This thesis models the importance of reputation in indefinite interactions using experimental and empirical evidence. In modern society reputation plays an important role in many everyday life situations. I analyse the resulting incentive structures through microeconomic modelling and econometric regression analysis. Thus, I gauge the impact of reputational considerations on individual decision making.

Theories within organisation and management studies have offered several concepts and models which indicate that organisational values are important factor for organisational success, including reputation building. Nevertheless, existing theory is still inadequate to explain the link between organisational values and organisation’s reputation because it does not account for the enabling factors that underlies the two concepts. This study argues that the implementation of organisational values is an important organisational action for acquiring positives perceptions of organisational values which influences employee behaviour and shapes organisational reputation. It specifically shows and elucidates the enabling mechanisms that reinforce organisational values to impact on employee perceptions and behaviour. This is important because when employees share and exemplify the values in their work, they are likely to behave in ways that support the organisation’s strategy which impacts on external perceptions and build reputation. This study employed a qualitative approach through a single in-depth case study. It reflects that the understanding of ‘what is going on’ within organisation is most appropriately achieved by building concepts and constructs from empirical studies. By using semi-structured interviews, focus groups and non-participant observations, the data develops and evolves through the responses and behaviours of participants. Employees were selected through purposive sampling and the snow-balling technique was used to reach customers. The data were structured and coded using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the process of aligning organisational values and employee values is significant for understanding how organisational values influence employee behaviours, which in turn enable the organisation to build its reputation. The data suggest that four remediation phases: aware, articulate, accept and act, are important for explaining how a gap between organisational values and employee values can be reduced. This remediation process enabled the senior management team and employees to understand how their perceptions and reactions towards the implementation of organisational values impact upon attitudes and behaviours. The findings suggest that organisational values can be reinforced through various social influences. Social interactions can occur in different forms including the involvement of leaders of the management team in creating, exampling and communicating values as well as through expanding the employee’s role in enacting values through empowerment and trust building. However, the findings emphasise that the process of cascading and instilling values through a top-down or hierarchical is no feasible. Instead, it is a hybrid approach that requires employee buy-in and involvement especially in communicating and enacting organisational values. This is an important insight because employees regularly interact with each other which provide a valuable platform to persuade and influence other colleagues to embrace organisational values. Additionally, the findings also build on the reputation literature by demonstrating the role of reciprocity and mimicking in behaviour as the consequences of social interactions within the organisation. The opportunity to regularly interact with colleagues enables employees to want to reciprocate in return for what they have received in the workplace. This tacit understanding of reciprocity for mutual benefit and the tendency to imitate other’s behaviour improves employee perceptions of organisations which in turn contribute towards reputation building. The study advances current understandings in the organisational reputation literature by providing a unique theoretical and empirical insight into how organisational values can impact on reputation building. It also highlights the important role of internal mechanisms for shaping both internal perceptions and behaviour as well as external perceptions of organisations.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have attracted much attention over the last few years. VANETs own several significant characteristics, such as the high-rate changing topology led by velocity of vehicles, time-and-location critical safety applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. In VANETs, as vehicle movement is usually restricted in just bidirectional movements along the roads and streets, geographical location information becomes very useful. In addition, many studies show that position-based routing protocol is a more promising routing strategy for VANETs; therefore security and verification of location information are necessary to be researched. In this thesis, a location verification approach, namely the Cooperative Location Verification (CLV) protocol, is proposed, aiming to prevent position-spoofing attacks on VANETs. The CLV basically uses two vehicles, a Verifier and a Cooperator, to verify the claimed position of a vehicle (Prover), according to two challenge-response procedures. Additionally, the security analysis of the CLV is presented. In order to enhance the CLV by reduce the network overhead, a reputation management system is designed. It utilizes the verification results of the CLV application and maintain every vehicle's reliability in the network. In addition, the solution to sparse networks is briefly discussed. In the simulation, the results show that the proposed CLV performs better than another location verification algorithm, namely the Secure Location Verification (SLV). And the effectiveness of the reputation management system is also demonstrated.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have attracted much attention over the last few years. VANETs own several significant characteristics, such as the high-rate changing topology led by velocity of vehicles, time-and-location critical safety applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. In VANETs, as vehicle movement is usually restricted in just bidirectional movements along the roads and streets, geographical location information becomes very useful. In addition, many studies show that position-based routing protocol is a more promising routing strategy for VANETs; therefore security and verification of location information are necessary to be researched. In this thesis, a location verification approach, namely the Cooperative Location Verification (CLV) protocol, is proposed, aiming to prevent position-spoofing attacks on VANETs. The CLV basically uses two vehicles, a Verifier and a Cooperator, to verify the claimed position of a vehicle (Prover), according to two challenge-response procedures. Additionally, the security analysis of the CLV is presented. In order to enhance the CLV by reduce the network overhead, a reputation management system is designed. It utilizes the verification results of the CLV application and maintain every vehicle's reliability in the network. In addition, the solution to sparse networks is briefly discussed. In the simulation, the results show that the proposed CLV performs better than another location verification algorithm, namely the Secure Location Verification (SLV). And the effectiveness of the reputation management system is also demonstrated.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have attracted much attention over the last few years. VANETs own several significant characteristics, such as the high-rate changing topology led by velocity of vehicles, time-and-location critical safety applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. In VANETs, as vehicle movement is usually restricted in just bidirectional movements along the roads and streets, geographical location information becomes very useful. In addition, many studies show that position-based routing protocol is a more promising routing strategy for VANETs; therefore security and verification of location information are necessary to be researched. In this thesis, a location verification approach, namely the Cooperative Location Verification (CLV) protocol, is proposed, aiming to prevent position-spoofing attacks on VANETs. The CLV basically uses two vehicles, a Verifier and a Cooperator, to verify the claimed position of a vehicle (Prover), according to two challenge-response procedures. Additionally, the security analysis of the CLV is presented. In order to enhance the CLV by reduce the network overhead, a reputation management system is designed. It utilizes the verification results of the CLV application and maintain every vehicle's reliability in the network. In addition, the solution to sparse networks is briefly discussed. In the simulation, the results show that the proposed CLV performs better than another location verification algorithm, namely the Secure Location Verification (SLV). And the effectiveness of the reputation management system is also demonstrated.

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have attracted much attention over the last few years. VANETs own several significant characteristics, such as the high-rate changing topology led by velocity of vehicles, time-and-location critical safety applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. In VANETs, as vehicle movement is usually restricted in just bidirectional movements along the roads and streets, geographical location information becomes very useful. In addition, many studies show that position-based routing protocol is a more promising routing strategy for VANETs; therefore security and verification of location information are necessary to be researched. In this thesis, a location verification approach, namely the Cooperative Location Verification (CLV) protocol, is proposed, aiming to prevent position-spoofing attacks on VANETs. The CLV basically uses two vehicles, a Verifier and a Cooperator, to verify the claimed position of a vehicle (Prover), according to two challenge-response procedures. Additionally, the security analysis of the CLV is presented. In order to enhance the CLV by reduce the network overhead, a reputation management system is designed. It utilizes the verification results of the CLV application and maintain every vehicle's reliability in the network. In addition, the solution to sparse networks is briefly discussed. In the simulation, the results show that the proposed CLV performs better than another location verification algorithm, namely the Secure Location Verification (SLV). And the effectiveness of the reputation management system is also demonstrated.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of stakeholders regarding reputation in schools in Fezile Dabi district. A qualitative approach was used. Multiple sources of data collection included semi-structured interviews, documents and visual data in the form of photographs. A literature review revealed that reputation management is imperative for schools to survive and continue existing. Determination of factors that contribute to good reputation and those causing bad reputation is important before school managers can embark on reputation management. Reputable schools attract more learners and resources because of the culture of learning and teaching in these schools. Four sites were purposefully selected and twenty internal and external stakeholders participated. The research sites were made up of two primary and two secondary schools all Quintile 1 and 2 schools. The study revealed that factors contributing to good reputation in the participating schools included: effective teaching, emotional appeal, clean physical surroundings, good leadership and management, involvement of parents and effective financial management. It was found that all participating schools had good academic results and received awards in sport and music, involvement in extra-curricular activities was regarded as a norm in these schools, thus they were boasting of high enrolment of learners. There were however, causal factors to bad reputation such as external factors- lack of leadership and management at district level and lack of skills regarding dealing with media. Internal factors included misbehaviour of learners and ineffective management. School managers in these schools were not creative and innovative in the use of strategies to strengthen reputation in their schools. The focus was only on effective teaching and extra-curricular activities. No new strategies were adopted by school managers to adapt to the changing school environment to ensure continued reputable schools. / Thesis (MEd (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The focus of this research is on the development of ontology and on a more effective way to measure corporate reputation that takes into consideration the orientations of a company’s various stakeholders. The focus by researchers and by practitioners on corporate reputation and on its management attests to an expanding interest. Yet there remains disparate knowledge about how corporate reputation should be defined; about what are its key components; about the relationships between those components and about how corporate reputation should be measured. This point to a need for clarification: to develop a methodology based on ontology of corporate reputation that has relevance for a company’s various stakeholder groups. This research builds on a review of the academic literature and employs text analysis, the nominal group technique and a quantitative survey among stakeholders about the reputation of a high profile company. Theory-driven analysis provides insights into the corporate reputation construct and into a tool for measurement that takes into consideration stakeholder perceptions of a company’s reputation. The results of the study indicate that, in the eyes of its stakeholders, a company’s reputation is driven by nine factors: image, identity, management leadership, performance, corporate brand, products and services, financial performance, ethical management and leadership, and corporate leadership. Not all nine components share the same degree of relevance for stakeholders: different stakeholder groups rank the importance of the components of corporate reputation differently; they evaluate the reputation of the same company differently. The drivers of stakeholders’ overall evaluations of a company’s reputation vary by stakeholder segment. Stakeholder groups are seen to display the characteristics of segments.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of stakeholders regarding reputation in schools in Fezile Dabi district. A qualitative approach was used. Multiple sources of data collection included semi-structured interviews, documents and visual data in the form of photographs. A literature review revealed that reputation management is imperative for schools to survive and continue existing. Determination of factors that contribute to good reputation and those causing bad reputation is important before school managers can embark on reputation management. Reputable schools attract more learners and resources because of the culture of learning and teaching in these schools. Four sites were purposefully selected and twenty internal and external stakeholders participated. The research sites were made up of two primary and two secondary schools all Quintile 1 and 2 schools. The study revealed that factors contributing to good reputation in the participating schools included: effective teaching, emotional appeal, clean physical surroundings, good leadership and management, involvement of parents and effective financial management. It was found that all participating schools had good academic results and received awards in sport and music, involvement in extra-curricular activities was regarded as a norm in these schools, thus they were boasting of high enrolment of learners. There were however, causal factors to bad reputation such as external factors- lack of leadership and management at district level and lack of skills regarding dealing with media. Internal factors included misbehaviour of learners and ineffective management. School managers in these schools were not creative and innovative in the use of strategies to strengthen reputation in their schools. The focus was only on effective teaching and extra-curricular activities. No new strategies were adopted by school managers to adapt to the changing school environment to ensure continued reputable schools. / Thesis (MEd (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

The focus of this research is on the development of ontology and on a more effective way to measure corporate reputation that takes into consideration the orientations of a company’s various stakeholders. The focus by researchers and by practitioners on corporate reputation and on its management attests to an expanding interest. Yet there remains disparate knowledge about how corporate reputation should be defined; about what are its key components; about the relationships between those components and about how corporate reputation should be measured. This point to a need for clarification: to develop a methodology based on ontology of corporate reputation that has relevance for a company’s various stakeholder groups. This research builds on a review of the academic literature and employs text analysis, the nominal group technique and a quantitative survey among stakeholders about the reputation of a high profile company. Theory-driven analysis provides insights into the corporate reputation construct and into a tool for measurement that takes into consideration stakeholder perceptions of a company’s reputation. The results of the study indicate that, in the eyes of its stakeholders, a company’s reputation is driven by nine factors: image, identity, management leadership, performance, corporate brand, products and services, financial performance, ethical management and leadership, and corporate leadership. Not all nine components share the same degree of relevance for stakeholders: different stakeholder groups rank the importance of the components of corporate reputation differently; they evaluate the reputation of the same company differently. The drivers of stakeholders’ overall evaluations of a company’s reputation vary by stakeholder segment. Stakeholder groups are seen to display the characteristics of segments.