Measuring the corporate reputation of financial services providers

Abstract

The critical importance of reputation to the understanding of corporate performance and competitive position is now firmly established in the literature and increasingly recognised in the best practice or the world's leading companies. Although Corporate Reputations are ubiquitous, they remain relatively understudied (Fombrun, 1996). This study focuses on the local financial services sector. It explores an alternative route to measure Corporate Reputation. It is based on the hypothesis that Corporate Reputation is an attitude and, accordingly, is linked to intentions being the immediate antecedent of behaviour. Primary data was collected through a number of focus groups which captured the key beliefs customers associate their main bank with. Consequently, a TpB questionnaire was constructed with a view to measuring beliefs, Corporate Reputation and Intentions. l his study has confirmed that, generally, banking customers intend to continue using the services offered by their main bank for the forthcoming year. It also confirmed the hypothesis that Corporate Reputation equates to an attitude.