Indicators of Reputation

An indicator is a trend or a fact that indicates the level of something—in this case, reputation. Indicators are what organizations use to detect if and which changes occurred. There are a large number of indicators for reputation because it is a multidimensional concept that is constantly evolving.

At least 49 different meanings of reputation exist; these can be grouped into three main categories: (1) awareness (perceptions that people have of[Page 349] an organization), (2) assessment (judgments and evaluations about an organization), and (3) assets (intangible resources of the firm). Similarly, three schools of measurement thought about reputation can be identified: (1) evaluative (reputation is financially defined), (2) impression (people’s perceptions), and (3) relational (gaps between internal and external views). The previous typology underlines the subjective ...