On Being Bad: Why Stigma is not the Same as a Bad Reputation Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • This article unravels the corporate reputation from a construct that is a relatively new entrant to the business literature stigma and specifically addresses the similarities and differences between organisational reputation and stigma. Reputation and stigma operate through very different mechanisms. The article then elaborates how organisational reputation and organisational stigma differ across six key dimensions, namely theoretical roots, dimensionality and range, level of analysis, antecedents, ease of acquisition or removal, and social uses and organisational consequences. While reputations are based on distinctness from other organisations, stigmas are based on broad categorisations of sameness. An organisational stigma can result in a variety of social and economic sanctions for the organisation and its members. Finally, several steps that are important for reputation and stigma research to advance, and several areas which may develop productive future research, are reviewed.

author list (cited authors)

  • Mishina, Y., & Devers, C. E.

complete list of authors

  • Mishina, Yuri||Devers, Cynthia E

editor list (cited editors)

  • Pollock, T. G., & Barnett, M. L.

Book Title

  • The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Reputation

publication date

  • January 2012