Making and breaking sense: an inquiry into the reputation change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to expand knowledge of reputation change as a social process and to explore the implications of a social constructivist view of reputation for the challenge of reputation management. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyze the main characteristics of a social constructivist view of reputation, and study its implications for the task of reputation management by means of an interpretative arena model of reputation change. Findings – The authors build a framework for analyzing reputation change as dialogical interaction between an organization and active stakeholders. Practical implications – The arena model is a tool for analyzing the task of corporate reputation change management across a variety of contexts. The arena model provides a conceptual tool for making sense of the crucial and intricate challenge of strategic reputation management, which places organizations engaging in struggles and collaborations with the stakeholders in symbolic environments. Originality/value – The arena model is the first framework seeking to bridge the theoretical challenge of social constructivism with the managerial task of reputation change.