Attitudes

Attitudes are evaluations that persons hold with respect to different kinds of entities, ranging from abstract ideas (e.g., capitalism) to concrete objects (e.g., a specific make of car). In the area of corporate reputation, companies and organizations are the entities, or attitude objects, of focal interest. As attitudes can be strong predictors of behavior, they serve as indicators of whether people support a company, for example, by purchasing its products or shares, or whether they instead support a competitor toward which they hold a more favorable attitude. This entry starts with outlining the attitude concept before discussing attitude formation and the notion of attitudes in the field of corporate reputation.