Aukštojo mokslo institucijų korporatyvinės reputacijos svarba nekelia abejonių, tačiau svarbu nustatyti, kokie veiksniai daro įtaką aukštojo mokslo institucijų korporatyvinei reputacijai ir kaip ją būtų galima kompleksiškai vertinti. Tyrimo tikslas – nustačius ir įvertinus aukštojo mokslo institucijų korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo veiksnius, sudaryti aukštojo mokslo institucijų korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo modelį. Disertacijos tyrimas apima mokslinės literatūros šaltinių analizę, apibendrinimą ir lyginimą, modeliavimo metodą, kokybinio ir kiekybinio tyrimo bei duomenų apdorojimo metodus. Duomenims analizuoti taikomi daugiamačiai statistiniai metodai: aprašomoji statistika, patikimumo, faktorinė ir dispersinė analizės. Disertacijos pirmoje dalyje apibrėžiama korporatyvinės reputacijos reiškinio genezė, atliekama korporatyvinės reputacijos sampratos analizė ir išskiriama požiūrių tipologija, analizuojama korporatyvinės reputacijos reikšmė organizacijai ir vaidmuo aukštojo mokslo institucijose. Antroje dalyje apibrėžiama korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo svarba organizacijai, išskiriamos suinteresuotos grupės, atliekama korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo metodikų lyginamoji analizė. Trečioje dalyje parengiama korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo aukštojo mokslo institucijose tyrimo metodika. Ketvirtoje dalyje pristatomi korporatyvinės reputacijos vertinimo aukštojo mokslo institucijose tyrimo rezultatai. Remiantis gautais rezultatais, pagrindžiamas aukštojo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The importance of corporate reputation at higher education institutions does not raise any doubts. However, it is important to determine what indicators influence corporate reputation of higher education institutions and how it can be comprehensively measured. The aim of the research – after identification and evaluation of corporate reputation measurement indicators at higher education institutions to construct measurement model of corporate reputation at higher education institutions. Research of the dissertation includes analysis, generalization and comparison of scientific literature, modeling method, qualitative and quantitative research and data processing methods. For the analysis of data multidimensional statistical methods are used: descriptive statistics, reliability, factor and dispersion analysis. In the first part of dissertation, genesis of corporate reputation is defined, analysis of corporate reputation definitions is executed and typology of views is distinguished, significance of corporate reputation to organization and role to higher education institutions are analyzed. In the second part, the importance of corporate reputation measurement to organization is defined, stakeholder groups are distinguished, comparative analysis of corporate reputation measurement methods is executed. In the third part, research methodology of corporate reputation measurement at higher education institutions is prepared. In the fourth part, results of the research of corporate... [to full text]

O pojmu reputation management bylo dlouhou dobu slyšet převážně v oblasti marketingu ve spojení s budováním brandu. S rozvojem sociálních médií se na trhu objevily nástroje měřící osobní reputaci, jež kvantifikují uživatelovu interaktivitu na základě několika proměnných. Ty našly své uplatnění v rukou nepočetných social media profesionálů a geeků. Jak ale k řízení osobní reputace v sociálních sítích přistupují běžní uživatelé? Jak hodnotí reputaci členů svých sociálních sítí a jak se tyto poznatky odráží na jejich vlastním projevu? Tato práce se snaží nalézt cestu k zodpovězení těchto a dalších otázek. Principy kvalitativního přístupu se obrací k samotnému jádru tohoto procesu - tvůrcům a hodnotitelům osobní reputace a sociálním interakcím, jimiž se uskutečňuje. Abstract Reputation management is a notion which thus far has surfaced mainly in the field of marketing in relation to brand building. Following the expansion of social media, various personal reputation measuring tools have offered quantitative analyses of users' interactivity on the basis of several variables available on the market. However, these tools were useful for a limited group of social media professionals and enthusiasts. But how do average users approach personal reputation management on social networking sites? How do they...

Magistro darbo objektas – reputacijos valdymas ir komunikacija. Darbo tikslas – nustatyti reputacijos valdymo ir komunikacijos teorines prielaidas bei įgyvendinimą ne pelno organizacijose. Darbo uždaviniai: aptarti reputacijos sampratos problemą, matavimo bei valdymo poreikį ir galimybes, reputacijos komunikacijos principus; aptarti organizacijų reputacijos valdymo ir komunikacijos poreikį bei galimybes; nustatyti verslo ir ne pelno organizacijų reputacijos valdymo ypatybes ir galimybes taikyti bendrą reputacijos matavimo modelį; nustatyti, kaip ne pelno organizacijos suvokia reputaciją ir kaip ją komunikuoja savo internetinėse svetainėse. Išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą, prieita prie išvados, kad organizacijos reputaciją galima matuoti ir valdyti, yra kuriami reputacijos matavimo modeliai, pagal kuriuos matuojama ir valdoma organizacijų reputacija. Pastebimas glaudus ryšys tarp organizacijos identiteto, įvaizdžio ir reputacijos, tačiau šie elementai atskiriami. Atkreiptas dėmesys, kad reputacija yra santykinis dydis, priklausantis nuo lūkesčių ir konteksto. Analizuojant matavimo modelius bei praktikas, prieita prie išvados, kad nors ir esant kriterijų variacijų galimybei, matavimo modelių pagrindas lieka tas pats (Fombruno Reputacijos koeficientas). Remiantis trečiojo sektoriaus organizacijų ir jų susivienijimų įžvalgomis, pagrįstas ne pelno organizacijų reputacijos aktualumas bei aptartos verslo reputacijos matavimo modelio pritaikymo galimybės ne pelno organizacijoms... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this thesis is to define the theoretical precondition of reputation management and communication and to determine the implementation of reputation management and communication in non-profit organizations. The objectives are to discuss the problem of conception, the needs and opportunities of reputation management and communication; to determine the features of the reputation of profit and non-profit organization; to define the abilities to apply common reputation measurement model; to determine how do the non-profit organizations understand the concept of reputation, what knowledge do they have about the managing and communicating the reputation and how do the organizations communicate the reputation through their internet sites. After analysis of scientific literature, the conclusion is that reputation of organization is measurable, one can manage it. There are measurement models created. There are connections between identity, image and reputation of organization. Nevertheless these are three different concepts. It was noted, that reputation is related with the expectations of stakeholders and all kinds of context. Analyzing the models of reputation measurement was noted that one of them is used as a basis. It’s Ch.Fombruns’ Reputation quotient, which is composed from six elements. Furthermore according to the leaders and authorities of the third sector, the necessity for non-profit organizations to manage their reputation was justified and the opportunities to... [to full text]

Diese Arbeit betrachtet zwei anspruchsvolle Probleme aus dem Bereich Computer- und Kommunikationssicherheit und Vertrauen. Beim Datenbank-Serviceprovider-Problem moechte ein Anwender seine Datenbank an einen Datenbank-Serviceprovider (DSP) uebergeben, damit dieser sie betreiben und ihm zur Verfuegung stellen kann. Er vertraut diesem DSP, und damit auch vertraglichen Abmachungen, nur bedingt und muss die Vertraulichkeit seiner Daten durch technische Massnahmen sicherstellen. Das zweite Problem ist das Verbreiten verlaesslicher Reputationsinformation ueber eine (moeglicherweise sehr grosse) Anzahl von Netzwerk-Knoten in einer Peer-to-Peer-Umgebung (P2P). Beide Probleme straeuben sich hartnaeckig gegen einfache Loesungen. Im Gegensatz zu traditionellen Sicherheitsproblemen in der Informatik hat der Gegner in beiden ein hohes Mass an Kontrolle ueber die Situation. Der nicht ausreichend vertrauenswuerdige DSP muss in der Lage sein, die Daten seines Kunden zu verarbeiten, ohne etwas ueber sie zu lernen, was intuitiv wie ein Widerspruch erscheint. In P2P-Anwendungen ist es wuenschenswert, dass Knoten anonym beitreten und jederzeit wieder austreten koennen, aber diese Anonymitaet erleichtert es, falsche Reputationsinformation zu verbreiten. Ein Knoten, der erstmalig in ein P2P-Netzwerk eintritt, muss den behaupteten Beobachtungen anderer Knoten vertrauen. Die Resultate dieser Arbeit sind keine Idealloesungen, und dennoch aufschlussreich in mehrerlei Hinsicht: Es werden gelockerte, aber immer noch nuetzliche Sicherheitsbegriffe fuer das DSP-Problem vorgeschlagen; es werden theoretische Grenzen des DSP-Loesungsraums gezogen; und die Auswirkung feindseligen Verhaltens in P2P-Reputationssystemen wird durch heuristische Methoden reduziert. Ein Nebeneffekt unserer Arbeit ist ein speziell fuer Reputationssysteme in P2P-Netzwerken geeignetes Simulations-Tool, das zum Vergleich und zum Fine-Tuning bestehender und zukuenftiger Forschungsarbeiten genutzt werden kann. / In this thesis we discuss two demanding problems from the field of computer and communication security that involve trust. The first is known as the database service provider problem: A database owner wants a database service provider (DSP) to host her database. She only trusts this DSP to a limited extent, so she does not want to rely solely on contractual solutions. It is therefore necessary to enforce confidentiality of her data by technical means. The second problem concerns a (potentially very large) number of network nodes in a peer-to-peer (P2P) environment. Both problems are notoriously hard because, other than in traditional computer security problems, the adversary has a lot of control over the situation. The untrusted DSP needs to be able to process the data without learning anything about it, which seems to be a contradiction. In P2P applications it is desirable that nodes can join anonymously, but anonymity makes it easy to spread false reputation information. A node that enters a P2P application network for the first time needs to trust the claimed observations of other nodes, independent of the rate of malicious behaviour. Our findings are not perfect solutions, but nevertheless instructive in several ways: We propose relaxed, but still practically useful, notions of security for the DSP problem; we identify theoretical limitations of the DSP solution space; and we gradually reduce the impact of adversarial behaviour in P2P reputation systems using heuristic methods. As a side effect of our work, we present a special-purpose framework for simulation of P2P reputation systems that can be used to compare and fine-tune previous and upcoming work.

This paper contributes to the literature by presenting a detailed summary of existing problems with credit rating agencies and proposing a model of a European Rating Agency that acts as a competitor and benchmark to the established credit rating agencies. European Rating Agency (ERA) as a new entrant will make a difference by increasing rating transparency and reputation cost for rating agencies at the same time. A vital point when developing the idea of an independent rating agency was the minimization of regulation changes. This will help shareholder to better orientate and understand the functionalities of the European Rating Agency which will make its establishment process easier. Reputation cost (capital) are assumed to be the building blocks that support the unique position of current rating agencies. ERA is modelled specifically to target this information and use the fragile concept of trust and reputation to the benefit of all stakeholder.

Relevance of the research topic. In the modern world of the highest competition between companies in the struggle for the consumer, it is not enough for companies to produce and sell high-quality goods on the market at attractive prices, offer customers the most favorable logistics conditions and take care of the qualitative promotion of the goods. More and more, the consumer is influenced by intangible factors: brand strength, image and reputation of the company. Reputation in the study of marketing communications can be defined as estimates of the company and its activities, formed on the basis of certain parameters that are relevant to the target audience. The reputation of the company is one of its main intangible assets. It is formed for a long time and brings various benefits to its subject. Enterprises with a good reputation with a high degree of probability will be selected among the competitors by consumers. The best employees try to work in them, it is easier for such enterprises to receive loans and attract investments. Enterprises with a bad reputation are drawing to lose potential employees, customers and, ultimately, to disappear from the market. The formation of reputation is influenced by many factors. This is the actions of top management, and the quality of goods and services, and participation in charitable projects, and financial indicators, etc. However, one of the most important factors of reputation formation is interaction with the media. Mass media form public opinion around the enterprise, which, in turn, changes the reputation of the company - it changes the company's relations with customers, suppliers, partners; has an impact on the value of the company. The strongest impact on the reputation is the impact of interactive media, because among other media, they have the most extensive audience, they have a higher degree of trust, they have a high degree of digitalization and interactivity, which increases the degree of their influence on people. At the same time, the topic of media influence on the formation of company reputations has been studied very poorly. There is no single approach to assessing this impact, the toolkit is poorly described, due to which the reputation of companies is formed, mechanisms for protecting the reputation of the company from the influence of the media are not prescribed. The relevance of this work is due to the prevailing situation in the economic space of the country. Recent economic crisis has shown, on the one hand, that in turbulence, reputation is becoming one of the main ways to preserve customers and suppliers. On the other hand, under the influence of media reports, the reputation of companies can suffer considerable damage. The company at the same time loses not only confidence, but also its value. The purpose and objectives of the study: The purpose of this work is to analyze and evaluate the methods of the process of forming the reputation of companies by interactive media on the example of their interaction with the media of the region.  Achieving this goal involves setting and solving the following tasks:   study the notion of "reputation" in the marketing category system;   to consider methods and methods of forming a reputation by the mass media;   Analyze the degree of consumer confidence and their exposure to the impact of interactive media;   To conduct research on methods of forming a reputation by interactive media;   To test the author's method of forming a reputation by interactive media, investigating aspects of the formation of negative and positive reputation of the company;   Develop an algorithm for company interaction with interactive media to protect its reputation. Methods of research. To solve the tasks in the course of the research, such general scientific methods as analysis, synthesis, comparison, classification were used, a special method of data collection was used - a poll using the questionnaire method. / Актуальность темы исследования. В современном мире высочайшей конкуренции между компаниями в борьбе за потребителя для компаний недостаточно только лишь производить и реализовывать на рынке высококачественный товар по привлекательным ценам, предлагать клиентам наиболее выгодные логистические условия и заботиться о качественном продвижении товара. Все больше на выбор того или иного продукта потребителем оказывают влияние нематериальные факторы: сила бренда, имидж и репутация компании. Репутация в рамках исследования маркетинговых коммуникаций может быть определена как оценочные представления о компании и ее деятельности, сформировавшиеся на основании определенных параметров, являющихся значимыми для целевой аудитории. Репутация компании – один из ее основных нематериальных активов. Она формируется длительное время и приносит различные блага для своего субъекта. Предприятия с хорошей репутацией с большой долей вероятностью будут выбраны среди конкурентов потребителями. В них стремятся работать лучшие сотрудники, таким предприятиям проще получать кредиты и привлекать инвестиции. Предприятия же с плохой репутацией рисуют потерять потенциальных сотрудников, клиентов и, в конечном итоге, исчезнуть с рынка. На формирование репутации оказывает влияние множество факторов. Это и действия топ-менеджмента, и качество товаров и услуг, и участие в благотворительных проектах, и финансовые показатели, и т.д. Однако одним из наиболее важных факторов формирования репутации является взаимодействие со СМИ. Средства массово информации формируют общественное мнение вокруг предприятия, что, в свою очередь, изменяет репутацию компании - меняет отношения компании с клиентами, поставщиками, партнерами; оказывает влияние на стоимость компании. Наиболее сильным на репутацию является воздействие интерактивных СМИ, так как у них среди прочих средств массовой информации, наиболее обширная аудитория, к ним выше степень доверия, они отличаются высокой степенью дигитализации и интерактивности, что увеличивает степень их влияния на людей. При этом тема влияния СМИ на формирование репутаций компаний изучена крайне слабо. Отсутствует единый подход к оценке данного влияния, слабо описан инструментарий, за счет которого формируется репутация компаний, не прописаны механизмы защиты репутации компании от влияния СМИ. Актуальность данной работы объясняется сложившейся ситуацией в экономическом пространстве страны. Недавние кризисные явления в экономике показали, с одной стороны, что в условиях турбулентности репутация становится одним из главных способов сохранения клиентов и поставщиков. С другой, что под влиянием сообщений СМИ репутация компаний может терпеть значительный ущерб. Компания при этом теряет не только доверие, но и свою стоимость. Цель и задачи исследования: Целью настоящей работы является – анализ и оценка методов процесса формирования репутации компаний интерактивными СМИ на примере их взаимодействия со средствами массовой информации региона. Достижение этой цели предполагает постановку и решение следующих задач:  изучить понятие «репутация» в системе категории маркетинга;  рассмотреть методы и приемы формирования репутации средствами массовой информации;  проанализировать степень доверия потребителей и их подверженность влиянию интерактивных СМИ;  провести исследование методов формирования репутации интерактивными СМИ;  апробировать авторский метод формирования репутации интерактивными СМИ, исследуя аспекты формирования негативной и позитивной репутации компании;  разработать алгоритм взаимодействия компании с интерактивными СМИ для защиты ее репутации. Объектом исследования выступит практика формирования интерактивными СМИ репутации предприятий социально-экономического пространства региона. Предметом станут публикации РИА «URA.RU» и портала ZNAK.COM, формирующие репутацию компаний. Методы исследования. Для решения поставленных задач в ходе исследования были использованы такие общенаучные методы как анализ, синтез, сравнение, классификация, применен специальный метод сбора данных – опрос методом анкетирования.

In recent years, there have been incidents which decreased people's trust in some organizations and authorities responsible for ratings and accreditation. For a few prominent examples, there was a security breach at Equifax (2017), misconduct was found in the Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (2015), and the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (2022) validated some of the low-performing schools as delivering higher standards than they actually were. A natural solution to these types of issues is to decentralize the relevant trust management processes using blockchain technologies. The research problems which are tackled in this thesis consider the issue of trust in reputation for assessment and review credibility at different angles, in the context of blockchain applications. We first explored the following questions. How can we trust courses in one college to provide students with the type and level of knowledge which is needed in a specific workplace? Micro-accreditation on a blockchain was our solution, including using a peer-review system to determine the rigor of a course (through a consensus). Rigor is the level of difficulty in regard to a student's expected level of knowledge. Currently, we make assumptions about the quality and rigor of what is learned, but this is prone to human bias and misunderstandings. We present a decentralized approach that tracks student records throughout the academic progress at a school and helps to match employers' requirements to students' knowledge. We do this by applying micro-accredited topics and Knowledge Units (KU) defined by NSA's Center of Academic Excellence to courses and assignments. We demonstrate that the system was successful in increasing accuracy of hires through simulated datasets, and that it is efficient, as well as scalable. Another problem is how can we trust that the peer reviews are honest and reflect an accurate rigor score? Assigning reputation to peers is a natural method to ensure correctness of these assessments. The reputation of the peers providing rigor scores needs to be taken into account for an overall rigor of a course, its topics, and its tasks. Specifically, those with a higher reputation should have more influence on the total score. Hence, we focused on how a peer's reputation is managed. We explored decentralized reputation management for the peers, choosing a decentralized marketplace as a sample application. We presented an approach to ensuring review credibility, which is a particular aspect of trust in reviews and reputation of the parties who provide them. We use a Proof-of-Stake based Algorand system as a base of our implementation, since this system is open-source, and it has a rich community support. Specifically, we directly map reputation to stake, which allows us to deploy Algorand at the blockchain layer. Reviews are analyzed by the proposed evaluation component using Natural Language Processing (NLP). In our system, NLP gauges the positivity of the written review, compares that value to a scaled numerical rating given, and determines adjustments to a peer's reputation from that result. We demonstrate that this architecture ensures credible and trustworthy assessments. It also efficiently manages the reputation of the peers, while keeping reasonable consensus times. We then turned our focus on ensuring that a peer's reputation is credible. This led us to introducing a new type of consensus called "Proof-of-Review". Our proposed implementation is again based on Algorand, since its modular architecture allows for easy modifications, such as adding extra components, but this time, we modified the engine. The proposed model then provides a trust in evaluations (review and assessment credibility) and in those who provide them (reputation credibility) using a blockchain. We introduce a blacklisting component, which prevents malicious nodes from participating in the protocol, and a minimum-reputation component, which limits the influence of under-performing users. Our results showed that the proposed blockchain system maintains liveliness and completeness. Specifically, blacklisting and the minimum-reputation requirement (when properly tuned) do not affect these properties. We note that the Proof-of-Review concept can be deployed in other types of applications with similar needs of trust in assessments and the players providing them, such as sensor arrays, autonomous car groups (caravans), marketplaces, and more.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the 1990's researchers have been adding different perspectives to the phenomenon of corporate reputation and its management (Fombrun, 2002a: x; Gotsi & Wilson, 2001: 99). To some extent, the growing attention paid to this topic has come from a consciousness about prevailing trends in the current business landscape, such as the ongoing globalisation, the proliferation of media, the public's new focus on transparency and social responsibility, as well as an avalanche of corporate crises. Yet, besides leading to an unfortunately high fragmentation of the study subject in the academic area, a result of this rapidly increasing interest seemed to be a lack of practitioner's knowledge about the nature, potential, and practical implication of this new management issue (Abratt, 2001: 368). With the general aim to examine this assumed gap between reputation theory and practice, this empirical study therefore presents a preliminary attempt to explore how corporate reputation is approached in real business life. It focuses on the German business environment and seeks to investigate companies' current understanding of corporate reputation, as well as their moves towards fostering and protecting it. To be able to explore corporate reputation management in this particular business environment, the study uses a qualitative research design, for which a range of in-depth interviews are conducted with 18 managers of German companies. The results of this empirical research reveal how German companies understand, value, and approach the issue of reputation and its management. Examining the responses, it becomes evident that, although German companies attach high importance to the reputation issue, even with regard to a strategic consideration, they demonstrate a less specific and less pro-active approach when putting reputation management into practice. After all, this research project informs academics about areas in reputation management that still require theoretical underpinning, whereas practitioners can gain unique insights into what the current reputation management practice looks like and how it could possibly be improved. Thus, the ultimate value of this study stems from providing a bridge which enables these two groups to learn from and move towards one another. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Navorsers het sedert die 1990s verskillende bydraes met betrekking tot die begrip, die reputasie van 'n maatskappy en die bestuur daarvan, gemaak (Fombrun, 2002a: x; Gotsi & Wilson, 2001: 99) Die groeiende belangstelling in hierdie onderwerp het tot 'n mate te doen met die bewuswording van heersende tendense in die sake-omgewing: toenemende globalisering; groei van die media; die publiek se aandrang op deursigtigheid en sosiale verantwoordelikheid; sowel as 'n stortvloed van korporatiewe krisisse. Tog, benewens die feit dat hierdie belangstelling tot die ongelukkige verbrokkeling van die studie-onderwerp op akademiese gebied lei, volg daar ook 'n gebrek aan praktiese kennis aangaande die aard, potensiaal en praktiese implikasies van hierdie nuwe bestuursgeskilpunt (Abratt, 2001: 368). Die doel van hierdie studie is om ondersoek in te stel na die veronderstelde gaping tussen die teorie en praktyk van reputasie-bestuur. Hierdie empiriese studie behels 'n voorlopige ondersoek na die hantering van 'n maatskappy se reputasie in die sake-wêreld. Dit fokus op die sake-omgewing in Duitsland en doen ondersoek na maatskappye se huidige opvattings oor korporatiewe reputasie sowel as die pogings wat deur maatskappye aangewend word om sodanige reputasie te bevorder en te beskerm. Die studie gebruik 'n kwalitatiewe ondersoekmetode in 'n poging om die bestuur van die korporatiewe reputasie in hierdie spesifieke sake-omgewing te ondersoek. Daar is gebruik gemaak van 'n aantal in-diepte onderhoude wat met 18 bestuurders van Duitse maatskappye gevoer is. Die bevindings van hierdie empiriese ondersoek dui aan hoe Duitse maatskappye die kwessie van maatskappy-reputasie, en die bestuur daarvan, begryp, na waarde skat, en benader. 'n Ontleding van die respondente se terugvoer lewer stawende getuienes dat, alhoewel hulle baie waarde heg aan die kwessie van reputasie, selfs met betrekking tot strategiese oorwegings, Duitse maatskappye 'n minder gedefinieerde en minder pro-aktiewe benadering volg sover dit die praktiese bestuur van reputasie betref. Ten slotte word bydraes gemaak ten opsigte van die akademiese kennis in die veld van reputasie-bestuur wat steeds mank gaan aan 'n teoretiese onderbou, terwyl die praktiese veld unieke insigte met betrekking tot huidige praktyke in reputasie-bestuur, en hoe dit verbeter kan word, bykry. Die uiteindelike waarde van die studie lê daarin dat dit kennis verskaf wat hierdie twee groepe bymekaar kan laat leer, en nader na mekaar kan laat beweeg.

Dissertation "Complex evaluation of a company media reputation and its development." focuses on topics of media reputation, media analysis and evaluation of communication activities. Against the existing theoretical background, its aim is to create, and verify the validity of, a new model for evaluation of media reputation of a firm. In line with the available academic works on the subject, the theoretical part of the dissertation defines the main concepts (reputation, media reputation, media content analysis), summarizes the main approaches to measuring the media reputation of organizations and describes their key advantages and disadvantages. The practical part contains a synthesis of the findings and proposes an integrated evaluation model, which reflects both the qualitative and quantitative criteria. Subsequently, the validity of the evaluation model and the applied individual approaches is verified through its application to the media performance of a particular enterprise, investment company Penta Investments in 2014. The application of the model to a specific case confirms that the proposed model is capable of measuring media reputation of a firm over a period of time and indicating deviations affecting the outcome, as well as evaluating the overall performance of communication targets of a...

Reputation is an important asset for organisations worldwide. Many researchers have attempted to develop a measurement construct to assess an organisation’s reputation, with the RepTrak System being recognised to be the world’s first tool that assess reputation across multiple stakeholders and areas of the organisation. Nevertheless, the characteristics, methods and stakeholders to include within an assessment of this intangible asset continues to be widely debated. Organisations are under intense scrutiny by their stakeholders, with reputation being an organisational asset on which many opinions are formed. Universities in the UK are no different, as they compete for students from around the world, with the institutions thought to have the best reputations, attracting more students. Nevertheless, no agreed measure for assessing a university’s reputation exists, with many organisations relying solely on league table rankings. Thus, this thesis evaluated existing reputation measurement characteristics, to determine their applicability in assessing the reputation of a UK university. The antecedents of reputation are also widely debated. Authors suggest that stakeholders’ prior knowledge and experience, and communication they receive from an organisation contributes to their perceptions of that organisation’s reputation. The Media Richness Theory suggests a hierarchy to this communication, with face-to-face communication recognised to be of increasing importance due to its ‘rich’ nature. Consequently, the use of events as a strategic communication tool for marketing and public relations purposes has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, the impact of these events on an organisation’s reputation has yet to be assessed. Thus, the aim of x this thesis is to evaluate the impact that these events have on stakeholders’ perceptions of a UK university’s reputation. A case study methodology, using mixed methods, and underpinned by a pragmatic philosophical perspective was adopted. Five semi-structured interviews were held with senior managers during the first phase of data collection and analysis. Results from these interviews were used to determine the strategic purpose of events as a communication tool. In phase two of the research, the study’s main variables (Reputation, Event Influence, Knowledge and Familiarity, Future Intentions) are combined into a model to assess their relationships. These are tested using Structural Equation Modelling, and data collected from 23 university events and 592 event attendees, using a quantitative questonniare. This study contributes to our knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using events as a form of communication, and highlights the necessity of using a variety of communication channels to inform different stakeholder groups. Findings within this research contradict existing knowledge within the UK Higher Education Industry, by suggesting that university league tables were not the most frequently used method of assessing a university’s reputation, and that rather stakeholders base their perceptions on their personal experience with the institution. Consequently, attending events is found to have a positive influence on attendees’ perceptions of the university’s reputation, however a threshold level exists for stakeholders with high levels of familiarity with the university. Therefore, evidence of the impact of using events as a communication tool is found with a positive return on investment in terms of reputation gains. Thus, findings can be used to inform communication strategy within the higher education industry within the UK.