Expounding Organizational Reputation/Crisis: Exploring its definitional landscape

Of late, there has been a growing interest in the concept of corporate reputation/crisis, yet a precise and widely accepted definition remains elusive. This study aims to meticulously review, analyze, and assess previous definitional statements of corporate reputation/crisis. Building on this review and a lexicological analysis of the concept of reputation/crisis, a new, more explicit and narrow definitional statement is proposed to bring theoretical clarity to these areas of studies. A comprehensive, extensive, and panoptic literature review in the relevant fields was reviewed to improve and expound the understanding of organizational reputation and crisis definitions. These definitions have considerable information in each of them with unique terms. Regrettably, many organizations invest in organizational reputation and stakeholder relationships. However, very few organizations deemed it fit to invest in unpredictable crises, which have the potential to damage reputation in a significant capacity. It is hoped that this study and the resulting definitions will stimulate further scholarly efforts aimed at establishing a unified understanding of corporate reputation/crisis. An organizational crisis determines reputational damage as well as the effectiveness of crisis response strategies. Reputation could create a halo effect that shields an organization during a crisis, deflecting potential reputational damage.