Attitude and ability of frontline employees in customer interaction influence company reputation. Since respective theory is scarce, this paper – based on a qualitative interview study – presents an examination of the status quo of the topic in luxury watch retail. Theories of service quality, identity and impression management are briefly addressed.

Using an experimental design and controlling for sponsor-sponsee fit perceptions, it is investigated how an individual’s cultural interest impacts on a cultural sponsor’s reputation. Results display that cultural interest exerts a negative impact on the likeability dimension of a cultural sponsor’s reputation.

Consumers are increasingly willing to consider ethical aspects in their buying decisions, while organizations strategically respond to consumer needs in this respect by focusing on their ethical reputation in their branding strategies (Singh et al., 2012). Moreover, brands are increasingly switching to natural ingredients in their products or adding an organic option to their current product line (Johri & Sahasakmontri, 1998; Prothero & McDonagh, 1992; Todd, 2004). Although the majority of the growth of green and ethical products is found within the organic food (Organic Monitor, 2011; Willer & Kilcher, 2010) and fair trade products (FLO, 2011) categories, there also seems to be constant growth in the demand for organic personal care products (PCPs) (Smitson, 2006). In contrast, scientific research on organic Personal Care Products (PCPs) seems to be scarce (Kim & Chung, 2011). The current study investigates the effect of brand associations on consumer perceptions considering organic PCPs. More specifically, we focus on the role of corporate ability (CA) versus corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations in brand equity (Yoo et al., 2000) and brand trust (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001) perceptions. To test the effects of CA and CSR associations on consumer brand equity and trust, we first conducted a pretest, in which we included brands with the highest market share in the Dutch PCP market (Nielsen Market Analytics, April 2013). Based on the results of the pretest the following brands were selected for the main study: L’Oréal, Rituals and Palmolive. For the main experiment respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions in a between-subjects design: L’Oréal (N=42), Palmolive (N=42) and Rituals (N=37). Based on the results of the experiment we can draw the following conclusions. Brands may be associated with both CA and CSR characteristics. Even though possible benefits induced by introducing an organic PCP are higher for brands that are currently associated with CSR, other brands may benefit still from introducing an organic PCP, as the effects of CSR associations and an organic product launch merely seem to be complementary. When a brand considers the introduction of a green variant of its current PCP line, the brand does not seem to need a specific “green” reputation or image. More important, the producing company behind the brand should communicate its innovative characteristics as a market leader as well as a sense of responsibility toward the environment and society. Combining CA with CSR characteristics seems to be the most profitable strategy for attracting more consumers than one’s competitors. Although one should constantly aim to remain competitive in the market, the overall effects of sustainable initiatives will be much lower for brands with a weaker reputation in general than for brands that already induce multiple positive associations. In sum, an organization that decides to introduce a new organic product should be aware of the strong positive associations of their current brands on a variety of product characteristics. In the end, investing in improving multiple positive associations instead of focusing on either CSR or CA will be the most profitable strategy.

Corporate reputation is a central source of strategic competitive advantage. So far, studies regarding this topic have solely focused on the measure’s level, disregarding heterogeneity in the ratings among constituents. This study reveals that dispersion of reputation judgments is another crucial information which has the power to drive firm value.

In recent years, the exploration of the quantifiable effects of market-based intangible assets on firm performance has become increasingly important in marketing and management literature. Corporate reputation, considered as a one of the key marketing metrics for maintaining and enhancing companies’ competitiveness in the globalized economy, plays an essential part in this context. Numerous studies show the impact of reputation on measures of financial performance, justifying companies’ endeavors to install and dedicate effort towards systematic reputation management and tracking. A possible consequence of a good reputation that has so far been neglected in academic research is a decrease in a company’s cost of equity capital, a measure that constitutes an important basis for the decision to invest in future projects, thus playing a vital part in the creation and preservation of strategic competitive advantages. A firm’s cost of equity is defined as the required rate of return, given the market’s perception of the firm’s riskiness. It is based on investors’ expectations about future returns and estimated by means of residual income models with varying assumptions and restrictions (in this study: Claus and Thomas 200, Gebhardt et al. 2001, Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth 2005, and Easton 2004), equating the current stock price to future cash flows that are discounted with the firm’s implied cost of equity. To account for industry-specific idiosyncrasies, each firm’s cost of equity is adjusted by the monthly industry median. Corporate reputation is defined as an attitudinal mindset towards a company. Following the model of Schwaiger (2004), it is conceptualized as a two-dimensional construct comprising a cognitive (competence) and an affective (likeability) component; reputation is the linear combination of these two dimensions. Corporate reputation data was collected in 13 semi-annual waves from large-scale samples representing the general public in Germany. By applying panel data analysis on a set of the 30 largest publicly listed German companies during a seven-year time-span (2005-2011) and controlling for commonly known factors, I show that corporate reputation significantly reduces a firm’s cost of equity. This relationship holds when reputation is corrected for prior financial performance and industry affiliation. My results should help managers to further strengthen their argument that reputation management is value-relevant. This study should be seen as a starting point for further research to gain a deeper understanding of the reputation-cost of capital-interface.

This study examines the effects of restaurant attributes on customers' perceptions of price and brand reputation. Four restaurant attributes were used to represent restaurant quality. Multiple regression was conducted to measure the relationships between the four restaurant attributes and price and brand reputation. Further, an independent T-test was used to compare differences between perceptions of locals and tourists with regard to restaurant quality under two categories (price and brand reputation) after they selected a restaurant. Results of this study revealed that residency did not have a significant impact on customers' perceptions of price or brand reputation, whereas restaurant attributes did have an impact. Taste was a predictor of perceived price, whereas service and atmosphere were predictors of brand reputation. In addition, comparison of restaurant attributes between locals and tourists showed that sanitation and service were significantly different in accordance with price and atmosphere, whereas taste and service were significantly different in accordance with brand reputation. Locals showed higher means for each restaurant attribute compared to tourists.

This research focuses on the importance of corporate social responsibility in building the company’s reputation. Experts have studied CSR as an antecedent of a company’s reputation, but the mechanisms underlying this process are rarely explored. Therefore, to fill this research gap, we demonstrate CSR’s implementation combined with organizational justice based on discrepancy and equity theory. This study involved 210 employees in a family company. The study’s analysis method uses Structural Equation Model (SEM), SmartPLS, with a five-step measurement and analysis procedure. The variables in this study are CSR implementation, organizational justice, employee trust, firm reputation, organizational objectiveness, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and job performance. The results found that some of the direct relationships stated were not significant, but all demonstrations of indirect links were substantial. Besides, optimal CSR and organizational justice provide a reliable and positive domino effect in increasing the role and consequences of employee trust and firm reputation. The findings in this study confirm that upstream-downstream job performance causality can be successfully achieved if job satisfaction has been realized, job satisfaction can be achieved if organizational commitment can also be recognized, and organizational commitment can be developed. Reflection and influence, rather than organizational attractiveness becomes essential.

Purpose: Most of all studies regarding corporate social responsibility have been dealing with its direct performance. Many previous studies provided the evidence that corporate social responsibility activities directly affect firms‘ competitiveness or corporate reputation. However, there are no studies regarding the role of social capital between corporate social responsibility and firms‘ competitiveness. The present study aims to examine a mediating role of social capital between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation. Research design, data and methodology: The structural equation model integrating corporate social responsibility, social capital, and corporate reputation was proposed with three hypotheses. Questionnaire including 15 question items for three concepts was designed. Data for testing hypotheses were collected from students and staff who had experienced the social responsibility activities of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Co. Ltd. SPSS and SmartPLS were used to analyze data. Results: All three hypotheses were supported at the significance level of 0.01. Corporate social responsibility have a significant influence on social capital as well as corporate reputation. Social capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation. Conclusions: The present paper identified a missing link between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation by validating an indirect effect of corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation through social capital. The present study contributes to finding the indirect link between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation. Implications for academics and practitioners. The research model can be extended to analyze the relationship between corporate social responsibility and its performance. The present study sheds light on identification of a new role of social capital. Managers of firms have the opportunity to recognize the fact that investment recovery of corporate social responsibility results from social capital and corporate reputation in long-term rather than short-term. The results of this study offers an insight that managers can enhance customer loyalty. The process linking corporate social responsibility to corporate reputation through social capital implies that firms can realize spiritual marketing delivering authentic storytelling through corporate social responsibility. The present study has a limitation for generalizing of research results because the sampling came from a case of firm.

The paper aims to investigate the linkage among prior financial performance, organizational reputation and earnings quality. Firstly, it examines the influence of prior financial performance on organizational reputation and on earnings quality. Secondly, this research explores the moderating role that prior financial performance plays in the causal relationship from organizational reputation to earnings quality. Thirdly, the mediating role of organizational reputation in the effect of prior financial performance on earnings quality is analyzed. The empirical findings show that, prior financial performance positively affects both earnings quality and organizational reputation that in turn partly mediates the causal connection from prior financial performance to earnings quality; whereas prior financial performance imposes a positive moderation in the influence of organizational reputation on earnings quality. This research is expected to provide scholars and practitioners with a thorough understanding of the complex link among prior financial performance, organizational reputation and earnings quality. That helps them to deliver good decisions on the investment of suitable resources in maintaining and enhancing their organizational reputation, which assures a higher quality of reported earnings that in turn improves involved stakeholders’ confidence in their firm. This likely leads the firms to gain better performance in the future.

Purpose - This study attempted to construct and validate a structural model of the relationship between the quality of medical services, perceived risk, reputation and customer satisfaction, which is the main concept of the relationship between large hospitals as well as small and medium hospitals and medical consumers. Through this verification, the small and medium hospitals are to find the way for wise coping in competitive situation with large hospitals. Research design, data, and methodology - This research developed a hypothesis by constructing a structural equation that reaches the satisfaction and the relationship between reputation of perceived risk and perceived risk of service quality perceptions of customers of small and medium hospitals. Research data were collected through a questionnaire survey of respondents who had medical service experience from small and medium hospital. A total data of 252 respondents were used as the sample for the final analysis and analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23. Results - As a result, the relationship of quality of medical service, reputation, and customer satisfaction among small and medium hospitals was consistent with the results of precedent studies, and the perceived risk has a significant impact on reputation, so the greater the perceived risk, the higher the preference for reputable medical institutions as large hospitals. In addition, it was found that the direct route from perceived risk to customer satisfaction was not significant, and reputation was found to have a full mediating effect on perceived risk and customer satisfaction. Customers who use small and medium hospitals prefer to use reputable medical institutions if their perceived risk is high, which is different from risk perception when specific targets are specified. Conclusions - In terms of the effect from customer satisfaction, not only the path of perceived risk → reputation → customer satisfaction, but also the quality of service quality → reputation → customer satisfaction. These findings suggest that small and medium hospitals are appropriately responding to competition with large hospitals, rather than focusing on the perceived risks and reputation of customers in establishing and utilizing competitive strategies to create new customers and preserve existing customers

The paper aims to investigate the relationship between firm size and organizational actions on adopting social media for corporate reputation management. The sample group of 198 companies is selected with a simple random sample method from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings: Sixty nine companies were from the Fortune 500 listings, seventy one companies from the NYSE midsize capitalization and fifty eight companies from the NYSE small capitalization listings. This study employs cross tabulations and Chi-square analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis that enables the comparison of three samples that are independent. The results of the study show that (1) large firms have more social media ownership than small firms, (2) large firms respond to social media posts at a greater frequency and quickly than small firms, and (3) firm size is less likely associated with response styles to social media for online reputation management. The results show that reply time and response styles of organizations to social media customers in the 2015 survey has no significant change compared to that of 2011. There appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were found not to be adequately monitoring or leveraging social media communication for their reputation management.

日本의 다케시마 10포인트-제6포인트 제7항은 大韓帝國勅令第41号가 제정·반포되기 이전과 이후에 韓國의 獨島에 대한 실효적 지배가 확립되어 있지 않다고 주장하고 있다. 그러나 이러한 일본의 주장은 역사적 사실에 위반한 것일 뿐만 아니라 國際法에 위반하는 주장이다. 첫째로, 역사적 사실의 관점에서 보면, 朝鮮은 정기적으로 관리를 파견하고 감시해왔다. 즉, 김인우를 울릉도 관찰사로 1425년에 임명·파견한 사실, 이규원을 울릉도 관찰사로 1880년에 임명·파견한 사실, 김옥균을 동남제도 관찰사로 1883년에 임명한 사실 등을 둘 수 있다. 둘째로, 범국제법의 관점에서 보면, 원거리·무인도에 대한 실효적 지배는 근거리·유인도에 대한 실효적 지배에 비해 용이하다. 또한 屬島의 법적 지위는 主島의 법적지위와 동일하다. 따라서 鬱陵島에 대한 실효적 지배는 獨島에 대한 실효적 지배로 인정된다.

This research seeks to improve the understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its advantages in the shipping sector. Recently, an improved emphasis on CSR, which incorporates environmental and social concerns into economic considerations of firms, can be found in business management and marketing literature. This is mainly because of people’s increased awareness in regards to the negative consequences of corporate activities such as increased environmental pollution and gaps between the rich and the poor. According to the previous literature, it has been revealed that responsible actions by companies can generate positive outcomes in terms of financial and time aspects, but more importantly, intangible equity of the company, including improved corporate reputation, image as well as brand. As the regulation is intensifying in regards to environmental and social responsibility in the shipping sector, shipping companies are trying to engage in CSR to gain competitive advantages. While the reputation and image of shipping companies play essential roles for developing sustainable maritime transport, few studies have been conducted for how the CSR of shipping companies influence the shipping companies’ reputation and image relative to other industries. In this regard, this study aims to investigate the effect of the corporate social responsibility on corporate reputation and image of shipping companies on the basis of an exploratory study in the Republic of Korea. This research would be beneficial to both academics and practitioners for developing useful CSR strategies which could promote the public’s recognition of the shipping sector.