Reputation Based Governance

It would be easy to cheat someone on eBay. However, an essential characteristic of the site prevents this from happening: buyer and seller reviews form what amounts to an "index of reputation." The availability of such an index provides a strong incentive to be an honest trader. Reputation-Based Governance melds concepts from businesses like eBay with politics. Author Lucio Picci uses interdisciplinary tools to argue that the intelligent use of widely available Internet technologies can strengthen reputational mechanisms and significantly improve public governance. Based on this notion, the book proposes a governance model that leans on the concept of reputational incentives while discussing the pivotal role of reputation in politics today. Picci argues that a continuous, distributed process of assessing policy outcomes, enabled by an appropriate information system, would contribute to a governance model characterized by effectiveness, efficiency, and a minimum amount of rent-seeking activity. Moreover, if citizens were also allowed to express their views on prospective policies, then reputation-based governance would provide a platform on which to develop advanced forms of participative democracy.

Experts discuss the benefits and risks of online reputation systems. In making decisions, we often seek advice. Online, we check Amazon recommendations, eBay vendors' histories, TripAdvisor ratings, and even our elected representatives' voting records. These online reputation systems serve as filters for information overload. In this book, experts discuss the benefits and risks of such online tools. The contributors offer expert perspectives that range from philanthropy and open access to science and law, addressing reputation systems in theory and practice. Properly designed reputation systems, they argue, have the potential to create a “reputation society,” reshaping society for the better by promoting accountability through the mediated judgments of billions of people. Effective design can also steer systems away from the pitfalls of online opinion sharing by motivating truth-telling, protecting personal privacy, and discouraging digital vigilantism. Contributors Madeline Ashby, Jamais Cascio, John Henry Clippinger, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, Cory Doctorow, Randy Farmer, Eric Goldman, Victor Henning, Anthony Hoffmann, Jason Hoyt, Luca Iandoli, Josh Introne, Mark Klein, Mari Kuraishi, Cliff Lampe, Paolo Massa, Hassan Masum, Marc Maxson, Craig Newmark, Michael Nielsen, Lucio Picci, Jan Reichelt, Alex Steffen, Lior Strahilevitz, Mark Tovey, John Whitfield, John Willinsky, Yi-Cheng Zhang, Michael Zimmer

"Expounds on the nature of white-collar crime and examines its relationship with corporate social responsibility, governance and corporate reputation. Presents different approaches for repairing damaged corporate reputations; explains how internal governance and investigations can be conducted. Discusses stages in corporate social responsibility and underscores knowledge management as an imperative tool to combat white-collar crime and build corporate reputation"--Provided by publisher.

The aim of this dissertation research is to develop an understanding of how components of the organizational structure, leadership structures at the top level and resource allocation decisions may affect corporate reputation as defined by the reputation quotient(RQ),and which aspects of running a company top management should keep an eye on in order to maximize the reputation of their company? Based on a literature review on the topic of corporate reputation and governance, which comprises the first part of the dissertation, a positivistic, deductive approach was chosen and a self-administered questionnaire has been developed that was sent out to the CEOs of the 60 companies currently covered in the 2002 RQ-rankings. The detailed discussion of the research method can be found in the third chapter. Due to a low response rate, the original research approach had to be adapted, in that - where available - the information requested in the questionnaire was filled by the author with publicly-available data from various sources, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), brokerage reports, company web sites and third-party information providers, aggregating information from these sources. Because the data points obtained this way, in all cases are based on official company disclosures (i.e. SEC-filings,press releases, published web sites), for which the companies are held legally liable, it is assumed that the quality of the data points obtained this way is just as accurate as from having received it as part of the filled-out questionnaires. This for one, because of the legal implications mentioned above and for the other because the answers to the questionnaire would have been based on the same internal data used to provide information to the Securities and Exchange Commission and general public. This adaptation of approach narrowed down the original sample size of 60 to 32 companies, because for 28 companies not sufficient public information was available and/ or the companies were not listed in both the 2001 and 2002 RQ-rankings. A second effect is that fewer of the originally intended aspects, especially relating to leadership, could be investigated, as no reliable public information was available. Nevertheless, the sample size was sufficient to draw statistically valid conclusions.

Gossip and reputation are core processes in societies and have substantial consequences for individuals, groups, communities, organizations, and markets.. Academic studies have found that gossip and reputation have the power to enforce social norms, facilitate cooperation, and act as a means of social control. The key mechanism for the creation, maintenance, and destruction of reputations in everyday life is gossip - evaluative talk about absent third parties. Reputation and gossip are inseparably intertwined, but up until now have been mostly studied in isolation. The Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation fills this intellectual gap, providing an integrated understanding of the foundations of gossip and reputation, as well as outlining a potential framework for future research. Volume editors Francesca Giardini and Rafael Wittek bring together a diverse group of researchers to analyze gossip and reputation from different disciplines, social domains, and levels of analysis. Being the first integrated and comprehensive collection of studies on both phenomena, each of the 25 chapters explores the current research on the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of the gossip-reputation link in contexts as diverse as online markets, non-industrial societies, organizations, social networks, or schools. International in scope, the volume is organized into seven sections devoted to the exploration of a different facet of gossip and reputation. Contributions from eminent experts on gossip and reputation not only help us better understand the complex interplay between two delicate social mechanisms, but also sketch the contours of a long term research agenda by pointing to new problems and newly emerging cross-disciplinary solutions.

A favorable reputation is an asset of importance that no public sector entity can afford to neglect because it gives power, autonomy, and access to critical resources. However, reputations must be built, maintained, and protected. As a result, public sector organizations in most OECD countries have increased their capacity for managing reputation. This edited volume seeks to describe, explain, and critically analyze the significance of organizational reputation and reputation management activities in the public sector. This book provides a comprehensive first look at how reputation management and branding efforts in public organizations play out, focusing on public agencies as formal organizations with their own hierarchies, identities, and cultures – existing in a network of other public organizations with similar or different functions, power, and reputation. From this unique organizational perspective, the chapters in this volume examine issues such as organizational identity, power, conflict, politics, culture, and symbolism within the public sector. Paying specific attention to strategies and processes, and illustrating with examples from the countries of Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and Sweden, the book deepens our understanding of reputation management efforts at various levels of government.

This unique volume expounds on the nature of white-collar crime and examines its relationship with corporate social responsibility, governance and corporate reputation. Based on empirical study and extensive literature review, this book presents different approaches for repairing damaged corporate reputations and also explains how internal governance and investigations can be conducted. Stages in corporate social responsibility are discussed and knowledge management is underscored as an imperative tool to combat white-collar crime and build corporate reputation. Contents:White-Collar CrimeCorporate ReputationReputation Damage and RepairInternal InvestigationsCorporate ComplianceCorporate GovernanceStages of Corporate ResponsibilityForensic AccountingKnowledge ManagementIntelligence Strategy Readership: Business course undergraduates, MBA students, students of governance, business ethics, corporate communications/public relations and corporate crime; management executives; auditing and corporate communications professionals. Keywords:Corporate Social Responsibility;Corporate Governance;Corporate Reputation;White-Collar Crime;Knowledge ManagementKey Features:Damage and repair of corporate reputation after white-collar scandalsStages of corporate social responsibilityKnowledge management for corporate social responsibilityReviews: “White-collar crime represents a serious threat to corporate reputation. Nevertheless, there are surprisingly many corporations that are involved in white-collar crime. A recent study found that 40 percent of the top-ranked corporations in the Swedish business world have been involved in white-collar crime in the last decade. These corporations had decisions against them, such as court decisions, administrative law, objection, or settlement. Petter Gottschalk's book covers important topics for crime prevention by linking white-collar crime to responsibility, governance and reputation in business enterprises.” Dr Stefan Holgersson Police Superintendent, Swedish Police Force & Assistant Professor, Linköping University, Sweden “White-collar crime can be difficult to detect, both by internal entities such as internal audit and control units, as well as by external entitites such as the stock exchange, the tax authorities and the police. Petter Gottschalk has written an important and interesting book that links white-collar crime prevention to corporate social responsibility, governance mechanisms, and corporate reputation damage and repair.” Dag Styrvold former Norwegian Police Superintendent and current instructor Norwegian Police University College for the education of officers to battle white-collar crime

Andreas Avgousti considers the modern problem of reputation by turning to the dialogues of Plato, to show that reputation is not only an issue for political elites, but that it is a quality that helps the wider citizenry to cohere, bringing together citizens and non-citizens. Avgousti argues that reputation is worth thinking about because it is a power that circulates among the many, linked to and sustained by myths and rumors, and it is a power that the many exercise through the social mechanisms of praise and blame.