than did their male friends, but especially those surrounding commitment and replacement risk. In Study 4b, female perpetrators suffered worse reputational damage than did male perpetrators following divulgence of their poor treatment of same-gender friends. Taken together, these results reveal women are especially concerned about same-gender friends' interpersonal treatment, they disclose their perceived victimization to others, and such disclosures effectively impair same-gender peers' reputations. These patterns raise the possibility that the greater fragility of female (versus male) friendships results, in part, from this effective, yet covert form of intragender competition.

Competition through environmental CSR engagement and cost of equity capital

We examine the capital market outcomes of firms’ competition over environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings. We hypothesize that if environmental CSR engagement contributes to reputational advantage that lead to lower cost of equity capital, firms would compete to acquire such reputational advantage in the market for environmental ratings. In line with our prediction, we find that firms that are further away from the worst practices common to their “toxic” industry peers have a lower cost of equity financing. Moreover, consistent with the resiliency argument, we document that higher relative environmental CSR performance help mitigate the negative impact of the 2008 global financial crisis on the cost of equity capital. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity checks, including use of multiple estimation methods, alternative proxies of cost of equity capital measures and potential endogeneity concerns.

Reputation and leadership: a study about reputational transfer in family and non-family firms

The main objective of this paper is to determine the influence of the family on the reputational transfer between the company and its manager. In the field of family businesses, the strong identification of the family with the company has led to the study of the relationship between corporate reputation and the level of family involvement. However, the mutual transfer of reputation between the family business and its manager has yet to be investigated. For this reason, the study also aims to contrast that the corporate reputation contributes to that of its manager, studying how the presence of a family in the management and/or control of the company affects this relationship. To this end, using the rankings published by the Spanish Corporate Reputation Monitor (MERCO) of the most reputable companies and leaders in Spain for the period 2001-2017, different econometric models have been formulated with panel data. The results obtained, with important practical implications, contribute to reputation research and, especially, to the literature on family businesses. In this sense, the results show not only that the family nature of the company gives a reputational advantage to the company and its leader, but also that the reputation of the family business managers is transferred to the corporate reputation in a shorter period of time than when the company does not share this nature.

Economic aspects of the formation of the innovative development of waste-free production of livestock products

The article is devoted to the economic aspects of the formation of innovative development of waste-free production of animal husbandry products. The purpose of the study is to develop, based on the generalization of research by scientists, practical recommendations for stimulating the waste-free production of animal husbandry products. During the research, general scientific and special methods of economic research were used, in particular: systemic approach, dialectical and abstract-logical, etc. We believe that in order to minimize losses and effective use of by-products by the subjects of the meat product sub-complex, it is necessary to implement: optimization of the sales cycle: rejection of the existing concept of "clogged shelves" in retail chains, transfer of edible food products to charity, use of by-products in secondary food production; waste processing: the use of food waste and secondary raw materials of the food industry and agriculture for the production of animal feed, processing of organic waste into soil and fertilizers, obtaining thermal energy due to the burning of organic waste, as well as the industrial release of associated gases from them (biofuel production). Today, in the business environment, priority is given to initiatives to optimize business processes in order to increase profits and reduce financial costs. Estimating the points of occurrence of losses at all stages of the production and sales chain, determining the cause-and-effect relationships of their formation, keeping statistics and monitoring are complex, interdisciplinary and expensive processes, their economic benefit for an individual enterprise is not obvious. At the same time, for small and medium-sized businesses, many practices for reducing food losses remain inaccessible due to their high cost or the complexity of legislative procedures. In connection with this, Ukraine needs business stimulation from the state to reduce food losses along the entire production and sales chain: in rural economy, food industry, retail trade and public catering. It has been established that efforts aimed at reducing food waste must be considered from the point of view of rational use of resources and obtaining certain value from the various participants involved. For manufacturers, the advantages may be as follows: increase in economic efficiency due to the use of unsolicited by-products, their implementation by interested market participants, improvement in the quality of food products; creating reputational advantages and added value in the eyes of investors and consumers. The interests of consumers are related to increasing the availability of food products, as well as improving their quality. State authorities are interested, among other things, in reducing food losses in terms of: strengthening the country's food security; reduction of social tensions (thanks to increasing availability of food products); reduction of ecological load on the environment; preservation of land and water resources.

Evaluation of Indexes of Dynamism of Corporate Reputation in Conditions of Behavioral Economy

The effective corporate reputation management in today’s business environment requires new research approaches that are based on a combination of social, psycho-emotional, behavioral and economic theories, and practices. The company’s corporate reputation is formed in retrospect and is being accumulated on the basis of thoughts and impressions due to the relationships with various contact groups. According to the theory of behavioral economics, decisions made by stakeholder are often based on cognitive biases and, as a result, are inconsistent with rational behavior. Under such conditions reputational risks may arise, as the company’s key stakeholders may not take into account the advantages of corporate reputation and its components. In this context, the methodical approach to the corporate reputation management has been proposed on the basis of the structural analysis of the dynamicity of its components. The peculiarity of the approach lies in the construction of a matrix that reflects the list of key stakeholders and main attributes of corporate reputation, the combination of which makes it possible to identify the structural components of the company’s corporate reputation. To study structural changes in the company’s corporate reputation it has been proposed to calculate such indicators: the coefficient of the structural formation of corporate reputation, the coefficient of the coordinated volatility of the corporate reputation components, the coefficient of the direction of change of the corporate reputation components. The calculation of these ratios allowed us to obtain information about the structural content of corporate reputation in the dynamics, namely, taking into account the structural components of the financial and social effects. We believe that the definition of indicators of the dynamics of the structural components of corporate reputation in the aggregate expand the method of evaluating the object of study in the dynamics and complement the information field of the reputation management in terms of behavioral theories.

Exclusivity or Competitor Retail? Impacts of Channel Structures on Multinational Supply Chains considering Green Manufacturing

The development of green supply chains by multinational manufacturers (MNMs) in emerging markets promotes a better corporate reputation and competitive advantage. Selecting viable marketing channels will help reduce risks in overseas markets while positively impacting the green level and the stakeholders. This paper analyzes channel decisions under different scenarios in a game analytical framework and identifies that both exclusive and competitive channels promote the green supply chain, and that the latter leads to a higher green level and benefits the local manufacturer. Whatever profit-seeking or corporate social responsibility- (CSR-) seeking follows, the MNM prefers the competitive channel when the green research and development (R&D) investment coefficient is relatively low and vice versa for the exclusive channel. Moreover, transaction cost undermines the green supply chain, the competitive structure lowers the loss of greenness, and the exclusionary mode raises the MNM’s profits. Another interesting finding is when subsidies are offered by the importing country, the competitive structure is more conducive to the green and the participant’s gains, while the exclusive structure is detrimental to the green and only advantageous for the domestic manufacturer’s benefits. Besides, the revenue-sharing contract results in a higher green level of the supply chain in the channels than before, but the MNM tends to select the exclusive marketing channel with a relatively lower green level due to the profits. Subject to the findings, we propose an improved revenue-sharing contract that achieves the MNM’s competitive retailing option and ensures the emergence of the manufacturers’ win-win solution.

Development of responsible investment within the concept of sustainable finance

The strengthening of globalisation processes together with the climate change, the slowdown of the world economy, and growing income inequality have a profound impact on the transformation of the global economic and socio-political landscape and make the theme of sustainable development progressively more relevant. The environmental trend within the humancentered trajectory of civilization affects the financial sphere through the introduction of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in financial decision-making, creation of appropriate institutions and accumulation of financial resources, as well as transformation of financial systems’ functions. Against a background of these trends, responsible investment, or ESG investing, which takes into account environmental, social and managerial factors when choosing investment strategies, receives a significant boost. The aim of the research is to formulate new approaches to expanding responsible investment in the economy in the context of developing sustainable finance. The methodological basis of the research includes the concepts of sustainable development, finance and investment. The study uses a dialectical method to investigate the dynamics of economic phenomena, their interrelation and interdependence; and a system approach to the object of research implemented through graphic representation, grouping and comparison, analysis and synthesis. The paper summarises the theory and practice of responsible investment, examines the trends in the responsible investment market as well as its peculiarities. The authors prove the need to encourage responsible investment within the sustainable finance framework by removing information and structural restrictions. This will ensure the development of responsible investment tools and gain greater reputational advantages for companies. The authors produce recommendations for organising this process, in particular, to employ international practices and adopt the corresponding government policy.