Reputation stability vs anti-crisis sustainability: under what circumstances will innovations, media activities and CSR be in higher demand?

Abstract

Research background: The difference of war and peace can help gain an under-standing of the differences in the management of a company's reputation in terms of its stability as compared to the state of a reputation crisis. The question of practical confirmation, which is left open, is whether there is a positive correlation between the anti-crisis activity of the reputation management system and its stability in a long-term perspective, or whether these two factors are inversely related.

Purpose of the article: This research is essentially aimed at studying the impact of innovation activity, media activity, and corporate social responsibility on reputational stability as well as on anti-crisis reputational sustainability.

Methods: Indicators of innovation activity, media activity, corporate social responsibility, reputational stability, and anti-crisis reputational sustainability were collected in a sample of the most frequently mentioned in the media leading companies of the Ukrainian economy (N = 315), using an online survey done among 110 industry experts within the framework of the Reputation ACTIVists All-Ukrainian Ranking of Corporate Reputation Management Quality over February-March'2019 period. Structural equation modeling (SEM) in using the maximum likelihood estimation method was applied to examine the associations between above-mentioned indicators, according to the aim of the study.

Findings & Value added: The results of our study revealed: 1) the existence of a significant correlation between CSR and reputational stability; 2) innovative and media activity are the most significant variables to provide anti-crisis sustainability; 3) CSR is less important for ensuring anti-crisis sustainability than for maintaining reputational stability; 4) anti-crisis sustainability is significantly more dependent on media activity than reputational stability is. By better understanding the roles of innovation activity, media activity,  and corporate social responsibility, the company?s management in Ukraine can leverage the results of the study to improve reputation management performance, differentiating approaches in circumstances of a crisis and stability.

Keywords

reputation management system, corporate reputation, reputation ranking, reputation stability, corporate social responsibility, Ukraine

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