Articulo_1_EN_Doxa_31_Learning_about_reputational

1. Introduction

As pointed out by Xifra (2020), in these times of uncertainty and instability, efficient management of reputational risk has become an opportunity to add intangible value to the organisation and maintain public trust.

Risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives. As stated by Bauman, “if there is not a good solution to a dilemma, and if none of the sensible and effective attitudes bring us closer to a solution, people tend to behave irrationally, making the problem more complex and its resolution less plausible” (La Vanguardia, 2017). These circumstances are defining the new trend in society in which emotion rather than fact is determining behaviour and attitudes toward a situation, resulting in a new reality. Thus, we find ourselves in the post-truth era characterised by the exponential increase of digital technologies that have allowed information channels to thrive. Moreover, fake news (false news spread under the guise of real news) circulates through such channels, thereby undermining the principles of honesty and truth. This situation is creating a new perspective of current affairs and is establishing new standards of relationships between the different actors with whom a company interacts.

Reputation is one of the most promising assets in business management. Organisations with a good reputation have the trust of their public. The theory of corporate reputation has reached a level of understanding and management that is thoroughly consolidated in the business and academic worlds. However, we have observed that the concept of reputation is so dynamic that it must be continuously monitored and improved, as it shifts and changes as society fluctuates and transforms itself. Reputation is adapting itself to a reality that has arisen suddenly in the form of a global pandemic, which is sinking the economies of many countries. Reputation does not reflect a monolithic, unalterable theoretical concept; it must be approached with a multi-faceted, strategic vision, while considering the organisation and its context (Mut-Camacho, 2011).

An important aspect of the public perception of a company’s reputation depends on the work the business carries out regarding its communication. Recent research reveals an inability of companies to adapt to technological progress. Companies trail behind society in their use of social media for talking to their public and generating positive links with their environment (Aced-Toledano and Lalueza-Bosch, 2016; Costa-Sánchez and Túñez-López, 2019).

In this sense, the digital era has changed the way of understanding organisations and the relations with their respective audiences. The business world is gradually adapting to the new communication channels, yet it is not exempt from the new risks involved in the digital communications realm. The types of media disinformation are diverse: fake news, hoaxes, half-truths, shallowfakes, astroturfing, fake follower networks, deepfakes, targeted advertising, trolling, visual memes, and cyber-censorship. Companies are exposed to all of these forms of disinformation, which can become reputational risks that must be considered in managing the company’s intangible assets.

For this reason, this study seeks to address the point at which uncertainty, disinformation and corporate reputation intersect, and to analyse whether considering this junction to be a reputational risk will help companies reduce uncertainty in an increasingly disruptive post-pandemic world, thereby inducing these organisations to participate in proper corporate reputation planning, since relations with customers, society, administration, opinion leaders, shareholders and