University of Twente Student Theses

Login

Measuring reputation among high- and low-salient stakeholders : The case of Adwise

Visser, Jan (2019) Measuring reputation among high- and low-salient stakeholders : The case of Adwise.

[img] PDF
3MB
Abstract:The stakeholder salience theory is one of the most used instruments to segment stakeholders of an organization. Interestingly, there are not many studies that used this theory in combination with other theories. To further elaborate, the studies that used the stakeholder salience theory, only used it for making stakeholder segments. While this information can already be of value for organizations, it is even more interesting to find out what differences are between these stakeholder groups. Moreover, earlier studies already showed that reputation can differ between various customers of an organization. When an organization acquires the knowledge on how, for instance, the measurement of reputation differs between various stakeholder groups, the firm can adjust their corporate communication accordingly. Hence, this study aims to find out if the perception of reputation differs among stakeholder groups with different levels of salience. This was accomplished by combining the stakeholder salience theory and the most important brand association. These brand associations are key elements that an organization should communicate about their brand. After all, corporate communication is linked to the development of organizational reputation and that is why these associations can be seen as predictors for reputation. To do so, clients and partners of Adwise were segmented into groups according to their salience using Q-sorting sessions. Herein, respondents had to indicate if power, legitimacy and urgency were visible within a client or partners company. Next to that, the brand associations and reputation were measured in an online survey within the clients and partners of Adwise. In total, 15 employees of Adwise took part in a Q-sorting session and 82 responses were gathered for the survey. Multiple analyses showed that prestige is a universal, positive predictor for reputation and that corporate credibility positively predicted reputation for the entire sample. In addition, CSR and visual identity negatively predicted reputation when a client had a low level of stakeholder salience. This study could not significantly confirm that stakeholders with different levels of salience perceive reputation differently. Nevertheless, this study shows that stakeholders with different levels in stakeholder salience are influenced by different brand associations. Concluding, the results of this study show that reputation measurement differs among various levels of stakeholder salience. Therefore, stakeholders with different levels of salience need to be approached differently in, for instance, corporate communication.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Adwise B.V.
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/77308
Export this item as:BibTeX
EndNote
HTML Citation
Reference Manager

 

Repository Staff Only: item control page