Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of stakeholders’ corporate reputation regarding a brand’s crisis communication.                                                                   Research Questions:  How are stakeholders’ cognitive reputation affected after exposure of the crisis communication and the generated eWOM? How are stakeholders’ affective reputation affected after exposure of the crisis communication and the generated eWOM?   Methodology:The research was of qualitative nature and had an explorative approach. The collection of data was done by semi-structured interviews based on a convenience sample of six respondents.  Findings:The results of this study indicated that the crisis communication had a higher impact on the respondents’ corporate reputation than the eWOM had. The generated eWOM worked as an influential factor of the corporate reputation rather than the dominant factor in connection to corporate reputation. The crisis communication is proposed to be a dominant factor affecting one’s corporate reputation of a brand, even though one’s corporate reputation of a brand previous to the crisis lays the foundation for how one is affected. Research limitations:Since this study applied the crisis communication of two fashion-retailer brands, there was a limitation by aiming the focus towards the fashion industry. Previous corporate reputation towards these two specific brands may also have affected the results.

Este estudo tem por objetivo verificar como a reputação afeta as decisões de investimento das firmas. Já existe um consenso na literatura de que uma boa reputação contribui para o desempenho da firma, mas ainda são poucos e recentes os estudos que verificam as relações entre reputação corporativa e decisões de investimento. Portanto, deseja-se verificar se a reputação afeta a probabilidade de uma empresa ser classificada como subinvestimento, investimento eficiente ou sobreinvestimento; e também qual é o impacto da reputação na taxa de crescimento do investimento de uma firma. Para isso utiliza-se uma base de dados longitudinais de 180 firmas espanholas entre 2000 e 2015. A mensuração para reputação corporativa é feita através da classificação no ranking de reputação Merco, que divulga anualmente uma lista com as cem empresas espanholas com melhor reputação naquele ano. Os dados financeiros e de estrutura de propriedade são obtidos através do sistema SABI. Inicialmente, o modelo tem como variável dependente uma binária que representa se a empresa pertence ou não a determinado nível de investimento. Neste caso, regressões logísticas são utilizadas para determinar como a reputação afeta a probabilidade da empresa ser classificada por apresentar subinvestimento, investimento ótimo ou sobreinvestimento. Em seguida, a variável dependente é a taxa de investimento da firma, portanto, o método GMM-sys é aplicado para controlar a endogeneidade provocada pela inclusão da variável dependente defasada no modelo. Também são estimados modelos considerando a restrição financeira da firma, seu tamanho e sua estrutura de propriedade. Os resultados mostram que a reputação interfere de maneira positiva na taxa de investimento das firmas espanholas. Além disso, quando a empresa tem melhor reputação, sua dependência de caixa para fazer investimentos também aumenta. Contudo, a reputação não é significativa para aumentar a probabilidade de uma empresa apresentar investimento eficiente, nem para explicar o investimento das firmas consideradas restritas financeiramente. / The objective of this research is to verify how reputation affects investment decisions. There is already a consensus in the literature that a good reputation contributes to firm performance; however, there are few recent studies that examine the relationship between corporate reputation and investment decisions. Therefore, our desire is to verify whether reputation affects the probability of a company being classified as underinvestment, efficient investment or overinvestment; also, we attempt to analyze the impact of reputation on the growth rate of a firm\'s investment. A longitudinal database of 180 Spanish firms between the period of 2000 and 2015 is used. The measurement for corporate reputation is done by ranking in the Merco reputation ranking, which annually publishes a list of the 100 most reputable Spanish companies in that year. The financial and ownership structure data are obtained through the SABI system. Initially the model has as dependent variable which is a binary that represents whether the company belongs or not to a certain level of investment. In this case, logistic regressions are used to determine how the reputation affects the probability of the company being classified as having underinvestment, optimal investment or overinvestment. Later, the dependent variable is represented by the investment rate of the firm, so the GMM-sys method is applied to control the endogeneity caused by the inclusion of the lagged dependent variable in the model. Models are also estimated considering the firm\'s financial constraint, its size and its ownership structure. The results show that reputation interferes in a positive way in the investment rate of Spanish firms. In addition, when the company has a better reputation, its dependence on cash to make investments also increases. However, reputation is significant in increasing the likelihood that a firm will be able to make an efficient investment, or to explain the investment of firms that are considered financially constrained.

The Upper Echelons Theory states that CEO characteristics, among them the Dark Tetrad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism) of personality, affect decision-making. In an accounting context, the presence of the Dark Tetrad of personality in CEOs can reduce accounting information quality because the personalities of the Dark Tetrad are associated with callousness, impulsivity, manipulation, criminality, grandiosity, enjoyment of cruelty, and misconduct, therefore CEOs with these traits are likely to manipulate earnings or commit fraud. However, companies with strong reputation due to the credibility and trustworthiness built into the company values and culture can reduce the effect of dark personality in accounting information quality. In such context, this study aims to investigate the moderating effect of corporate reputation on the relationship between the Dark Tetrad of personality and accounting information quality. The main assumption is that CEOs with strong Dark Tetrad traits engage more in earnings management and fraud; however, in companies with strong reputation, earnings management and fraud would be lower due to the values, structures, and formal or informal rules built around corporate reputation. This implies that companies with strong reputation tend to suppress the opportunistic actions of CEOs, enabling better accounting information quality. The research design was divided into two parts: the first part involved an archival method and the second part used an experiment method. For the archival method, I analyzed 434 firms (2,645 observations) with headquarters in the United States, covering the period between 2010 and 2017, using abnormal accruals, real earnings management, and classification shifting for earnings management, the overall Fortune\'s World\'s Most Admired Companies score for reputation, CEO speeches, and dark personality literature to measure the Dark Tetrad of personality. I ran regressions to test the research hypotheses and found that the Dark Tetrad of personality shows a positive relationship with all types of earnings management. Regarding reputation, only abnormal accruals show a negative relationship with corporate reputation. In turn, the interaction between the Dark Tetrad of personality and corporate reputation is negatively related to all types of earnings management. For the experimental method, I used a 2x2 between-subjects experiment design involving 101 MBA students who, in general, have had experience in management in Brazil and the United States of America. To measure the Dark Tetrad of personality, I used the Short-Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2014) and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality (Plouffe et al., 2017). For reputation, I adapted the scenarios from Goldberg and Hartwick (1990) and Lafferty (2007). For fraud, I developed two proxies, the first with five situations based on literature addressing accounting issues, and the other based on D\'Souza and Lima (2015). To test the hypotheses, I applied Ordinary Least Squares regressions and Poisson regressions and found that psychopathy, sadism, Machiavellianism, and the Dark Tetrad of personality show a positive relationship with accounting fraud and misrepresentation. Regarding reputation, in all the models, reputation is not related to fraud. On the other hand, in relation to the interaction between the Dark Tetrad of personality and corporate reputation, only highly Machiavellian CEOs are discouraged from committing fraud by a strong reputation. Therefore, this study demonstrated that CEO personality can affect accounting information quality, however, corporate reputation is an intangible resource that influences CEO decision-making, so as a result, reputation helps to increase accounting information quality. / A Teoria dos Altos Escalões afirma que as características do CEO afetam a tomada de decisão deles, na qual uma delas é a Tétrade Sombria (narcisismo, maquiavelismo, psicopatia e sadismo) da personalidade. No contexto contábil, a presença de traços da Tétrade Sombria em CEOs pode reduzir a qualidade da informação contábil, porque as personalidades da Tétrade Sombria estão associadas à insensibilidade, impulsividade, manipulação, criminalidade, grandiosidade, prazer na crueldade e má conduta, portanto, CEOs com esses traços provavelmente gerenciariam resultados ou cometeriam fraudes. No entanto, as empresas com forte reputação devido à credibilidade e confiabilidade que estão incorporadas em valores e cultura da empresa podem reduzir o efeito da personalidade sombria na qualidade da informação contábil. Neste contexto, o presente estudo tem como objetivo investigar o efeito moderador da reputação corporativa sobre a relação entre a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade e a qualidade da informação contábil. Assim, o principal pressuposto é que os CEOs com traços altos da Tétrade Sombria envolvem mais em gerenciamento de resultados e fraude, no entanto, em empresas com forte reputação, o gerenciamento de resultados e fraude seriam menores devido aos valores, estruturas e regras formais ou informais construídas em empresas com forte reputação. Isso implica que as empresas com forte reputação tendem a suprimir as ações oportunistas do CEO, permitindo uma melhor qualidade da informação contábil. O método de pesquisa foi dividido em duas partes: primeira parte, um método documental; e segunda parte, um método experimental. Para o método documental, foram analisadas 434 empresas (2.645 observações) com sede nos Estados Unidos para o período entre 2010 e 2017, utilizando accruals anormais, gerenciamento de resultados por atividades e mudança de classificação para gerenciamento de resultados, a pontuação geral das empresas mais admiradas da Fortune World para reputação, e o discurso do CEO e a literatura de personalidade sombria para mensurara Tétrade Sombria da personalidade. Para, foram executadas regressões para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa e verificou-se que a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade possui uma relação positiva com todos os tipos de gerenciamento de resultados; em relação à reputação, apenas os accruals anormais mostram relação negativa com a reputação corporativa; por sua vez, a interação entre a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade e a reputação corporativa está negativamente relacionada a todos os tipos de gerenciamento de resultados. Para o método experimental, foi utilizado o desenho de experimento 2x2 entre sujeitos com 101 alunos de MBA do Brasil e dos Estados Unidos da América que, em geral, tiveram experiência em gestão. Para medir a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade, foi usado The Short-Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2014) e Assessment of Sadistic Personality (Plouffe et al., 2017). Para a reputação, foi adaptado os cenários de Goldberg e Hartwick, (1990) e Lafferty (2007). Já para a fraude, foi empregada duas variáveis, a primeira tem cinco situações baseadas em literatura abordando questões contábeis e a outra baseia-se em D\'Souza e Lima (2015).Para testar as hipóteses, aplicou-se regressão por Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários e regressão Poisson, e observou-se que a psicopatia, o sadismo, o maquiavelismo e a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade mostraram uma relação positiva com a fraude contábil e a falsa representação; sobre a reputação, a reputação de todos os modelos não apresentou relação com fraude; Por outro lado, em relação à interação entre a Tétrade Sombria da personalidade e reputação corporativa, apenas os CEOs altamente maquiavélicos estão desencorajados a cometer fraude devido a uma forte reputação. Portanto, este estudo demonstrou que a personalidade do CEO pode afetar a qualidade da informação contábil, no entanto, a reputação corporativa é um recurso intangível que influencia a tomada de decisão do CEO, então a reputação ajuda a aumentar a qualidade da informação contábil.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo conhecer as estratégias de relacionamento com a imprensa de organizações reconhecidas por sua boa reputação corporativa e seus impactos nesse ativo. A imprensa foi o público escolhido para a análise por ser comum a todas as organizações e devido ao seu poder de influência sobre os públicos, que ainda continua bastante expressivo, mesmo em um cenário de internet móvel e mídias sociais. Para responder a pergunta central foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa qualitativa para tentar compreender a relação entre os relacionamentos organizacionais e a reputação corporativa. Como recorte dessa análise, serão avaliadas cinco organizações de reputação destacada no Brasil, conforme o Reputation Institute: Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Mercedes-Benz, Petrobras e O Boticário. O objetivo é entender se o relacionamento com a imprensa colabora no fortalecimento da reputação positiva e, se sim, verificar quais são as estratégias de comunicação utilizadas pelas referidas empresas. Todas as organizações estudadas mostraram um alto grau de qualidade no relacionamento com a imprensa, mas o principal resultado encontrado foi que o contato pessoal é a melhor forma de criar vínculos de confiança com esse público, o que fortalece a qualidade do relacionamento e o potencial de impactar positivamente a reputação corporativa. / This dissertation aims to understand the strategies orienting press relations in organizations that are recognized for their good corporate reputation and their impacts on this asset. The press was chosen for analysis because it is common to all organizations and due to its significant influence over other publics, even in a scenario of mobile web and social media. To answer the central question, this study is grounded by qualitative research in an attempt to understand the relationship between organizational relationships and corporate reputation. In this analysis, five organizations with outstanding reputation in Brazil, according to Reputation Institute, will be assessed: Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Mercedes-Benz, Petrobras and O Boticário. The goal is to understand whether press relations contribute to strengthen positive reputation and, if so, identify the communication strategies used by these companies. All organizations studied showed a high degree of quality in the relationship with the press, but the main finding is that personal contact is the best way to create bonds of trust with this audience, which strengthens the quality of the relationship and the potential to impact positive corporate reputation.

This doctoral research aims to investigate the reputation building process of companies and to examine the applicability of western-developed theories about the uses of corporate reputation in a non-western context. It is the first study that synthesises three theories (value creation, strategic resources and corporate communication) to examine the strategic consequences of the uses of corporate reputation. Corporate reputation is an attribute or a set of attributes ascribed to a firm and inferred from the firm’s past actions. It is the belief of market participants about a firm’s strategic character (Weigelt and Camerer, 1988). Also, corporate reputation is the public’s cumulative judgement of a firm over time (Roberts and Dowling, 2002). The review of theoretical literature indicates the uses of corporate reputation by business organizations can be theorized along six dominant paradigmatic perspectives: 1-public relations; 2-marketing; 3-management, 4-economic; 5-sociological; 6-finance and accounting. The uses of corporate reputation in these six paradigms are comprehensively discussed. The objective of this study is to establish the use of corporate reputation in the development of brand image strategy. A review of the uses of the concept of corporate reputation is discussed in detail in chapter 2. The review of the literature also identified a research gap by showing that scarce research has been conducted on how these three main functions (value creation, strategic resources and corporate communication) affect a company’s brand positioning strategy. The following research question thus is proposed: How do (Taiwanese pharmaceutical) companies use their corporate reputation to develop a brand image strategy? The research hypotheses based on three theories (value-based theory, resource-based theory and integrated marketing communication theory) appear in Chapter 3. The research question is constructed theoretically, and then a conceptual model, which begins with three antecedents of corporate reputation and simultaneously illustrates the outcomes of their use, are discussed. The construct of the uses of corporate reputation has three dimensions: value creation, strategic resources and corporate communication. Each of these three dimensions includes several items. The items were proposed based on the previous researchers’ summaries and the qualitative interview. The researcher will then depict the proposed research conceptual framework and a number of hypotheses that will be further investigated and tested. Then the quantative study was completed by providing the data analysis and the results were explained. A multi-stage procedure was involved in this research. First, data examination and screening to prepare for subsequent quantitative analyses and then the descriptive statistics were presented. Second, a reliability test was performed on measurement scales to ensure that they achieve an acceptable level of reliability for further analysis. The resulting solutions were then re-assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, PLS (Partial Least Squares) was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the research constructs as postulated in the conceptual model, and to assess the overall goodness-of-fit between the proposed model and the collected data set. The researcher then discusses the validation of the measurement model and the research findings. The findings are then further discussed in terms of the contribution to marketing theory and relevance to marketing managers. Then the items of adapted scales were subjected to several rounds of adjustments and were finally found to possess acceptable measurement properties. Reliability and construct validity tests indicated that all scales satisfied widely accepted criteria such as the minimum reliability of 0.7. The results of scale purification will be discussed. And an evaluation of the research hypotheses and their significance are summarized, the findings of all hypotheses testing will be reviewed and compared with previous research. According to the research findings, the hypotheses that value creation, as one dimension of corporate reputation, has a positive impact on brand segmentation, brand differentiation and brand positioning are all accepted. The hypotheses that strategic resource, as one dimension of corporate reputation, has a positive impact on brand segmentation and brand differentiation are rejected. However, the hypothesis that strategic resource, as one dimension of corporate reputation, has a positive impact on brand positioning is accepted. The hypotheses that corporate communication, as one dimension of corporate reputation, has a positive impact on brand segmentation and brand differentiation are both accepted. The hypothesis that corporate communication, as one dimension of corporate reputation, has a positive impact on brand positioning is partially supported. Finally, the hypothesis that the (see in Table 5.18) moderating effect of price policy on corporate reputation has a positive impact on brand image strategy is partially but negatively supported. This thesis makes a significant contribution to the study of corporate reputation of firms in the Taiwanese pharmaceutical industry from the robustness of the qualitative and quantitative data collection.

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Title: Using Brand management to establish network relations: How SMEs can work with brand management in order to establish and develop corporate reputation and legitimacy in network relations in a B2B context Authors: Aasberg Pipirs Julius & Carlsson Christoffer Level: Master thesis, 30hp Keywords: Brand management, SME, Legitimacy, Corporate reputation, Network relations Background: Given the crucial role SMEs play in the modern society it is vital that knowledge is evolved that can be used to support and grow these businesses. Using brand management practices SMEs could establish and develop corporate reputation and legitimacy in network relations, which could result in higher chances of long-term survival in a B2B context. Research Question: How does working with brand management among SMEs establish, and develop, corporate reputation and legitimacy, and how do these three concepts affect the process of establishing network relations in a B2B context? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to first investigate how SMEs, in a B2B context, work with brand management and how this can establish and develop corporate reputation and legitimacy. Finally the authors wants to see how these three concepts affect the process of establishing network relations. Method: Based on an abductive research approach, a qualitative research method will be used to study six Swedish SMEs that operate in a B2B context. Primary data will be based on semi-structured interviews with managers at each company. Theoretical Framework: The current literature concerning SME brand management is presented followed by its linkages towards establishing and developing corporate reputation and legitimacy. Finally previous research concerning, the process of establishing network relations among SMEs, its relevance for SMEs, and how brand management, corporate reputation, and legitimacy could affect this process, is presented. Findings & Conclusions: Brand management offers SMEs the tools to communicate and interact with various types of stakeholders, which connects the organization to its external and internal environment. By combining this tool with a dedication of always performing above expectations, SMEs stands to efficiently establish and develop corporate reputation and legitimacy. These two constructs essentially acts as the foundation of that which network relations are built upon.

The shift from product- to corporate branding have resulted in a wider reach for organizations: containing both internal- and external stakeholders, that have resulted in that a corporate brand has to bear in mind of the importance of presenting itself as a cohesive brand throughout the different stakeholders. This in turn can be accomplished through corporate communication strategies. It is further crucial for a corporate brand to ensure that the stakeholders share the same corporate identity. A highly recognized tool to strengthen the brand is referred to CSR activities that come with potential benefits in terms of corporate reputation.

The aim of this study is to understand the influence of online discussion forums during times of crisis. These forums can be considered as a form of social media, a relatively new form of technology that is constantly evolving and gaining in popularity. It has become an important medium, and can be integral in communications plans, specifically with regards to crisis communication. Through the use of these media, message delivery has unbelievable breadth and speed, making it crucial to understand its implications in crisis events. In order to understand social media’s implications in reputation management, during times of crisis, an ethnographic content analysis was conducted through the analysis and comparison of comments posted on news forums and media documents issued by the NHL during the 2012-2013 lockout. Literature suggests the importance of relationship management prior to crisis onset, as social media has the potential to inflame and contaminate the perceptions of others. Through social media, the formation and emergence of an engaged and active public was observed and studied. However, when considering traditional crisis communication theories, results from this particular case are counterintuitive; the findings counter traditional crisis communication theories, suggesting that cases such as this one are to be investigated further.

In recent years, corporate reputation has gained the attention of many scholars in the strategic management and related fields. There is a general consensus that higher corporate reputation is positively related to firm success or performance. However, the link is not always straightforward; as a result, it calls for researchers to dedicate their efforts to investigate the causes and effects of firm reputation and how it is related to performance. In this doctoral dissertation, innovation is suggested as a mediating variable in this relationship. Innovation is a critical factor for firm success and survival. Highly reputed firms are in a more advantageous position to attract critical resources for innovation such as human and financial capital. These firms face constant pressure from external stakeholders, e.g. the general public, or customers, to achieve and remain at high levels of innovativeness. As a result, firms are in constant search, internally or externally, for new technologies expanding their knowledge base. Consequently, these firms engage in firms acquisitions. In the dissertation, the author assesses the effects of domestic versus international acquisitions as well as related versus unrelated acquisitions on the level of innovativeness and performance. Building upon an established measure of firm-level degree of internationalization (DOI), the dissertation proposes a more detailed and enhanced measure for the firm’s DOI. It is modeled as an interaction effect between corporate reputation and resources for innovation. More specifically, firms with higher levels of internationalization will have access to resources for innovation, i.e. human and financial capital, at a global scale. Additionally, the distance between firms and higher education institutions, i.e. universities, is considered as another interaction effect for the human capital attraction. The dissertation is built on two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory. It studies 211 U.S. firms using a longitudinal panel data structure from 2006 to 2012. It utilizes a linear dynamic panel data estimation methodology for its hypotheses analyses. Results confirm the hypotheses proposed in the study.