Customer and non-customer perspectives for examining corporate reputation Hamed M. Shamma Department of Management, School of Business, Economics and Communication, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt, and Salah S. Hassan Department of Marketing, School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA Abstract Purpose – Several studies on corporate reputation have proposed a customer-based approach for assessing corporate reputation. Other studies proposed examining corporate reputation from the perspective of other primary stakeholder groups such as employees, investors or suppliers. Hence this paper aims to examine corporate reputation by considering both the customer’s and the non-customer’s views. Design/methodology/approach – This study was applied to the US wireless telecommunications industry. A random sample of 1,088 respondents composed of 518 customers and 570 representing the non-customers, was generated for this study. The sample was randomly distributed by age, gender, income, education and geographic location. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that the formation of perceptions about corporate reputation differ between customers and non- customers. The dimension of emotional appeal is specific to the customer group and the dimension of vision and leadership is specific to the non- customer group. Finally, social and environmental responsibility was not a significant element in forming the perceptions about corporate reputation for both customers and non-customers. Research limitations/implications – The study does not incorporate the effect of variables such as change in price or service quality nor take the impact of mergers and acquisitions into consideration. Practical implications – This study helped to identify the primary and secondary elements for managing a company’s reputation. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on corporate reputation by determining how customers and non-customers form their perceptions. The model provides a comprehensive assessment on how perceptions about corporate reputation are formed and what are the subsequent outcomes of those perceptions. Keywords Corporate image, Stakeholder analysis, Individual perception, Customer behaviour, United States of America Paper type Research paper What is corporate reputation? Various disciplines define corporate reputation depending on its relation to the overall discipline. In economics, corporate reputation is viewed as a reflection of a firm’s past actions which provides signals to stakeholders about their “true” attributes (Clark and Montgomery, 1998; Weigelt and Camerer, 1988). This definition is related to the game theory perspective in economics. In strategic management, corporate reputation is viewed as a collective impression about a firm from a multiple stakeholder perspective. The strategic management perspective assumes that reputation is formed from information exchanges and various social factors affecting stakeholders’ perceptions (Deephouse, 2000; Hall, 1992). In sociology, corporate reputation is viewed as the collective agreement about what the relevant public knows about an actor. These attributes are ascribed to an actor based on past actions (Kollock, 1994; Camic, 1992). In marketing, various scholars have presented their definitions of corporate reputation. Fombrun (1996) defined corporate reputation as “a perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future prospects that describes the firm’s overall appeal to all of its constituents when compared with other leading rivals.” Gotsi and Wilson (2001) defined corporate reputation as “a stakeholder’s evaluation of a company over time.” They based their evaluation on: . the stakeholders’ experience; . other forms of communication and symbolism about the corporation and its actions; and . the comparison with other rival firms. Fombrun et al. (2000) also added the point that corporate reputation is “a collective construct that describes the aggregate perceptions of multiple stakeholders about a company’s performance.” Thus, corporate reputation can be summarized as the collective perception about a firm’s past behavior and outcomes from a multiple stakeholder perspective. Importance of corporate reputation Corporate reputation is an important measure of corporate success. It is the most important strategic and valuable asset a company can possess. Businesspeople and scholars agree that reputation is the ultimate corporate asset that businesses The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm Journal of Product & Brand Management 18/5 (2009) 326–337 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421] [DOI 10.1108/10610420910981800] 326