Corporate reputation: A study on an airline in Indonesia

Today, the continuous change in the micro and macro environment in which organizations operate, the development of digital media, the awareness of stakeholders, and social pressure on organizations have changed the meaning of sustainability for organizations and made corporate reputation critical in this process. This is because stakeholders now approve and prefer organizations that they trust, believe in, and perceive to have a strong reputation. While creating awareness, standing out, and being reputable are important for every sector, they are even more important in the aviation sector due to the nature of the sector. Corporate reputation is of critical importance especially in the aviation industry as it is one of the measures of passenger safety and is also the reason for stakeholder preferences. In this study, the concept of corporate reputation is examined in the aviation sector, and corporate reputation is analyzed through the evaluations of internal and external stakeholders of an airline organization in Indonesia. A quantitative field study was designed, and the "Corporate Reputation Scale" developed by Fombrun and Van Riel in 2000 was adapted and used for airline organizations. In the study, it was evaluated whether the simultaneous perceptions of internal and external stakeholders create a collective reputation perception in airline organizations; how internal and external stakeholders perceive the dimensions of corporate reputation in airline organizations, and whether the reputation perceptions of internal and external stakeholders differ according to their demographic characteristics. As a result of the study, it is seen that internal and external stakeholders have a collective reputation perception for the corporate reputation of the airline organization and both stakeholder groups perceive corporate reputation positively. While the emotional appeal and service quality dimensions of corporate reputation are perceived in common for both stakeholder groups, internal and external stakeholder perceptions differ in the dimension of corporate functioning. In addition, it has been determined that there is no distinctive difference between the demographic characteristics of internal and external stakeholders and their perceptions of corporate reputation.