Where did we get these results?

dence that, if we conducted the same study repeatedly, 95 times out of 100 the obtained score would lie within that stated level of accuracy, which from the point of view of statistical analysis is outstanding.

As for how the studies themselves are quantified, the RepTrak™ Pulse, the core construct signifying the level of emotional connection or strength of emotional bond a stakeholder has towards a company or organisation, has four key elements: esteem, admire, trust, and feeling. Although these speak to how a company emotionally resonates with a given respondent, seven rational Reputation Dimensions underpin the rational aspects that further inform stakeholder perception. These dimensions are the corporeal aspects, the levers a company can work on to impact how they are perceived by the general public.

The emotional spectrum could be understood as thus: esteem comes from products/services and performance, admire from innovation and workplaces, feeling from citizenship and leadership, and trust into governance. From these seven rational dimensions RepTrak™ expands further into attributes: highly specified aspects of each rational lever. For instance, innovation speaks to those who are often first to the market, the driving force of the statistic being how adaptable and actually innovative a company actually is. This pattern continues, allowing effective insight into exactly what a company is faltering at, and where its strong suits are; essentially creating a guide to growth for any company, by plainly representing how it is perceived by the people within a specific/particular stakeholder group.

The RepTrak™ methodology is a great tool for helping companies better understand stakeholder sentiment and expectation in what has globally become the reputation economy in that it allows companies to analyse among other considerations, whether they’re perceived as trustworthy and whether they’re likely to be given the benefit of the doubt in case of crisis. In the Reputation economy as much as 70% to 80% of a company’s market value can be reliant on intangible assets such as reputation, meaning that any significant damage to a company’s reputation could have financial consequences.

The results are remarkably tangible, despite the ephemeral nature of their variables. The study is of considerable importance in the gauging of the minds of the South African general public, specifically allowing us to understand how consumers perceive and rate corporations, allowing them to look at what’s important to stakeholders as well as expectations stakeholders place on corporations operating within the South African economic landscape.