Corporate reputation management: Effects of top manager credibility on corporate reputation and intention to be an employee

The concept of reputation as being a subjective structure, is embedded in our decision-making mechanism, including the value we attribute to individuals and companies through perception. It is especially important for companies to deliver value added activities under a reputable name. To maximize the stakeholders satisfaction, companies impose corporate reputation in order to gain competitive advantage. It is stated that investigating the antecedents and consequences of corporate reputation will enhance companies to foster in competition. This study aims to explore manager credibility as an antecedent and intention to be an employee as a consequence of corporate reputation within a sample of Turkish reputable companies. The study is designed in a mixed methodology and triangulation is chosen as a method of inquiry. A conceptual model was developed after reviewing the relevant literature, followed by semi-structured interviews with six people to see if the model was valid in the eyes of the customer stakeholder group. Interview results indicated the validity of the conceptual model. In the final phase of the study, after piloted the survey first with 50 and after with 70 participants, then quantitative research was carried out on the data of 561 participants collected from seven of the top ten universities of Turkey chosen through purposeful sampling. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed on all data to obtain the fit values and structural equation modeling was conducted afterwards. The collected data were analyzed separately for each company. Results revealed that the proposed research model is generally acceptable and that the credibility of the top manager was found to be statistically significantly associated with corporate reputation (trustworthiness and expertise), but not statistically significantly with intention to be an employee in chosen companies. On the other hand, corporate reputation has been found to have a statistically significant effect on intention be an employee in chosen companies. Keywords: Top manager credibility, Corporate reputation, Triangulation, Intention to be an employee, Structional equation modelling