A Conceptualization of Corporate Reputation in Germany: An Evaluation and Extension of the RQ

Abstract

Currently, considerable research is devoted to evaluating the cross-cultural applicability of the Reputation Quotient (RQ), an instrument to measure corporate reputation that is not biased towards one stakeholder group (eg financial analysts). It has been suggested, however, that most of the replications lack scientific rigor. The lack of previous comprehensive reputation research in Germany, together with the need to test the generalizability of the RQ in different countries, prompted an investigation of German stakeholders. The original US RQ could not be confirmed completely, but qualitative support was found for an extended ten-dimensional RQ, including four new German dimensions, namely: fairness, sympathy, transparency and perceived customer orientation. Explanations for the differences are discussed as well as the marketing implications.