Reputation rating

Additions, clarifications, extended definition

The rating is built from multiple dimensions of reputation (e.g. products/services, management, relationship with society, innovation, leadership, governance). This corresponds to the reputation model from RepTrak (formerly the Reputation Institute) – their methodology consists of seven dimensions: products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership, performance.

Some research providers have their own "reputation rating" methodologies – for example, the organisation Reputation Research states that its "Reputation Rating" is a patented methodology combining objective and subjective inputs, including machine learning.

Other relevant approaches examine how reputation scores in different markets correlate with measures such as satisfaction, trust and news sensitivity, and how robust different reputation models are in international comparison.

Interpretation

A higher reputation rating means that the public or stakeholders rate the brand more positively on key attributes (quality, responsibility, integrity, innovation …).

It serves as an indicator of long-term brand capital – reputation, which generally underpins trust, loyalty and the ability to withstand crises.

It can be used for benchmarking brands, tracking trends over time and identifying weaker dimensions of reputation.

Watch out: limits and risks of distortion

• Complexity: more dimensions mean greater demands on data collection, validation and weighting.
• Subjectivity: a respondent's personal perception (e.g. emotions or momentary mood) can distort the score.
• Measurement accuracy: questions, weights and scales must be designed carefully so the model is not arbitrary.
• International differences: cultural differences can affect the interpretation of reputation attributes.
• Competition and context: brand reputation is relative – a good score within an industry may not be exceptional on a global scale.

Where and how to measure

• Quantitative surveys among target groups – respondents rate the brand on a scale across selected dimensions.
• Additional data inputs: media coverage (sentiment, source quality), social media, reputation analyses (mention monitoring, tone).
• External benchmarking studies (e.g. RepTrak) and comparative datasets.
• Repeated survey waves to track the development of reputation over time.

Context

A reputation rating belongs to the Outcomes phase (and partly to Impacts, because reputation can influence behaviour over the long term).

It builds on the Barcelona Principles and the AMEC Guide, which call for measuring "to the extent possible, outcomes and impact" and favour qualitative and combined metrics over purely quantitative signals.

A reputation rating is often the target metric for PR and communication – the destination all activities are heading towards over the longer term.