A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care?
In today’s global marketplace, management teams spend a significant amount of effort on managing their organizations’ image. Stellar reputations help to secure financing, attract business partners, and entice customers. Across two studies, we examine the extent to which a firm’s financial and sustai...
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doaj-7088d9f3127941bdb7c2c12e910801f02020-12-17T00:00:51ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502020-12-0112105191051910.3390/su122410519A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care?Moritz Loock0Diane M. Phillips1Department of Energy and Sustainability Management, Institute for Economy and the Environment, University of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, SwitzerlandDepartment of Marketing, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USAIn today’s global marketplace, management teams spend a significant amount of effort on managing their organizations’ image. Stellar reputations help to secure financing, attract business partners, and entice customers. Across two studies, we examine the extent to which a firm’s financial and sustainability reputations are influenced by two distinct organizational activities: its status as a first mover in the field of sustainability and its chief executive officer’s actions. We accomplish this by utilizing a basic semiotics framework to analyze the process by which a firm’s reputation is created between the object (the firm), different signs (organizational activities), and an interpretant (the firm’s reputation). Among other reported findings, we confirm that a firm’s first mover status significantly impacts its financial reputation. In addition, the first mover status and the actions of its CEO both significantly impact the firm’s sustainability reputation. In examining sustainability reputation more closely, we confirm a strong and significant effect of the firm’s sustainability reputation on consumer attitudes toward the firm, which is mediated by the attitude toward the CEO and attitude toward the firm’s first mover status. Do consumers care what organizations do? The answer is yes.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10519semioticsfirm reputationsustainability |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Moritz Loock Diane M. Phillips |
spellingShingle |
Moritz Loock Diane M. Phillips A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? Sustainability semiotics firm reputation sustainability |
author_facet |
Moritz Loock Diane M. Phillips |
author_sort |
Moritz Loock |
title |
A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? |
title_short |
A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? |
title_full |
A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? |
title_fullStr |
A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care? |
title_sort |
firm’s financial reputation vs. sustainability reputation: do consumers really care? |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2020-12-01 |
description |
In today’s global marketplace, management teams spend a significant amount of effort on managing their organizations’ image. Stellar reputations help to secure financing, attract business partners, and entice customers. Across two studies, we examine the extent to which a firm’s financial and sustainability reputations are influenced by two distinct organizational activities: its status as a first mover in the field of sustainability and its chief executive officer’s actions. We accomplish this by utilizing a basic semiotics framework to analyze the process by which a firm’s reputation is created between the object (the firm), different signs (organizational activities), and an interpretant (the firm’s reputation). Among other reported findings, we confirm that a firm’s first mover status significantly impacts its financial reputation. In addition, the first mover status and the actions of its CEO both significantly impact the firm’s sustainability reputation. In examining sustainability reputation more closely, we confirm a strong and significant effect of the firm’s sustainability reputation on consumer attitudes toward the firm, which is mediated by the attitude toward the CEO and attitude toward the firm’s first mover status. Do consumers care what organizations do? The answer is yes. |
topic |
semiotics firm reputation sustainability |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10519 |
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