Examining reputation from a communication perspective: A
systematic review
Examinando la reputación desde la perspectiva de la comunicación: una
revisión sistemática
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How to cite this article:
Abuarqoub, O. (2023). Examining reputation from a communication perspective: A systematic review.
Doxa Comunicación
, 37, pp. 113-139.
https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n37a1925
Omar Abuarqoub
is a Palestinian Assistant Professor in the Media & Communication Department at the Faculty of
Graduate Studies in the Arab American University, Palestine. He holds a PhD and Master’s degree in Communication
and Media Studies Program from Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus. His doctoral dissertation focused on
“Engineering of Consent: Analysis of the Israel Lobby’s Facebook Discourse in the US” while his Master’s thesis was
on Israeli media coverage for the Gaza war in 2014. He also obtained a bachelor’s degree from Al-Quds University,
Palestine. Dr. Abu Arqoub’s research interests include Public Relations (Media Relations, Engineering of Consent,
Reputation Management), Social and Digital Media, Journalism (Fake News and Peace Journalism), Media Studies,
Political Communication, Privacy, Digital Security, and Digital Rights.
Arab American University, Palestine
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-3466-6364
Abstract:
e present study aims to systematically review communication
reputation-focused research. After investigating several databases,
a total of 366 peer-reviewed communication journal articles were
selected. is study adopted quantitative content analysis to examine
journals, as well as the progression, methodologies, media genres
and platforms, geospatial distribution of discussed issues, and
aliations of rst authors. e results revealed that communication
reputation-focused articles have increased during the last decade.
Most of the articles were published in public relations (PR) journals
and adopted quantitative research methodologies. e most
commonly used theories were related to communication, PR, and
crisis communication theories. e articles discussed mostly social
media and then digital media genres and platforms. e discussed
regions and rst-author aliations were focused on the US.
Keywords
:
Communication; public relations; corporate and organizational
reputation; meta-analysis.
Resumen:
Este estudio tiene como objetivo revisar de forma sistemática la investigación
en comunicación centrada en la reputación. Después de un estudio de
varias bases de datos, se seleccionaron un total de 366 artículos revisados
por pares de las revistas cientícas de comunicación. Este estudio adoptó
un análisis cuantitativo de contenido para examinar las revistas, así como
la progresión, las metodologías, los géneros y las plataformas de los medios,
además de la distribución geoespacial de los temas tratados y las aliaciones
de los primeros autores. Los resultados revelaron que los artículos de
comunicación centrados en la reputación han aumentado durante la
última década. La mayoría de los artículos se publicaron en revistas de
relaciones públicas (
RR.PP
.) y adoptaron metodologías cuantitativas de
investigación. Las teorías más utilizadas estaban relacionadas con las
teorías de comunicación,
RR.PP
. y comunicación de crisis. Los artículos
versaban principalmente sobre las redes sociales y luego sobre los géneros
y plataformas de los medios digitales. Las regiones consideradas y las
aliaciones de los primeros autores se centraron en los EE. UU.
Palabras clave:
Comunicación; relaciones públicas; reputación corporativa y
organizativa; meta-análisis
Received: 10/02/2023 - Accepted: 04/05/23 - Early access: 10/05/2023 - Published: 01/07/2023
Recibido: 10/02/2023 - Aceptado: 04/05/23 - En edición: 10/05/2023 - Publicado: 01/07/2023
is content is published under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. International License
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1. Introduction
Reputation is a multidisciplinary eld and a constructive concept rst introduced in the business discipline (Helm et al.,
2011; Hutton et al., 2001). Corporate reputation-focused research originated from the business, marketing, and management
perspectives and elds, with the exclusion of the communication perspective. Several academic publications have ignored
the communication aspect of reputation, including
e Oxford Handbook of Corporate Reputation
(Barnett & Pollock, 2012),
which discussed corporate reputation within the eld of business and related disciplines while ignoring the communication
perspective. Meanwhile, corporate reputation as a concept and research area has been developed via an interesting pathway
from a communication and public relations (PR) perspective over the last three decades, “reputations are formed based
on communication and are a topic of communication” (Chory, Mainiero, & Horan, 2022, p. 3). For example,
e Handbook
of Communication and Corporate Reputation
(Carroll, 2013) oered a communication perspective that contrasted with
the multidisciplinary perspective of reputation discussed by Barnett and Pollock (2012). e handbook oers a uniquely
communication perspective on reputation by focusing on reputation as what is generally said about an organization.
After the 2000s, with the acceptance of the multidisciplinary nature of the concept, studies, jointly authored books, and
other reference materials (Carroll, 2013b; Heath, 2013) have asserted that corporate reputation should be reconsidered as a
communication and PR discipline. Carroll (2013b, p. 3) stated that “for those who want to understand corporate reputation in
greater depth, communication perspectives must be included.” Since the beginning of the 21st century, various studies have
assumed and identied reputation as a new philosophy for managing traditional PR and communication activities within
organizations (Hutton et al., 2001; Origgi, 2014;
Şİ
RZAD, 2022). is is a signicant motivation driving the present study to
closely examine reputation from a communication perspective.
Hence, the present study aims to chart the peer-reviewed research on reputation to provide a systematic literature review
and to determine how communication researchers and journals have studied this topic and to understand their perspectives
and discussions regarding this concept. is is an important step in terms of identifying clear trends and directions within
the literature on reputation and helping further studies that are interested in examining reputation from a communication
perspective to nd its path. As previously mentioned, reputation is a multidisciplinary concept, and thus far, disciplines have
developed their own conceptualizations based on their respective frameworks and perspectives, which distinguish this study
from a eld that simply focuses on reputation research from a communication perspective. erefore, the current study aims
to empirically and quantitatively examine the annual developments in journals in terms of main theories, methodologies,
data collection techniques, media genres and platforms, and the geospatial distributions of discussed issues and rst-author
aliations of the communication reputation-focused articles published until 2021.
In addition, this research genre should lead to and address further research in this eld to nd strong, clear, and comprehensive
connections to communication theory. e results will expand the empirical knowledge on reputation by highlighting research
trends that have received scholarly attention and those that have been largely ignored in the literature. us far, no specic
systematic review has ever been conducted on existing reputation-focused research from a communication perspective to
settle the scholarly controversy about reputation as a communication area.
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1.1. Literature review: Reputation denition and eld development
“Reputation derives from the Latin words ‘re,’ which means over and over, and ‘putare,’ which is calculating. Reputation literally
means calculating over and over again the pros and cons of a subject, a person, an organization, or its products” (Carroll, 2013b,
p. 15). Carroll (2013b) further dened reputation a perception about positive feelings, the degree of admiration, and trust an
individual has for another organization, person, an industry, or even a country. Corporate or organizational reputation refers
to what is said about a corporate/organization. ere are dierent types of reputations, and more than one reputation can
exist (Carroll, 2008). As cited in Helm et al. (2011) the
Compact Oxford English Dictionary
(2008) denes it as (1) the opinions
or beliefs that are generally held about something or someone and as (2) a common belief that something or someone has a
particular characteristic.
Reputation has also been dened as the phenomenon of earning legitimacy and acceptability to a much wider audience as
something that you own and assigned to you by others. One’s can dene good reputation that persons’ or organizations stick to
values and able to make correct decisions in a way of presenting standards and clearing out reactions for specic organization
principles (Origgi, 2014, p. 4).
According to Fombrun (1996), corporate reputation is a “perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future
prospects that describe the rm’s overall appeal to all of its key constituents when compared with other leading competitors”
as cited in (Chan, Sathasevam, Noor, Khiruddin, & Hasan, 2018, pp. 205–206). Later, Fombrun showed the new descriptions of
corporate reputation which focused on the dierent stakeholder groups (Barnett & Pollock, 2012). As
Bratus & Sydorov (2021)
discussed that the key ideas that characterize Fombrun’s denition and approach of reputation are: First, Every organization
has one reputation while its level depends on stakeholders. Second, Corporate reputation is relating to comparing of the
organization to others within the same sector. ird, reputation is considering as a source of competition which has advantages
and disadvantages.
In addition, Barnett et al., (2006) dened corporate reputation as stakeholders’ collective judgements based on the evaluation
of social, nancial, and environmental approach over times. Chan et al. (2018) and Walker (2010) asserted that corporation has
signicant characteristics of reputation based on enduring and cumulative perceptions of all stakeholders.
Meanwhile, many researchers have discussed corporate reputation in relation to organizational reputation. Corporate
reputation is associated with satisfaction, trust, perceived risk, and loyalty, all of which can aect rm prots in a positive
or negative way (Helm et al., 2011; Kim & Cha, 2013). Corporate reputation is dierentiated from the related concepts of
organizational identity and corporate image. As Walker (2010) found in his review of reputation, organizational identity is the
most enduring, central, and distinctive about an organization. Identity was apparently viewed as the core or basic character
(Barnett et al. , 2006 ) of the organization from the perspective of employees (Charles J. Fombrun, 1996). Fombrun (1996)
described identity as if it is a group of features for the company that appears to be central and enduring to employees.
While organizational image can be described as “the various outbound communications channels deployed by organizations
to communicate with customers and other constituencies’” (Walker, 2010, p. 366). Researchers within the literature reputation
mentioned external stakeholders and purposely exclude internal stakeholders when they talk about organizational image.
Organizational image can be described as an internal picture expected or projected to an external audience and is a shape for
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outsider judgments, while also it focuses on the perception. In contrast, corporate reputation is relatively stable and refer to
the actual positive or negative stakeholder perceptions. Given that corporate reputation represents what is actually known by
internal and external stakeholders. Time was also a signicant distinction between image and corporate reputation because
building a reputation takes long time while images change frequently and quickly (Charles J. Fombrun, 1996; Walker, 2010).
In the summary, as has been reviewed in (Walker, 2010), specic characteristics are assigned to the corporate reputation as:
it is a dynamic concept, it takes time to build and manage, there is a bilateral relationship between reputation and image, it
crystallizes a company’s principle ranking in a competitive market, dierent stakeholder groups may have dierent reputations
of the same organization based on their background (C. J. Fombrun & van Riel, 1997; Charles J. Fombrun, 1996; Walker, 2010).
Reputation is a complex phenomenon that is worthy of being managed well. It depends on the communication processes and the
signals it determines to address the marketplace, focused on the corporate name, management, and favorable representation
of an organization to its stakeholders (Davies & Miles, 1998; Sohn & Lariscy, 2015). is claries how reputation is not stable
or static; rather, it is aected by organizations’ behaviors, performance, and actions through past, present, and stakeholders’
future expectations (Heath, 2013; Zinko et al., 2007). Positive reputations come when observers agree on the eective actions
and when stakeholders see organizations adhering to sound principles (Salgado, 2012). In this vein, reputation management
(RM) can be dened comprehensively and simply as follows:
Reputation management is the strategic use of organizational resources to inuence the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of
various, and sometimes conicting, stakeholder groups. Reputation management seeks to emphasize an organization’s
positive attributes while carefully managing its risks to reduce the likelihood of negative impacts on its overall reputation. (L.
Heath, 2013, pp. 790–791)
In the same context, reputation has been criticized by some scholars, who argued that “reputation management (RM)”,
“perception management”, and “image management” appear partly due to wrong reasons, such as the supercial views of
managers who lacked training and knowledge about the terms “image” and “perception.” Meanwhile, many PR entities owned
and managed by advertising agencies were able to use these terms more easily (Hutton et al., 2001). Later on, researchers found
that some job titles and department descriptions of numerous entities throughout the world contained the term “reputation
management.” Several practitioners responded by describing their functions as “reputation managers” (Hutton et al., 2001;
Origgi, 2014). When a PR trade publication entitled
Reputation Management
was launched in 1997, other major international
PR agencies also launched and adopted this concept (Hutton et al., 2001; Origgi, 2014).
Practitioners and researchers began to gain interest in the concept of “reputation” in the 1990s (Grin, 2014; Hutton et al.,
2001). Carroll (2013b) revealed that this concept actually originated from business books in the 1980s, which were generally
about topics related to corporate reputation, such as leadership, innovation, excellence, employee and customer satisfaction,
and corporate culture. Only a few parts were about communication and how to communicate better (Carroll, 2013b). In 1983,
public interest in corporate reputation started when “Fortune Magazine” rst published its rankings of the “Most Admired
Corporations.” e edition was so popular that the magazine turned it into an annual survey (Carroll, 2008). Fombrun and
Shanley’s (1990) was the rst scholarly article that regarded corporate reputation as a central topic in their work entitled,
What’s in a Name? Reputation Building and Corporate Strategy
published in
the Academy of Management Journal
. According
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to Carroll (2013b), this management article had the greatest impact because the authors focused on multiple dimensions of
reputation.
Fombrun’s (1996) book,
Reputation: Realizing Value from the Company Image
, published by
e Harvard Business Press
,
was the next major development in the scholarly literature devoted to corporate reputation. In 1997, additional important
developments emerged. First, Professor Charles Fombrun from the New York University Stern School of Business and Professor
Cees van Riel from the Erasmus University/Rotterdam School of Management launched an international interdisciplinary
conference devoted to corporate reputation (Carroll, 2013b).
e conference led to the second major development in the same year: the publication of the academic/practitioner journal,
Corporate Reputation Review
, which eventually evolved into a full scholarly journal. In the journal’s inaugural issue reviewed
by Fombrun and Riel (1997), six academic business disciplines were related to corporate reputation while communication was
excluded (Fombrun & van Riel, 1997). is is evidenced by other released works, such as Barnett and Pollock (2012), which
identied the scholarly developments of corporate reputation from business-related disciplines. However, communication
was once again excluded, thus leaving many gaps and unaddressed issues related to the concept.
As stated by Carroll (2013b), the third major development in this eld was van Riel’s (1997) work entitled
Research in Corporate
Communication: An Overview of an Emerging Field
, in which he argued that corporate communication should mainly be
responsible for corporate reputation. Carroll (2004, 2011) and van Riel (1995, 1997) outlined the main developments and
contributions from the communication and corporate communication perspective, while others, such as Hutton et al. (2001),
have done so from the PR perspective. In the rst chapter Carroll was interested in proving that corporate reputation overlaps in
dierent communication and sub-communication elds such as PR, public opinion, interpersonal communication, corporate
communication, organizational communication, advertising, communication management, marketing communications,
visual communication, journalism and mass communication, and corporate communication law. (Carroll, 2013a).
At the same time, Carroll (2016) published
e SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation
, which had over 300 entries and
contributions from well-respected academics. is encyclopedia presents corporate reputation as a growing academic eld
in business studies. Since then, reputation has grown as an academic area across 40 academic disciplines, thus reecting
the interdisciplinary nature of the concept. e rst section of the encyclopedia featured 54 multidisciplinary theories in the
areas of organizational communication (critical theory, postmodern theory, postcolonial theory, stakeholder theory, and
institutional theory) and communication and PR (agenda-setting theory, sense making theory, framing theory, and spiral of
silence theory) (Carroll, 2016). However, PR oers rich scholarship and benets from the match between core ideas and issues
of reputation (Carroll, 2013a).
Hence, the main gap that is found in the previous mentioned reputation literature is ignoring the communication aspect and
dimension of reputation. In specic, business and management literature embraced reputation in all its dimensions and ignored
the communication perspective (Fombrun and Shanley, 1990; Carroll, 2013b). In addition to, the rst literature of reputation
published in a business and management publications and has written by non-communication scholars as Professor Charles
Fombrun from School of Business and Professor Cees van Riel from School of Management. Even the
Corporate Reputation
Review
journal exclude communication from the disciplines that related to reputation (Barnett & Pollock, 2012; Carroll, 2013b;
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Fombrun & van Riel, 1997). All this coined the purpose of this study to explore the communication dimension and perspective
of reputation which has appeared in the new literature of reputation as (Carroll, 2013a).
1.2. Reputation and Public Relations
Reputation is conceptualized as an intangible asset with a signicant role in PR and is the most suitable guiding philosophy for
organizational PR (Helm et al., 2011). RM advocates see it as a guiding paradigm for the entire PR eld, in which losing reputation
for an organization is considered a greater sin than losing money. Indeed, studies have suggested that PR practitioners see RM
as a galvanizing core concept and important role that enhances the central role of PR within an organization. As a result, RM
is considered the new face of an organization’s PR that is implicated in education and practice (Hutton et al., 2001; L. Heath,
2013; Origgi, 2014; Salgado, 2012).
A historical review of PR denitions suggested by PR practitioners and scholars revealed numerous metaphors and denitions,
such as the lawyer in the court of public opinion, engineer of public consent, persuader, perception manager, relationship
manager, and reputation manager, among others. In a corporate context, RM has been identied as a form of corporate
communication, corporate aairs, and corporate relations (Hutton et al., 2001; van Riel & Fombrun, 2007). Reputation is not
only conned to companies; rather, it is also a vital issue in governmental departments, schools, hospitals, political entities,
and charities within the non-prot sectors, all of which understand that their funding and nancial support, ability to attract,
survival, and mission achievement depend on their positive reputations (Grin, 2014; Helm et al., 2011; Hutton et al., 2001;
Heath, 2013).
Recently, numerous organizations have adopted reputation as a PR strategy and approach that contributes about the planning
process that considers reputation in their policy, vision, values, behaviors, communication actions, and relationships. All of
these can help meet stakeholders’ expectations and manage their perceptions (Chan et al., 2018; Gotsi & Wilson, 2001; Gray &
Balmer, 1998). Furthermore, the management of an organization’s reputation strategically aects its competitive advantage. PR
working alongside other departments practice their management function in building, improving, and managing organizations’
reputation. RM is related to attempts to inuence impressions, perceptions, and interpretations of organizations’ past, present,
and future. It has various denitions and is likened to terms, such as “impression management,” “perception management,” and
“expectations management.” Organizations use mass media to manage their reputations through media coverage, visibility,
and ads to propagate images that enhance their reputation (Hutton et al., 2001; Heath, 2013; Zinko et al., 2007).
In relation to strategic communication (SC) Reputation management was dened as “the strategic use of organizational
resources” (L. Heath, 2013, pp. 790-791). SC is providing communication solutions, managing the communication process
between dierent stakeholder groups, presenting the positivity of organization, focusing on the message, managing the media
outlets, audience, caring about the timing and the completeness of the information disclosed, building strategies and tactics
that related to the all aspects of organization and how to plane to it rightly with a long-term strategic goal, avoiding crisis that
aect reputation, caring about image in a long-term horizon, and alongside many more factors (Craig E. Carroll, 2013a; Maor,
2020). However, organizations that have planned strategically to their communication have increased prociency in the ability
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to manage their reputation and inuence public perceptions which expand their global impact. Indeed, the ultimate aim of SC
is to maintain a healthy reputation for the communicative entity in the public sphere (Holtzhausen & Zerfass, 2014).
Basically, organizational reputation is necessary for several reasons. An eective reputation oers competitive advantages
that are equally signicant for organizations, governments, corporations, and other. Overall, organizations that have good
reputations attract qualied and distinguished professionals and graduates. Moreover, studies have proven that reputation
aects customers’ decisions in purchasing and selling goods, as well as their loyalty to a specic brand. Investors also consider
reputation as a main factor in selecting companies in which to invest their assets. Reputation also indicates the possible risks
in an organization that can aect their insurance options (Charles J. Fombrun, Ponzi, & Newburry, 2015; Tameling & Broersma,
2013). Van Riel & Fombrun (2007) assert that the positive reputation of organizations can lead to new markets, grants, facilities,
partnerships, and even their potential to become international entities. Moreover, an organization’s favorable reputation gains
positive and valuable media coverage, which forms a shield that can protect organizations in times of crises (L. Heath, 2013;
Lange, Lee, & Dai, 2011).
Hutton et al. (2001) empirically studied 500 companies and found that “reputation management is gaining ground as a driving
philosophy behind corporate public relations” (p. 247). Furthermore, they found that the most important roles of the corporate
PR department include RM, advocacy of company/policies, provision of information to the public, image management,
management of relationships with non-customer publics, driving publicity, management of relationships with all publics, and
supporting marketing and sales (Hutton et al., 2001).
Ultimately, the present article objectives are rstly to assert that reputation in having a signicant communication dimension
and hypothesize it as a sub-communication area. Secondly, to identify a reputation framework from the communication and
PR perspectives. irdly, this study explores the developments of reputation in terms of journals, main theories, methodologies,
data collection techniques, media genres and platforms, and the geospatial distributions of discussed issues and rst-author
aliations of the communication reputation-focused articles published until 2021. However, it is asserted that communication
is core dimension of reputation and the main perspective to discuss it, which is the primary objective of this study. As a new
eld of communication, reputation has to be identied in terms of theories that most suitable to analyze case studies from a
communication perspective, media genres and platforms play a signicant role in aecting reputation and must be identied
and examined. As reputation is an area of communication, specic methodologies and analytical tools are more suitable for
studying it, which can be identied through conducting this study.
Fourthly, it tends to measure trends of the sub-communication area that guide and lead future studies in this area through
back to addressing the following research questions. is extracted from previous meta-analyses in the communication eld
as (Abu Arqoub, Efe Özad, & Elega, 2019; Abu Arqoub, Elega, Efe Özad, Dwikat, & Oloyede, 2020; Elega, Aluç, Abu Arqoub, &
Ersoy, 2022; Elega, Efe Özad, Oloyede, Omisore, & Abu Arqoub, 2020; Li & Tang, 2012; Volkmer, 2013):
RQ1. How has published communication reputation research got increased over the years?
RQ2. What communication journals published the most reputation-focused research?
RQ3. What are the most used theories in published communication reputation research?
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RQ4. What are the major methodologies and specic analytical methods adopted in the published communication
reputation research?
RQ5. What media genre and platforms were explored in published communication reputation research?
RQ6. What is the geospatial distribution of discussed issues and rst-author aliations of the published communication
reputation research?
2. Method
e present exploratory study adopts quantitative content analysis to understand the current trends, patterns, and
developments of communication reputation-focused research within the last decades. is research timeline was determined
according to the rst search results indicated in the rst journal article published in a communication journal, which rst
mentioned the term “reputation” in 1977. Meanwhile, the end of the period was specied according to the data collection
period that took place in January 2022.
2.1. Data collection methods and sample
To obtain a logical sample of empirical peer-reviewed articles, those published in the interactional well-known databases were
investigated. According to past studies (Abu Arqoub et al., 2019, 2020; Li & Tang, 2012), the explored databases were reputable
and were aliated with high-impact factor journals and quality empirical peer-reviewed research articles in the eld of
communication and media studies. Furthermore, specic communication journals were selected based on whether they were
fully or partly devoted to communication and its sub-disciplines, such as communication theory, journalism, media studies,
PR, mass media, semiotics, political communication, public opinion, new media, social media, digital media, communication,
media education, international communication, mass media ethics, cultural communication, strategic communication, crisis
communication, and related elds (Abu Arqoub et al., 2020; Liu & Wei, 2017).
e keywords “reputation or reputation management” and “corporate\organizational” were used to search for articles on
reputation within the mentioned databases. en, the following sets of inclusion and exclusion criteria were adopted. e
articles must generally be empirical studies and must have been published in the eld of communication and media studies.
In addition, articles published only within communication or sub-communication elds, dose not duplicated, only articles
written in English Languages, and full text articles. For the exclusion criteria, other kinds of publications as (Conference
papers, books, book chapters, Book reviews, magazine or newspaper articles, report, and working papers) and articles about
reputation published in business, marketing, economy, and management journals were excluded. Also, articles do not contain
reputation, RM Keywords in its titles, keywords or abstracts, other languages, articles could not be accessed or just have a
printed copy and duplicated articles. To explain the systematic search method and criteria, Table 1 presents the number of
articles in each database and the strict inclusion and exclusion criteria that were applied.
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Table 1: Database search outcomes and certied papers
N.
Databases Search OutcomeInclusion CriteriaExclusion Criteria
Certied
Papers
1.
Elsevier Science
Direct
768
•
Journal articles
•
Peered reviewed
•
Full text articles
•
Contained in one
of the academic
databases explored.
•
Only articles
written in English
Languages
•
Keywords:
reputation, RM
must be mentioned
in Either the
titles, keywords
or abstracts of the
articles
•
Articles published
only within
communication or
sub-communication
elds.
•
Dose not duplicated
•
Articles do not
contain reputation,
RM Keywords in its
titles, keywords or
abstracts.
•
Articles do not
focus on reputation
or RM in its parts.
(some articles were
just mentioned
reputation in
its abstracts but
do not discus or
focused on it, or
it was mentioned
in abstract
spontaneously).
•
Conference papers,
books and book
chapters and other
academic resources.
•
Articles we could not
access even from the
library remote access
or just have a printed
copy.
•
Other languages
•
Other elds that are
not communication,
especially in
business, marketing,
economy, and
management elds.
•
Short papers that
have no analysis and
references list.
•
Book reviews
•
Repeated and
duplicated articles
119
2.
EBSCO’s
Communication
& Mass Media
Complete
72221
3.
SAGE Journals
159879
4.
Taylor and
Francis Online
71745
5.
Web of science
851102
Total4656366
Source: created by the author
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Some academic databases did not include any communication journals that published articles on reputation; hence, these
were deleted. In the end, the database search generated 4656 articles, which were investigated according to the mentioned
inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among the search outcomes, the total number of communication reputation-focused studies
reached 366 articles, which were qualied for inclusion in this study’s sample.
2.2. Coding scheme
To investigate the content of communication reputation-focused research and to answer the quantitative research questions
this study adopted the categories proposed by (Abu Arqoub et al., 2019, 2020; Elega & Efe Özad, 2018; Fuchs, Pernul, & Sandhu,
2011; Li & Tang, 2012) by modifying the codes according to the present study sample and provides the following content
analysis scheme.
1. Progression
Considering the fact that no study has assessed the timeline of communication reputation research comprehensively, this
study seeks to identify a clear trend of the increase or reduction of communication reputation Focused articles throughout the
researched period. e researcher coded the years of published communication reputation articles from 1977 to 2021.
2. Journals
Communication and minor-communication journals that published reputation focused research. e researcher coded all
journals that were found.
3. Theory
As mentioned, Carroll (2016) published
e SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation
which contribute reputation as an
academic area across 40 academic disciplines. e rst section of the encyclopedia featured 54 multidisciplinary theories in
the areas of communication and PR which this study trying to explore its usage over the communization reputation research.
Hence, theory expresses the theoretical framework that has been used in the context of communication reputation focused
research. As (Situational crisis communication theory, Image repair theory, Agenda-setting theory etc.)
4. Research methodology
According to Wasike (2017) “Contemporary research shows changing trends regarding data collection methods” (p. 202) while
no empirical studies have investigated the major methodologies and Analytical Methods used in communication reputation
research and suitable for future studies, this study examine the research methodologies adopted by communication reputation
focused papers (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies) based on
Abu Arqoub et al. (2019) and (2020).
Specic analytical methods
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e data collection and analytical tools and techniques adopted by communication reputation Focused research by collecting
information from all appropriate sources since this provides answers to research questions.
6. Media genre
Media generation and media outlets used in the studied communication process of reputation research can explain the direction
and the aim of the all process. Organizations use media for many reasons as to contact the audiences, build relationships with
stakeholders, reect a positive image…etc. which is important for shaping the organizational reputation (Ferreira & Zambaldi,
2019; Gill, 2016). To achieve that the category, type or kind of media generation used in the studied communication process
especially communication reputation which in our case include: (1) Traditional media (2) Digital media (3) Social media (4)
Multiple media genres (5) No Media genre.
7. Media platforms
e exact type of media outlets that analysed in communication reputation focused research which used in the mass
communication process to contact the audience such as: TV, Radio, Facebook, Twitter etc.
8. Geospatial first-author affiliations
First-author aliations and Discussed Countries explain the number of universities access to research funding from the
government and organizations, consultancy services availability, eorts of researchers and institutions, and to what extent
the faculty of communication and media studies become highly instrumental to the output of peer-reviewed articles with
high standards (Elega & Efe Özad, 2018). ese variables exploring case studies distribution over the world which explain also
the dierentiation of the cultural contexts in using reputation from a communication perspective. Geospatial distribution of
authors’ teaching or schooling at the time of publication by country and continent. Countries and continents were coded as
they found according frequency.
9. Discussed continents and countries
is is based on the geographical concentration of the issues had been discussed and studied within communication reputation
focused research by continent and country. Countries and continents were coded as they found according frequency.
2.3. Coding process and inter-rater reliability
e unit of analysis in the present study is a single communication reputation-focused article that we conrmed and
coded according to the previous scheme. e present study used Cohen’s Kappa coecient formula (Cohen, 1960), and
two researchers in the eld of communication and media studies applied the coding process for this study. e inter-rater
agreement in the sample occurred at
K=0.
90, with the full agreement percent being 1.00. Hence, the sample is reliable and
considered excellent (Cohen, 1960; Fleiss, 1971).
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3. Results
Overall, 366 certied articles that met the inclusion criteria covered reputation from a communication perspective. e
present section presents the results that address the research questions, including the following quantitative variables: yearly
progression, journals, methodologies, data collection methods, the geospatial distribution of the discussed issues, and the
aliations of the rst authors.
Figure 1: Yearly progression of communication reputation-focused research
Source: created by the author
As shown in the gure, 1977 is considered the starting date for examining the evolution of publications on reputation according
to the Public Relations Review. From 1984–2003, the number of articles reached 17, indicating that this period was growing
slowly while other journals began to show interest in this topic. From 2004–2019, the number of published articles increased
steadily, thus indicating the growing focus of journals and researchers on reputation as a communication area and their
contributions in laying down a theoretical framework for the concept. Notably, 2020 and 2021 have the highest publication
numbers at 89 articles. ese results indicate that reputation, from a communication perspective, has become an interesting
and evolving research trend in recent years.
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Table 2: Journals that published reputation-focused research
Journals
FrequencyPercent
Valid
Public Relations Review
12133.1
Others7119.4
Journal of Communication Management
3910.7
Journal of Public Relations Research
328.7
International Journal of Business Communication
195.2
New Media & Society
154.1
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
113.0
Public Relations Inquiry
102.7
Public Relations Quarterly
92.5
International Journal of Communication
82.2
Asia Pacic Public Relations Journal
71.9
Communication Research
61.6
Communication & Sport
51.4
Journal of Creative Communications
51.4
Journalism and Mass Communication Educator
41.1
Malaysian Journal of Communication
41.1
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
As the above table shows, specialized PR journals are the ones that are most interested in publishing communication reputation
scholarship, with
N
=179 articles distributed in several journals, namely,
Public Relations Review, Journal of PR Research, PR
Inquiry, PR Quarterly,
and
Asia Pacic PR Journal.
is indicates that reputation is a signicant research area in the PR eld.
e rest of the articles specially (Others) were distributed to a wide variety of journals specializing in communication sub-
elds, such as business and marketing communication, communication management, and journalism.
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Table 3: eoretical frameworks of communication reputation-focused research
eoriesFrequencyPercent
Valid
No theory
14339.1
Others6618.0
Multiple theories
4612.6
Situational crisis communication theory (scct)
4412.0
Image repair theory
102.7
Agenda-setting theory
92.5
Crisis communication theory
92.5
Framing theory
41.1
Expectancy violation theory
41.1
Stakeholder theory
41.1
Attribution theory
41.1
Gatekeeping theory
3.8
Relationship management theory
2.5
Systems theory
2.5
Uses and gratications theory
2.5
Misinformation debunking theory
2.5
Public diplomacy theory
2.5
Expectation theory
2.5
Positioning theory
2.5
Discourse theory
2.5
Social presence theory
2.5
Institutional theory
2.5
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
Table 3 shows that 223 articles applied theoretical frameworks while discussing reputation. e main theories adopted within
the communication reputation scholarship included those on communication and crisis communication. Interestingly, the
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SCCT has the highest number at 44 articles, image repair theory has 10, and crisis communication theory has 9. is indicates
the importance of reputation in the eld of crisis communication. Various other theories have been applied to reputation
owing to the multidisciplinary nature of this eld of study and it were distributed to many areas without focusing on a specic
discipline.
Table 4: Methodologies used within communication reputation scholarship
MethodsFrequencyPercent
ValidQuantitative19152.2
Qualitative14038.3
Mixed359.6
Total
366100.0
Data Collection Techniques
Valid
Experimental analysis
8021.9
Survey6517.8
Case study
5113.9
Multiple3810.4
Content analysis
3710.1
Review308.2
Interviews205.5
Rhetoric analysis
102.7
Others102.7
Discourse analysis
51.4
Ethnography41.1
Textual analysis
41.1
Framing analysis
41.1
Historical analysis
41.1
Comparative analysis
41.1
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
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Table 4 shows the results for the two important variables of methods and data collection techniques. As can be seen, most of
the articles (
N
=191) used quantitative methods, as indicated by the identied data collection methods, such as experimental
analysis, survey, and content analysis. ere were less studies (
N
=140) that used qualitative methods, including reviews,
interviews, rhetorical analyses, and discourse analyses. ese results demonstrate the diversity of methodologies used owing
to the multidisciplinary nature of the eld of study. Furthermore, there should be more mixed method studies in the future.
Table 5: Media genre and platforms of reputation-focused research
Media genre
FrequencyPercent
Valid
No media genre
18851.4
Social media
6116.7
Digital media
4612.6
Traditional media
4311.7
Multiple genre
287.7
Total
366100.0
Media Platforms
Valid
No media platforms
20856.8
Multiple platforms
5013.7
Online websites
3710.1
Newspapers246.6
Twitter154.1
Others92.5
Facebook82.2
Television51.4
Youtube41.1
Websites of traditional media
2.5
Blogs2.5
Instagram2.5
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
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Table 5 shows that many articles do not discuss or analyze any media genre or media platform because the methodologies
used depended on experimental and survey data collection tools. In contrast, a high number of articles (N=61) have discussed
and analyzed the social media genre through articles focusing on the rise of social media and reputation research in recent
years. e genre with the lowest numbers (N=43) is traditional media because most new articles followed the research trend
in discussing social and digital media.
Meanwhile, media platforms on online websites (
N=
37) are the most used platforms and include news websites and
organizations’ respective websites. Newspapers are the most traditional media platform discussed and analyzed, while the
most commonly used social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Notably, many articles (
N
=50) discussed
more than one platform, while the highest number of articles did not discuss any media platforms.
Table 6: Continent and countries discussed within reputation-focused research
Continents discussed
Frequency
Valid percent
Valid
North America
14940.7
Europe7219.7
Asia4512.3
No continent
4512.3
Multiple continents
287.7
Australia174.7
South America
71.9
Africa3.8
Total366100.0
Countries discussed
ValidUSA14339.1
No country
5013.7
Multiple countries
339.0
Others
318.5
Australia164.4
China133.6
Netherlands102.7
Malaysia92.5
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UK82.2
Korea71.9
New Zealand
61.6
Canada61.6
Belgium51.4
Germany51.4
Japan41.1
Spain41.1
India41.1
Brazil41.1
Norway41.1
Italy41.1
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
Table 6 explains the importance of communication reputation according to the places discussed (mainly developed countries),
which discussed reputation and have developed organizations and corporations. North America has the highest number of
articles at 149, with the USA having 143 articles. is is a reasonable number in relation to the American levels of research
productivity, researchers, and journals. is is followed by Europe (72), Asia (45), and Australia (17). Africa and South America
have the lowest numbers of articles. At the same time, articles that did not mention any continent or country focused on
discussing the eld itself, along with the review concepts and the literature.
Table 7: First authors’ aliations by continents and countries
First-author aliations by continent
Frequency
Valid percent
Valid
North America
18450.3
Europe
9927.1
Asia
4512.3
Australia
327.4
Africa
51.4
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South America
3.8
Total
366100.0
First-author aliations by country
ValidUSA17748.4
Others3710.1
Australia236.3
UK164.4
Netherlands143.8
China123.3
Spain102.7
Belgium92.5
Korea92.5
New Zealand
92.5
Malaysia82.2
Canada72.0
Germany51.4
Denmark51.4
Italy51.4
South Africa
41.1
Korea41.1
Switzerland41.1
Finland41.1
Norway41.1
Total366100.0
Source: created by the author
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e present table clearly shows the interest of American researchers and universities in communication reputation research,
with results revealing that, in terms of continent, North America has the highest number of articles (184), of which the USA
has 177 articles. is is followed by Europe with 99, in which countries that mostly focused on reputation include the UK, the
Netherlands, and Spain. e next highest number of articles comes from Asia, with 45 articles, mostly from China, Korea and
Malaysia. en comes Australia, with 32 articles, and Africa, with 5 articles, the countries with the lowest number of articles.
4. Discussion and conclusions
e present meta-analysis of communication reputation-focused research shows many important conclusions, indicating-
reputation is a signicant area in the communication and PR elds. Reputation-related discussions started 45 years ago in 1977,
when an article published in
Public Relations Review
. Generally, the investigated databases indicate that 366 communication
articles focused on reputation and studied the concept from a communication perspective. is is a respectable number of
research articles reecting the importance of reputation as a sub-communication research area.
is study contributes to the literature on reputation from a communication perspective and helps resolve the scholarly
controversy about its multidisciplinary origins and apparent overlaps in communication and PR. e results support the
arguments of Carroll (2013b, 2016, 2008, 2011), Heath (2013), Fombrun & van Riel, (1997), Fombrun (1996), Fombrun et al.
(2015), Ponzi et al. (2011), van Riel & Fombrun (2007) and others regarding the role of communication and benets that can
add value to reputation. In the same context, most of the articles have published in specialized PR journals, indicating interest
in the PR eld by studying reputation and considering all of it as a strategy and subeld (Huang-Horowitz, 2015; Hutton et al.,
2001; Livingstone, 1998).
Meanwhile, the progression of reputation research shows that it has increased steadily in the last decade and reached its peak
in 2020 and 2021. is is due to increasing the importance of reputation within organizations as new PR research, as well as the
increased use of social media and its inuence on reputation and communication crises in the digital age. is is consistent
with past ndings on the evolution of reputation as a research eld, where Grin (2014) and Hutton et al. (2001) considered
the beginning of the 21st century as the start of the identication of reputation as a new philosophy of managing traditional
PR and communication activities within organizations. Here, reputation from a communication perspective considered as
active research area in the present decade. Journals of sub-communication areas should show more interest in investigating
reputation and its relationship to other sub-areas in order to understand reputation in all communication contexts.
In terms of the theories used, unlike Walker (2010) review that showed the main theories are used in reputation research
were Resource-based-view, Signaling theory, and Institutional theory the present study also found that reputation from
communication perspective focused on using PR and crisis communication theories. e results show that there is a high
percentage of articles that deny using specic theories, thus revealing the gap in theory-based on research in this area. In
addition, numerous articles have used crisis communication theories and frameworks, revealing the vital relationship
between reputation and crisis communication as a research area and how crisis management may have a practical inuence
on reputation through many aspects. Hence, identifying the exact relationship between reputation and crisis communication,
and building a clear signicant models for managing reputation during communication crisis is a clear need (du Plessis,
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2018; Schultz, Utz, & Göritz, 2011; Shim & Yang, 2016). However, reputation research applied core communication theories
as (discourse theory, rhetorical, framing, agenda sitting, gatekeeping, uses and gratication, dialogue theory, etc.) limitedly.
In terms of the reputation models that have been applied in the reputation articles, in spite of the clarity of the RepTrak
model (Fombrun et al., 2015; Ponzi et al., 2011), Fombrun’s quotient model (Fombrun and van Riel 2004), and Van Riel and
Fombrun’s expressive prole/communication dimensions models of reputation (Van Riel & Fombrun 2007) with a rare
number of studies applied it in the eld of communication. e articles were published before 2010 focused mostly on concept
creation, theoretical conceptualization, and denition. Furthermore, new elements and dimensions of corporate reputation
could come up according to the case study and the organizational type for example, analyzing the country or government
reputation could need dierent dimensions and supplements. Hence, communication reputation research did not identify
specic theories, models, elements, dimensions, and components of reputation that works in dierent communication cases,
sub-areas, and situations which can build and tested based on the above-mentioned models, theories or also by examine
reputation in deferent organizations and contexts.
In terms of methodologies, quantitative data collection methods are mainly used because such methods are more valid in
measuring the stakeholders’ assessment of reputation based on reputation dimensions and elements (Origgi, 2014). At the
same time, the usage of qualitative methods are consistent with other communication meta-analyses as (Elega et al., 2020; P.
Zheng et al., 2016) and are dierent from others which revealed that qualitative methods are more favorable (Abu Arqoub et
al., 2019, 2020; Liu & Wei, 2017; Wasike, 2017). Communication reputation research did not apply important qualitative data
collection and analytical tools that are ambitious and deeper such as using (discourse analysis, rhetorical analysis, historical
analysis, social networking analysis, textual analysis, archival analysis, ethnography, and framing analysis).
With respect to modern trends in the media genre and platforms of reputation research, the social media and digital media
genres are mostly used and analyzed, which explains the trend of online and digital reputation and the high number of
reputation articles published in recent years. is nding is consistent with the literature on online reputation and the eects
of digital technologies on this eld of study (Cobos-Urbina, 2021; Dudzic, 2018; Duy & Chan, 2019; Kotras, 2020).
In the last two decades, especially with the advent of Web 2.0 technology, websites and social media networks have emerged,
allowing various kinds of organizations to have an online presence. Furthermore, the public, stakeholders, consumers, and so
on, have enabled the practice of the role of meaning-making and sharing positive and negative content about organizations
and their activities (Vrabec & Odziomková, 2018, p. 321). Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of monitoring,
positioning, measuring, talking, listening, and engaging as an organization with its various online stakeholders (Oksiutycz &
Kunene, 2017). Furthermore, online reputation management is “the process of ensuring that the right information appears
when people searches for it in browsers and social networks sites such as Google and Facebook (Pollak & Svetozarovova, 2017,
p. 319).
is give us a glance to the future of the reputation research that going to focused on digital reputation in terms of
conceptualization and develop more accurate models to measure reputation automatically. In the same context,
communication reputation research did not examine new communication tools, media, and platforms, in order to keep focus
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on with the development of social media platforms as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and some other traditional media outlets
as magazine and radio.
For the geographical distribution of the discussed issues and organizations, the results show that the continents and countries
discussed within communication reputation research are dominated by North America. is is reasonable considering
American research productivity and journals, as well as articles discussed in this eld. Regarding to the rst authors’ aliations,
the interest of American researchers and universities in the concept of reputation is clear, especially when considering the
developed organizations based on the country. ese ndings are not surprising, that it has been reported in the US provides
funding and academic support via colleges and universities, estimated to be about US$51.9 billion (Matthews, 2012). In
addition, our results are consistent with other communication and PR reviews, which are also related to the role of American
researchers and scholars in developing the eld of communication (Abu Arqoub et al., 2019, 2020; Botan & Taylor, 2004;
Günther & Domahidi, 2017). However, communication reputation research is rare in the undeveloped countries and other
international cultural contexts as (Arab countries, Asian countries, and African countries) which is a call for researchers from
these regions to investigate reputation in dierent experiences and contexts.
In addition, it is clear that reputation has many denitions and consensus on one denition is not easy, and investigating
the terminology of “reputation” as a concept helps for understanding the attractive complex construct of the term (Salgado,
2012). However, reputation in the communication context needs to be accurately dened and determined, because each sub-
communication area has its specialty and priority in applying or practicing reputation. All these results indicate that reputation
practices specially in communication still indistinct and the literature dose not reexes and dealing with all of the aspects.
In conclusion, this study oers an empirical and systematic review of communication reputation-focused research, which
should help researchers, students, journals, and others in the process of understanding research areas and patterns in this
eld. is paper highlights the need for more signicant scholarly contributions to this academic eld from a communication
and PR perspective through the application of communication theories, models, and methodologies. Indeed, “PR researchers
have much work to do in identifying the mediating role that reputation may play” (Hutton et al., 2001, p. 258).
4.1. Limitations and recommendations for future research
As with other studies, the present study has some signicant limitations. First, reputation is a multidisciplinary research area,
but the present study focused only on communication. us, analyzing other disciplines could yield dierent results. e
second limitation is the sample, which restricted by making excluded not specialized in communication and also not highly
journals, this show more other forms of research, such as proceedings, and books. Moreover, selecting articles during the
database search was limited to only those that had the term “reputation” in its title, keywords, and abstracts. Some articles may
have been missed due to the inaccuracy of the database search.
For future studies, researchers should discuss reputation as a communicational concept, along with its role within organizations.
is role has to be reviewed by PR and organizational leadership while PR has the communicative and a relationship role, such
that ,if anyone should be a candidate to the position of Chief Reputation Ocer, this person should also be the Chief Executive
(Origgi, 2014). Another signicant issue that articles must focus on is building clear models and distinct theories that can be
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adopted for RM in all kinds of organizations or entities. Researchers must clarify how they are going to measure and examine
reputation empirically and in which cases this could be deemed useful. “It also requires that empirical researchers carefully
match their measures of organizational reputation with the conceptual dimension (or dimensions) being measured, which
will likely require advances in the sophistication of measurement approaches” (Lange et al., 2011, p. 179). Future studies
could indeed focus on qualitative analysis to investigate the contribution of communication to reputation research, and to
elucidate the relationship between the communicative and relational dimensions involved in constructing and managing
organizational reputation.
Furthermore, it would be valuable if communication journals, especially those that focus on PR, would allocate special
issues for discussing various aspects and dimensions of reputation. Applying communication theories is required in future
research. Toward a holistic and deep understanding of reputation issues, more qualitative and mixed methods research
must be conducted based on analyses of new media in specic cases (Origgi, 2014). Furthermore, the latest research trend
in this eld is ORM, which requires specic models, measurements, tools, cases, and dimensions that must be investigated
and identied in scholarly works. Researchers should also focus on developing countries that have dierent case studies and
circumstances to gain a holistic view of reputation as a concept and how it is applied in many countries. Finally, critical studies
should investigate the abuse of reputation in the elds of communication and PR and its negative aspects, considering the
rise of digital and social media, big data, and algorithms that enable politicians, states, organizations, and corporations to use
reputation to deceive their stakeholders.
5. Acknowledgements
is article has been translated into Spanish by Brian O’Halloran, to whom I am grateful for his work
.
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