Scholarship at UWindsor

Title

Shortcomings of investior-based ratings of corporate reputation: An exploratory empirical study that shows a variety of stakeholder groups place greater emphasis on corporate ethics than profits.

Authors

Kent Walker Dr., Odette School of BusinessFollow
Bruno Dyck Dr., University of ManitobaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

Business and Society Review

Keywords

Corporate Reputation, Ethics, Stakeholders, Corporate Social Responsibility, Criteria, Profitability

Abstract

We examine three assumptions commonly held in the corporate reputation literature: i) reputation ratings of owners and investors are generally representative of all stakeholders; ii) stakeholders will generally provide a higher reputation rating to firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility versus firms that do not; and iii) profitability is the primary criterion of importance to all stakeholders when rating a firm’s reputation. Using an exploratory in-class exercise our findings suggest that: i) there are significant differences among stakeholder groups in their reputation ratings; ii) firms that emphasize corporate social responsibility are not rated more highly across all stakeholder groups, and iii) for all stakeholder groups, the ethicality criterion explained more of the variance in firms’ reputation ratings than the profitability criterion.

Comments

Author's pre-print of a forthcoming publication in Business and Society Review. The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com

Recommended Citation

Walker, Kent Dr. and Dyck, Bruno Dr.. (2014). Shortcomings of investior-based ratings of corporate reputation: An exploratory empirical study that shows a variety of stakeholder groups place greater emphasis on corporate ethics than profits.. Business and Society Review.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/odettepub/72