Exploring corporate reputation management processes used by South African banks : towards the development of a theoretical framework

Abstract

Corporate reputation management continues to present challenges to organisations. While many organisations clearly understand the value of a good corporate reputation, few have come to grips with how it can be managed. In fact, many organisations leave the management of their reputations to chance. With corporate reputation accounting for anything between 40% - 70% of a business' market capitalization, non-management of reputation is a dereliction of duty. One can only speculate on the causes of the non-management of corporate reputation within organisations. Despite the availability of literature on the construct, it seems as though the literature is not helping organisations come up with viable reputation management systems. A thorough review of literature shows that corporate reputation and its management are mostly discussed at theoretical and conceptual levels. There is a distinct lack of empirical studies focussing on how corporate reputation is being managed in those organisations that have managed to operationalize reputation management. This research is thus intended to address this limitation in extant literature by looking at how South African banks manage their corporate reputations. This research was guided by the interpretivist paradigm to achieve the aim, with the attendant ontology and epistemology being relativism and interpretivism/constructivism respectively. By using this paradigm, the researcher carried no prior expectations into the data collection, data analysis and results interpretation processes. Data were collected from three South African banks by way of in-depth semi-structured interviews, review of archival as well as publicly available bank records and documents. A thematic data analysis framework was adopted and the gathered data were analysed using the QDA Miner 6 software program. The research findings indicate a seven stages corporate reputation management regime that starts with the assignment of overall responsibility for reputation management. This is followed by defining corporate reputation in a manner that is understood by all within an organisation. Then comes the identification of critical corporate reputation drivers, followed by an undertaking to regularly measure the organisation's reputation, then developing and redeveloping reputation management processes, then constantly managing reputational interdependences, and lastly carrying out regular audits of corporate reputation management processes. The findings led to the development of the South African Banking Industry Corporate Reputation Management framework. This framework can provide guidance to organisations in their quest to develop and implement robust reputation management systems. The research thus contributes to practice by offering actionable recommendations to organisations and reputation managers. Future studies should build on this study by investigating corporate reputation management processes of other organisations (outside the banking industry) that have been successful in developing viable corporate reputation systems.