What´s our reputation? - A study of organizations practical work with Reputation Management

Abstract

In the society information has become more accessible for all its actors. This process has increased the importance of how organizations present themselves and work with their reputation. During the last decade a new management paradigm has emerged called Reputation Management. This field of management focus on the whole spectra of how organizations present themselves and are being perceived. In this Bachelor thesis we will contribute to the research of Reputation Management as we study how and why Swedish organizations in different contexts practically work with their reputation, a field that is poorly explored. The organizations we have chosen to study are Ving Sweden AB, the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre, Malmö City Theatre and Gothenburg Research Institute as they operate in different contexts and have different stakeholders. This research is based on a qualitative study were we have collected data using interviews. The data has then been analysed using new institutional theory, focusing isomorph forces and the conflict between legitimacy and efficiency. The empirical data describe how the organization practice different reputational activities and our analysis show how these activities come from different pressures in the organizations context. In our conclusion we discuss our findings of how and why the studied organizations work with presenting themselves, which is mainly to gain legitimacy from their surroundings. We also give suggestions for further research such as doing the same kind of study but on organizations within the same context.