How to measure and manage country reputation

Bibliographic Data

ID21498173
AuthorsNadine Hitz (Munich Business School), Manfred Schwaiger (0000-0003-0132-4560, Munich Business School, corresponding author), J Gabel (Institute for Market-based Management, LMU Munich School of Management), Jon R Gabel (Munich Business School)
Year2025
Volume44
Issue6
Pages1066-1096
Publication date2025-08-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Advertising (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-0487 • E-ISSN: 1759-3948
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02650487.2024.2411670
OpenAlexW4403436990
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited82

Countries benefit from a good reputation in terms of gaining a higher foreign direct investment inflow, a growing export volume, becoming more attractive as tourist destinations and, last but not least, by improving their populations’ well-being. Consequently, many countries endeavor to manage their public perception actively. Since communication influences perception, advertising plays a particularly important role in the latter. However, countries need to fathom which opinions they need to encourage in order to ensure others’ optimal perceptions of them. A prerequisite for tackling this challenge is a model that measures and explains country reputation. This study develops such a model. Our model conceptualizes reputation as a two-dimensional attitudinal construct, thereby avoiding one-dimensional approaches’ shortcomings. It refers to the cognition-related dimension as competence, whereas the affect-related dimension is termed likability. It measures reputation, as perceived by stakeholders, by means of six reflective indicators. Furthermore, the model employs a catalogue of 30 formative indicators — structured by means of five key constructs — to identify the drivers of country reputation. By cultivating impactful drivers, countries are able to apply targeted measures to alter their reputations’ ratings on the two dimensions (i.e. competence and likability). We employed data from Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom to develop our model. Relevant criteria highlight the model’s reliability and validity. A benchmark analysis of the proposed model compared to that of existing approaches illustrates its superiority in terms of its convergent and criterion validity

Advertising · Business · Data mining · Internet privacy · Political science · Reputation · Reputation management · Computer Science · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Corporate Identity and Reputation · Marketing and Advertising Strategies · Marketing

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