Explaining the Differing Effects of Corporate Reputation Across Nations

摘要

This study analyzes whether the corporate reputation (CR) of multinational corporations influences consumer loyalty across nations. In particular, this study highlights the boundary conditions of this relationship by investigating institutional country differences that may determine CR effects. Knowledge of the moderators that reinforce or diminish the reputation effects is of paramount importance for international reputation management. Scholars have intensively analyzed CR, balancing the benefits of a strong reputation for firm performance and its effects on customer behavior. However, the effects of CR in an international context have been rarely analyzed. Here, studies indicate varying effects of CR and link these effects to cultural differences. Thus, research is inconclusive regarding the cross-national effects of CR on loyalty and does not provide insights into further moderators, which may be more important than cultural differences. This study offers two contributions to the extant literature. First, we extend i knowledge on the CR.effects across nations, which is important because international reputation management is advantageous for an MNC but has rarely been examined. Second, we contextualize the reputation-loyalty relationship by investigating the moderating effects of a set of institutional variables. Further, we used a multilevel approach that disentangles the effects into individual- and country-level effects.