This study focuses on measuring the corporate reputation of an organisation within the information technology (IT) industry in South Africa. An empirical investigation was conducted to identify the elements that influence corporate reputation. The research design selected was a case study. For purposes of confidentiality, the organisation used in this dissertation will be referred to as The Group. There were three specific objectives to this study; firstly to identify the channels of communication between the organisation’s stakeholders; secondly to identify the specific elements that influence corporate reputation for each stakeholder group, and finally to provide The Group with recommendations to develop an investor-orientated image and reputation within the South African business environment. This research study consisted of four phases: initial qualitative exploratory research, problem finalisation and re-conceptualisation, quantitative data collection and finally analysis reporting. Stakeholders included in this study were The Group’s employees, The Group’s executive board, clients, non-clients, financial analysts, trade and business media, partners and suppliers, public relations houses and the general public. The main conclusions drawn from the study are that the channels of communication internally and externally to the organisation influence corporate reputation. The most important disseminators of information regarding The Group are its employees. Corporate communications, clients and the media also play a vital role in influencing corporate reputation. These stakeholders should be targeted to receive the bulk of the reputation improvement activities so that a change in their perceptions can be filtered through to the stakeholders. Four specific business processes have been identified that have an impact on corporate reputation, namely general business management, financial management, corporate marketing and corporate communications. Recommendations emanating from this study to improve corporate reputation within the IT industry suggest that The Group create a stronger public awareness. Communication initiatives need to assure stakeholders that The Group is performing well although the share price is low. An extensive black economic empowerment (BEE) programme will enhance the corporate reputation. Finally, The Group needs to agree on a set of actionable initiatives across corporate functions, marketplaces and service lines to enhance the corporate reputation. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Communication Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Focusing on corporate identity (i.e. employee view of corporate reputation), this study is an analysis of the employee branding process encompassing an antecedent (PC; psychological contract), a mediator (CI; corporate identity), consequences (OI and OC; organisational identification and commitment), and a covariant (EP; employee personality). Customers and employees are the two most important stakeholder groups of a business organisation. A review of the existing literature suggests that research into corporate reputation predominantly takes a customer perspective. In contrast, the employee view of corporate reputation has rarely attracted academic attention. For this reason, the value of this study is justified not only by the importance of employer brand as a strategic asset that drives competitiveness, but also by the paucity of academic research into the employee branding process over the years. Previous literature suggested that the employee psychological contract directly influences employees' organisational commitment. Based on a survey of 390 employees from 14 firms in the UK and China (PRC), a structural equation model has been developed and tested. It shows that the effect of PC is better seen as indirect and operating via corporate identity (i.e. the employee view of corporate reputation) and their sense of identification. Both corporate identity (Agreeableness) and organisational identification have strong influences on employees' organisational commitment. Both corporate identity (Agreeableness and Competence) and identification mediate the effect of the psychological contract on commitment. Further, this study shows that the personality of the employee can influence their perceptions of the content of the psychological contract. Employee personality also covaries with their perceptions of corporate identity. This study also has several practical implications. In order to enhance organisational identification and commitment managers need to, first, promote corporate identity dimensions of agreeableness (e.g. friendly, supportive, trustworthy) and competence (e.g. reliable, leading, secure); second, clearly communicate management willingness to offer a series of employment inducements and try to keep these promises. Finally, managers should introduce personality tests into the recruitment and selection process and hire applicants who score high in agreeableness (e.g. friendly, cooperative, compassionate) and conscientiousness (e.g. efficient, organised, achievement-oriented).

Šio darbo tikslas yra nustatyti veiksnius, kurie įtakoją organizacijos reputaciją. Siekiant darbo tikslų atskleidimo iš pradžių buvos analizuojamos diferencijuotos ir analoginės mokyklų autorių mintys, ko pasėkoje buvo prieita prie teoretikų kaip Balmer, Bromley, Fombrun (diferencijuotos mokyklos atstovai), reputacijos koncepcijos, kuri pažymi, kad organizacijos reputacija yra įmonės ankstesnių veiksmų ir pasekmių atspindys, kuris parodo organizacijos gebėjimą paskirstyti rezultatą publikai. Ji laiko atžvilgiu yra ilgalaikiškesnė nei įvaizdis. Tuo tarpu įvaizdis gali būti greitai keičiamas ir melagingas, be to reputacija yra siejama publikos patirtimi su organizacija. Darbe taip pat atlikta organizacijos įvaizdžio ir identiteto koncepcijų analizė bei palyginimas su organizacijos reputacija, kadangi šios sąvokos yra glaudžiai susijusios ir dažnai painiojamos tarpusavyje. Organizacijos įvaizdis tai vidinės ir išorinės organizacijos publikos nuomonių bei pažiūrų visuma, o įmonės identitetas yra organizacijos savęs pristatymas, priklausantis nuo charakteristikų, kurios organizaciją pateikia savo elgesio pavyzdžiu, simbolių ir ryšių pagalba. Esminis skirtumas tarp šių koncepcijų yra tas, kad organizacijos identitetas tai būdas, kuriuo organizacijos nariai vertina savo organizaciją, įvaizdis tai būdas, kuriuo organizacija prisistato visuomenei ir reputacija tai būdas kuriuo visuomenė vertina organizaciją. Remiantis „Financial times“ bei „Fortune“, išskirti šeši pagrindiniai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the factors that have an influence over the reputation of organization. In order to achieve the goals of the paper the analysis of the authors’ thoughts from differential and analog schools has been made. The outcome of Balmer, Bromley, Fombrun (the representatives of differential school) is the concepts of reputation that signify that the reputation of organization is the result of past actions and that shows the capability of organization to allocate the result to the public. Reputation is more sustained than the image in terms of time. In addition image can be changed quickly and can be untrue; reputation on the other hand is more associated with the experience of organization. The analysis of organizational image and identity concepts has been made and a comparison with organizational reputation has been done. This has been done because these two concepts are associated and sometimes understood as synonyms. The image of organization is the summation of the inner and external public opinions; the identity is the presentation of organization, dependable on the characteristics that represent the organization by using symbols, examples and communications. The main difference between these concepts is that the identity of organization is a mean by which the members of organization value the organizations; the image is a mean by which organization presents itself to the society; reputation is a mean by which the society values the... [to full text]

In this paper I theorize about how a company’s corporate reputation and visibility can be affected by a scandal. Scandals are associated with negative outcomes such as bad reputation but this thesis investigates if there are some positive side-effects of a scandal in terms of increased visibility. The idea of it being better for companies to be infamous than unknown is studied using the empirical example of the payment service company Klarna AB, their scandal in April of 2014 is the focus of the thesis. The results show that the company’s visibility was affected in a positive way following the scandal since the number of articles about Klarna did increase after the scandal compared to before the scandal. Klarna’s visibility was also shown to increase through the higher number of customer reviews after the scandal. The measurements for corporate reputation of Klarna rose significantly after the scandal in comparison to before the scandal indicating that also Klarna’s reputation was positively affected by the scandal. The conclusion is that it is better to be infamous than unknown since there was something to gain from the scandal in terms of visibility and corporate reputation.

The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between an organization's identity and its corporate reputation. The organization in focus is a Swedish travel agency. Although identity and reputation has been studied separately before, they are closely connected and have synergistic effects, in that they affect each other. Connecting the two fields can benefit both the profession and research. Not only that, it is also expected to occur as a result of the development of technology, where the internet has made it possible for organizations to communicate through their own channels and describe how they think about themselves, and thus affect the way they want to be perceived. To analyze the organization's identity and corporate reputation, and the relationship between them, the study uses a model developed by Huang-Horowitz and Freberg. To achieve the purpose, data is collected by two methods, qualitative text analysis and semi-structured interviews. The result shows that the organization's identity and reputation interact in a succesful way in two of three categories. A challenge for the object of study is to distinguish itself from its competitors, as the results shows.

The social responsibility of corporations has become a topical issue. This is particularly so in relation to the ways and means of achieving harmony and congruency with social expectations. With the growing importance that corporations now place on meeting contemporary demands for extra-commercial engagement placed on them by society, regulating corporate activity in this area has come under intense public and legal scrutiny. In what can be described as a departure from the norm, the use of legislation to mandate and govern corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly perceived as an effective regulatory method in emerging economies. India, Mauritius, Indonesia and the Philippines have adopted legislation with regard to CSR. In Nigeria, however, several attempts at legislating on CSR have failed. This study shows that a multiplicity of factors is responsible for this development. This thesis posits that while the adoption of international CSR standards is encouraged through various international activities, only an autochthonous approach which recognises the peculiarities of the Nigerian state can promote the desired legislative objective on mandating CSR. This study explores the prospects of mandating CSR by legislation in Nigeria and suggests reforms deemed necessary for achieving the objective of mandatory CSR.

This study endeavours to conceptualise the corporate trust construct and its relationship with corporate reputation more holistically, to address the current perceived lack of conceptual clarity of the relationship between these two constructs. The key premise of this study is that a for-profit organisation’s ability to generate sustainable wealth over time and ensure its own long-term economic sustainability is related to its relationship with its entire stakeholder network. Since an organisation is dependent on its stakeholders’ approval, commitment and supportive behaviour, it is important to understand what influences and drives their perceptions and assessment of an organisation, and their decision to support it. This highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between corporate reputation and corporate trust. For this purpose this researcher has developed a conceptual model founded on basic, theoretical research, with the aim of clarifying current and existing theory and providing a new theoretical perspective. A conceptual model is a simplified and systematic representation of reality, which is made explicit in some abstract form. The descriptive and explicative properties of a model delineate the complex elements of the system more clearly, which fosters systematic thinking and enhances understanding. The model developed as the result of this study suggests an inverse direction to the generally accepted view in current literature of the relationship between corporate trust and corporate reputation. Where trust is usually regarded as an attribute or antecedent of corporate reputation, this study has conceptualised trust as an outcome of corporate reputation and as the more comprehensive construct in the relationship. Corporate reputation has been conceptualised as being merely a means to an end – to earn stakeholders’ trust and thus their commitment and continued support – and not as an end in itself. Trustworthiness, and not trust, has been identified as the key driver of corporate reputation. Seven key areas in which an organisation should display its trustworthiness have been identified. These are proposed as the new antecedents of corporate reputation in order to build a reputation that will lead to stakeholders’ trust and support. Finally, recommendations have been made and the areas requiring further research have been identified. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Marketing Management / PhD / Unrestricted

An employee who has a low level of awareness of how behaviours impact corporate reputation, and access to large online communities, could potentially expose the business to reputational risk. The vast number of individuals on these networks, combined with the low level of skill needed to publish on these sites, has resulted in comments and behaviours being amplified to a much greater audience. Employees and their behaviours represent the reality of the organisation to external stakeholders, and so offer a potential risk for reputational damage.This research used an online survey with Likert scales to test the hypotheses. The survey was sent out to a convenience sample, and then a snowballing technique was used to reach the employees within the identified companies.Managers and employees are equally aware of their impact on corporate reputation; however, they have a difference in opinion on what are acceptable topics to place in the public domain. A breach in the employee-employer psychological contract does not result in an increase in employee‟s willingness to post sensitive information in the public domain and employees are undecided as to how they feel about being prohibited from posting certain information in the public domain as an infringement of their person rights. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of corporate reputation on work attitudes and behaviors. We used the benchmark company surveyed result of CommonWealth Magazine and developed a qestionnaire to survey those benchmark companies¡¦ employees. Finally, we obtained an effective sample of 50 companies with 1222 employees. And the response rate was 83% for companies and 68% for employees. The result of this study showed that external corporate reputation has positively influential effect on employee corporate reputation, employee corporate reputation has positively influential effect on work attitudes and behaviors, external corporate reputation has partially positively influential effect on work attitudes and behaviors, and employee corporate reputation will partially mediate the positively influential effect of external corporate reputation on work attitudes and behaviors. Based on above findings, the practical implications, research limitation and suggestions for future study are addressed.

Research question:   How do changes in corporate reputation created through corporate social responsibility impact stakeholders? Purpose:    This paper focuses on the impact of corporate reputation on stakeholders. The first objective is to identify stakeholders impacted by changes in corporate reputation created through CSR-related actions. The second objective is to explore the impact an organisation’s corporate reputation change has on identified stakeholders. Method:   This study adopts a multi-method qualitative approach. Primary data was collected through two differing interview designs. Conclusion:   Changes in corporation reputation created through corporate social responsibility-related initiatives can impact stakeholders. The changes can be both positive and negative and are highly dependent on the specific stakeholder and initiative. Positive changes are slow to see any significant impact, while negative changes can be instantaneous and disastrous.