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Corporate Reputation Review Volume 9 Number 1
Corporate Reputation: The Definitional
Landscape
Michael L. Barnett
College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, USA
John M. Jermier
College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, USA
Barbara A. Lafferty
College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, USA
ABSTRACT
While interest in the concept of corporate reputation
has gained momentum in the last few
years, a precise and commonly agreed upon
definition is still lacking. This paper reviews
the many definitions of corporate reputation
present in the recent literature and categorizes
these definitions based on their similarities and
differences. The purpose of the study is to
review, analyze and evaluate prior definitional
statements of corporate reputation. The analysis
led us to conclude that the cluster of meaning
that looks most promising for future
definitional work uses the language of assessment
and specific terms such as judgment,
estimation, evaluation or gauge. Based on this
review work and a lexicological analysis of the
concept of reputation, we propose a new definitional
statement that we think adds theoretical
clarity to this area of study. The statement
defines corporate reputation more
explicitly and narrowly and distinguishes this
concept from corporate identity, corporate image
and corporate reputation capital. It is our hope
that this study and the resulting definition will
provoke further scholarship devoted to developing
one voice when it comes to corporate reputation ...