The Reputation QuotientSM: A multi-stakeholder measure of corporate reputation

Measures of corporate reputation currently in widespread use suffer from fundamental methodological and conceptual weaknesses. This paper begins with a brief overview of the reputation construct and its expected dimensionality. It then examines some of the major indices in use and documents their principal weaknesses. A new instrument is proposed — ‘the reputation quotientSM (RQ) — to measure corporate reputations and establish its empirical validity and reliability through focus groups and pilot studies. It concludes that the reputation quotient is a robust measure of corporate reputations that considerably improves the state of the art in reputation measurement.