How to measure and manage country reputation

Hitz, Niels; Schwaiger, Manfred und Gabel, Juliane (15. Oktober 2024): How to measure and manage country reputation. In: International Journal of Advertising: S. 1-31

Abstract

Countries benefit from a good reputation in terms of gaining a higher foreign direct investment inflow, a growing export volume, becoming more attractive as tourist destinations and, last but not least, by improving their populations’ well-being. Consequently, many countries endeavor to manage their public perception actively. Since communication influences perception, advertising plays a particularly important role in the latter. However, countries need to fathom which opinions they need to encourage in order to ensure others’ optimal perceptions of them. A prerequisite for tackling this challenge is a model that measures and explains country reputation. This study develops such a model. Our model conceptualizes reputation as a two-dimensional attitudinal construct, thereby avoiding one-dimensional approaches’ shortcomings. It refers to the cognition-related dimension as competence, whereas the affect-related dimension is termed likability. It measures reputation, as perceived by stakeholders, by means of six reflective indicators. Furthermore, the model employs a catalogue of 30 formative indicators — structured by means of five key constructs — to identify the drivers of country reputation. By cultivating impactful drivers, countries are able to apply targeted measures to alter their reputations’ ratings on the two dimensions (i.e. competence and likability). We employed data from Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom to develop our model. Relevant criteria highlight the model’s reliability and validity. A benchmark analysis of the proposed model compared to that of existing approaches illustrates its superiority in terms of its convergent and criterion validity.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Betriebswirtschaft > Institut für Marktorientierte Unternehmensführung
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• ISSN: 0265-0487
• Sprache: Englisch