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This paper aims to examine how and why management accounting practices are linked to an organization's identity and identity discrepancies.

A qualitative field study of a one‐year change project in a large manufacturing company is used as the basis for the analysis.

The empirical study reveals how discrepancies between organizational members' perceived identity and their construed external (and desired future) image both influence and are influenced by emergent accounting practices. Empirical evidence suggests such a reciprocal relationship between accounting and identity, since accounting practices are an important means of (de)legitimizing an organization's current self‐perception.

The uncovered reciprocal relationship between management accounting practices and organizational identity (discrepancies) have implications for a broader literature, including the works on how different forms of control interact as a “control package” and the discourse on potential sources of organizational identity change.

Although it has previously been suggested that management accounting may be an important means for, as well as an outcome of, processes of identity (re)constructions in organizations, this study suggests a more complex interplay than has previously been noted in the literature. Specifically, it was found that organizational identity may for a considerable time work as a highly influential and largely unquestioned categorical imperative, signifying the boundaries of appropriate organizational action. At times, however, accounting practices may spark (re)constructions of identity discrepancies through: providing identity‐inconsistent evidence; and using (new) measures in a “feed‐forward” manner to explore possible ways to close such perceived discrepancies.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new construct called reputation orientation, which is defined as a conscious, company-wide, strategic focus on building and maintaining a positive corporate reputation among key stakeholders.

A conceptual framework is developed that links reputation orientation to construed image and business performance. An empirical test of the key stakeholder relationship between sellers and buyers is conducted using an online survey of US-based marketing managers from a variety of for-profit industries.

The research findings demonstrate that reputation orientation is a valid construct and show a positive relationship between reputation orientation and business performance which is partially mediated by construed image.

This research was exploratory in nature, so the data must be interpreted carefully and subject to additional contexts.

Reputation orientation has implications for managers who want to proactively pursue reputational excellence for competitive advantage.

Reputation orientation has implications for stakeholder satisfaction, socially responsible behavior, ethical decision making, and sustainability.

This research empirically tests a model that integrates corporate marketing constructs with marketing managers’ decision-making behaviors and perceptions.

Currently, in the literature, words such as “corporate image”, “projected image”, “construed image”, “reputation”, “organizational identity”, and “organizational culture” are often confused and superimposed. This creates a conceptual mismatch that leads to results that are hard to compare. Moreover, this leads to difficulty in individuating the correct tools to investigate these constructs. Part of this confusion is due to the lack of a framework shared by different literatures. The aim of this paper is firstly to propose a reasoned review of the literatures related to these constructs. Secondly, the authors propose a new framework and a standard terminology, in which reputation is the wider construct that includes and relates to the others.

The authors performed an extensive and multidisciplinary review in the 12 most used databases within corporate communication, organizational psychology, marketing, organizational studies, management, and business. A semiotic and relational approach was implemented as modus operandi.

The paper builds on the previous literature, clarifying labels and constructs and identifying a standard terminology to which future studies can refer in order to facilitate a multidisciplinary dialog along different disciplines.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first review to take into consideration all of the seven constructs together and relate them within one framework. Moreover, it uses a novel approach in seeing “reputation” as an umbrella construct under which all the other constructs are grouped and included.

The implications of multiple organizational identities for branding research have been scarcely considered. This paper aims to explore what sources of identity internal stakeholders use to construct organizational identities and corporate identities, and identify how diversity emerges in the perceived identities across various stakeholders.

The empirical study includes 59 in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders in a business-to-business service company.

Employees may perceive identity diversity as a strategic benefit for the company, and employees may not identify with a uniform corporate identity. The corporate identity could become more identifiable for employees through managerial recognition of different dimensions of identity diversity, such as multiple professional and locational identities.

The study bridges insights between organizational identity and corporate identity and problematizes identity coherence and consistency as strategic principles for corporate branding by proposing an alternative approach guided by identity diversity. Additionally, the study discusses identity diversity-based approaches to internal branding and co-creation in branding.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the relevance of conducting brand management research in a family firm context and to identify future research directions by reviewing and structuring the existing literature.

The potential consequences of being a family firm on internal organizational processes and stakeholders’ external perception are depicted. Afterwards the literature considering brand management research in family firms is reviewed systematically (n=41) and structured by applying the Organizational Viewpoint Framework. Relevant research questions are derived based on the findings and their practical relevance is tested.

The contributions are threefold. First, depicting the effects of being a family firm on the organization and its stakeholders highlights the relevance of conducting brand management research in family firms. Second, structuring the literature regarding the effects of being a family firm on organizational identity, intended brand image, construed brand image, and reputation helps derive research questions of theoretical and practical relevance that will serve the field as a guide for future research directions. Third, by extending the Organizational Viewpoint Framework originating from brand management research with the element of being a family firm, a further attempt at bridging both research fields is undertaken.

This paper represents an important next step in the development of this research field by highlighting the importance of conducting brand management research in a family firm context and by structuring existent research to depict future research opportunities with theoretical and practical relevance.

The paper seeks to explore the factors that would make an impact on the corporate image of large commercial banks in Saudi Arabia through the perceptions of direct customers. It proposes an appropriate way of measuring corporate image in the Saudi banking industry through the development of a questionnaire.

A questionnaire, presented in English and Arabic, was piloted and tested to a group of banking customers in three major cities of Saudi Arabia.

Results indicate that three factors significantly influence perception: “financial prospects”, “corporate management” and “corporate communication”. These explain 67.7 per cent of the total variance. The notion of “market presence” was not strongly felt in the Saudi banking industry despite the growing trend of internationalization of large commercial banks in the country.

Corporate image is regarded as a critical, strategic and enduring intangible asset for an organization. A favorable corporate image can be an effective form of differentiation and a source of competitive advantage ensuring long‐term success.

Managing complex customer relationships is a first step in creating better corporate image. Publicity tools need to be strategically deployed to create a stronger market presence. Financial performance should be appropriately communicated to instill confidence and loyalty in customers.

This is the first of such research conducted in Saudi Arabia. Customers' interpretation and perception of corporate image in the Saudi banking industry suggests that corporate branding is as important as corporate identity. As such, this paper reveals that complacency in corporate communication practices is the very reason why market presence fails to endure the test of time.

Previous studies on corporate identity (CI) suggest that different beholders view CI from different angles. For example, senior managers' angle can be different from those of employees or customers. The present study aims to explore the dimensions of managerial perceptions of CI.

A total of 48 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with senior managers within three organisations in the British financial service sector.

Seven principal categories of corporate identity anchors were identified: ownership, vision and mission, values and beliefs, business, personality attributes, external image, and strategic performance.

The study suggests that CI anchors can be a starting point for CI program or corporate image management. Attention should be accorded to the diversity of the internal and managerial perceptions of CI and how such diversity can be translated into strong and persuasive messages to other stakeholders.

The findings contribute to the literature by identifying potential corporate attributes that are relevant to CI. These findings expand the traditional view of the CI mix and represent a significant progress toward the identification and mapping of the construct of CI.

No psychometrically sound measurement scale exists to effectively measure sports team reputation. The current study proposed and developed the Spectator-based Sports Team Reputation (SSTR) by considering the most important stakeholder groups - spectators. The results indicated that SSTR had a positive and direct impact on team identification and trust towards a team. The most significant theoretical contribution of this study is the conceptualisation and development of the SSTR scale, with a multi-dimensional approach from the spectator perspective.

The corporate reputation of a firm and reputation risk is becoming increasingly important because of the rise of social media and the ongoing globalization. While defining and measuring corporate reputation and reputation risk represent the first steps in corporate reputation (risk) management, there is no general agreement in defining and measuring these two terms. Hence, this paper aims to give an overview of the existing literature in this regard, discuss it with respect to the operability in corporate reputation (risk) management and, based on this, present a holistic and consistent approach to define and measure corporate reputation and reputation risk.

The paper gives an overview of the literature regarding definitions and measurement methods of corporate reputation and reputation risk. Moreover, it discusses such definitions and measurement methods with respect to the operability in corporate reputation (risk) management.

Based on an overview of the literature regarding definitions and measurement methods of corporate reputation and reputation risk, the authors present a holistic and consistent approach to define and measure corporate reputation and reputation risk.

The authors present an holistic and consistent approach to define and measure corporate reputation and reputation risk with focus on (risk) management purposes.

The objective of this paper is to report a case study investigating how organizational identity evolves during institutional change within a UK building society.

The paper employs an inductive case study, which is appropriate for examining such change processes. It builds on grounded theory, considered appropriate for such an explanatory research.

The paper finds that: institutional change, especially regulation and practice changes, serves as the trigger to increasing salience of identity issues, i.e. identity ambiguity, legitimacy crisis and perceived identity obsolescence; leadership, organizational culture and strategic exercises are salient apparatuses to tackle identity problems caused by external pressure; and a new identity is formed as a result of the managerial interventions, characterised by the rediscovery of historical roots, modernization and dualism.

The paper provides an account of identity change, given a broader business environment change context within which the organization operates. Utilizing qualitative study of one case may be taken as a limitation.

The theoretical contribution reflected in the findings has implications for the interfaces between identity and institutional environment and organizational culture.