journal article Open Access Feb 18, 2020

A Multidimensional Reputation Barometer for Public Agencies: A Validated Instrument

Public Administration Review Vol. 80 No. 3 pp. 415-425 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1111/puar.13158
Abstract
AbstractReputation is of growing interest for the study of public bureaucracies, but a measurement that can discern between the subdimensions of reputation and is validated on real‐life audiences has remained elusive. The authors deductively build, test, and cross‐validate a survey instrument through two surveys of 2,100 key stakeholders of the European Chemicals Agency, the European Union chemicals regulator. This empirical tool measures an agency's reputation and its building blocks. This scale represents an important contribution to reputation literature, as it allows scholars to distinguish and measure which aspects of reputation public organizations are “known for” and build their claim to authority on, as well as how the profiles of public organizations differ. The authors find that direct stakeholder contact with the agency is necessary for stakeholders to be able to evaluate the separate dimensions of reputation independently.Evidence for Practice

This study equips practitioners with a reputation barometer tailored to the public sector. It allows them to measure the reputation of their organization, in a differentiated fashion, among different stakeholder groups.
While public organizations increasingly engage in reputation management activities, a potential caveat that emerges from our exercise is that managers might be steering in non‐astute directions. While our study shows that, as for private actors, “performance matters,” procedural and moral aspects also weigh heavily in the eyes of stakeholders when it comes to public regulators.
To secure a positive organizational image and the authority crucial for public agencies to operate, the performance management turn in the public sector may need to be supplemented by an enhanced organizational attention to procedural and moral aspects.
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References
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Showing 50 of 57 references

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72
Citations
57
References
Details
Published
Feb 18, 2020
Vol/Issue
80(3)
Pages
415-425
License
View
Funding
European Research Council Award: 716439
Economic and Social Research Council Award: ES/L010925/1
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Award: 452‐14‐008
Cite This Article
Sjors Overman, Madalina Busuioc, Matthew Wood (2020). A Multidimensional Reputation Barometer for Public Agencies: A Validated Instrument. Public Administration Review, 80(3), 415-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13158
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