Employee reputation and factors affecting employee reputation: A qualitative study on academicians

The concept of reputation is a concept of Arabic origin that expresses the meaning of being respected, finding value, being reliable. In general terms, reputation is how the individual is perceived by his environment and society.The concept of reputation within the organization is how the perception of reputation that is shaped in the hands of the employee, which arises from the personal characteristics and expertise of the individual, appears in the eyes of other employees within the organization. This study aims to reveal the determinants of the concept of personal reputation and academic reputation of academic staff. The aim of this study is to determine what the academicians understand from the concept of reputation in general and their thoughts about academic reputation, to determine the factors that affect their reputation, to reveal the issues that damage the reputation of academics and to determine positive and negative results. This study was conducted with the phenomenological design which is one of the qualitative research designs. Participant academicians who contributed to the research were determined using criterion sampling method and snowball method. The interview form designed by the researcher about the subject and purpose of the research and the data of the research were obtained as a result of in-depth interviews with 20 faculty members working at Süleyman Demirel University. After the audio recordings of the interviews were analyzed, the data obtained were coded using the interpretive phenomenology method based on the basic questions of the research. Nvivo 12 Plus qualitative data analysis program was used to analyze the data. At the end of the study, by using the experiences gained by the participating academicians, detailed findings were obtained about the perception of academic reputation and reputation determinants, determination of strategies to gain reputation and harm in academic organizations, positive and negative results of these strategies and recommendations of academic reputation management. It was found that the personal determinants consisting of academic reputation, personality traits and academic competence are supported by institutional and social determinants, in this study, it has been determined that there are some positive results in terms of person, colleagues, academic reputation, attitude of the manager towards the academician, while there some negative results in terms of attitude of the academician towards the manager. As a result of the study, the most general suggestion is that the academicians are expected to have a good command of their fields, to develop themselves, to respect and love the employees and students in the organization, and to do works that will benefit the society.