Reputiology: what is it?

Sergey V. GORIN  (Cand.Econ.Sci., the founder and the head Moscow Research group of reputiology, the founder and the editor-in-chief of the journal  Reputiology)

Reputation studies, which the authors has been conducting since 2002, prove convincingly that different scientific concepts approach reputation as an instrument for implementation of their goals, while no complex system of knowledge has been formed, making reputation the major subject of studies. Science considers reputation as an object of studies from different viewpoints (managerial, legal, psychological, social and more). Different notions close to reputation, such as "image", "goodwill" and more are used in the theory of management and in practice to describe intangible assets making an integral part of the organization.

Reputation refers to phenomena of the surrounding world, which we are trying to cognize. From a philosophic point of view, a man is able to cognize the surrounding world, however it is a common knowledge that philosophers differ in their opinion on the extent of this cognition. Cognition theory, epistemology, has been forming in ages, sometimes studying and sometimes anticipating practical experience, it affirms that the initial form and source of knowledge for a human being are sensations and perception.

Reputation as a phenomenon of the objective world deserves special attention, which we can find even at the infancy of human civilization in the Pham's antique mythology, i.e., rumors, reputation personification. Since personification means endowment of an animal, natural event or social structure with human features, in this case we deals with the human desire to relate the observed event with an allegedly mythical essence, such approach is typical of the early period of the contemporary civilization development.

Necessity to study reputation as a phenomenon of the surrounding world, in our opinion, requires formation of a special field of knowledge and verification of some major definitions. We can single out the following component elements in the notion of "corporate reputation": business reputation, social reputation, political reputation, professional reputation and more. From an economic viewpoint, business reputation is of the most interest to the company, since this is public opinion about it in the business environment. The essence of business reputation as an economic category is the fact that it is a particular case of reputation in general, and may be either positive or negative. To be a carrier of business reputation may be any individually defined subject of business: an organization, an enterprise, a working individual citizen. In our opinion, defining business reputation of an organization it would be expedient to combine two aspects expressing its essence: 1) the fact that it is a general opinion, which has formed in the business sphere, and 2) the fact that it can yield an excess profit. Therefore, in our opinion, business reputation of an organization means the common opinion about qualities, merits and demerits of the organization in the business sphere, which determines attitude thereto on the part of the environment and may yield profit in excess of standards.

All the above required that we introduce a new notion, i.e. reputiology. Reputiology is a science that studies regularities in formation and management of corporate reputation of organizations and individual business reputation of private persons. Reputiology (from English — reputation or Latin Logos – knowledge) is an applied branch of knowledge on corporate reputation brought by S.V. Gorin into scientific usage. The authors proved theoretical foundations of reputatiology at different international conferences and published them in the press.

Thus, the necessity to form a new field of scientific knowledge is determined by the needs of practice. Reputatiology is an applied field of scientific knowledge of reputation, basing on the law, management and business accounting. Reputatiology studies the laws of formation and management of the reputation of legal entities and physical persons and investigates into reputation as a phenomenon of the surrounding world in its diversity. The purpose of reputatiology reduces to formation of an integral idea of reputation as an economical and legal category, so that economic entities could use it in practice.

To study reputation and develop reputatiology a Research Group of Reputatiology was formed in Moscow in 2004 of scientists and researchers.The purpose of creation - an all-round reputatiology development as new scientific direction and research of features of management by corporate reputation in Russia. At present the group includes 15 people. Results of work for 2004-2008 are reflected in 5 monographs, 20 articles and materials of work of 12 conferences.

According to studies, application by organizations of marketing approach to management at the emerging markets (Russia, China) requires serious allowances. For example, comparison of the Russian people opinions concerning business reputation with the common opinion on the corporate reputation in the USA testify to a material difference, which proves narrowness in application of the classic methods of marketing reputation management. For example, work with journalists, which forms a basis of public relations, is low-efficient, according to our studies, since only 1% of respondents believe journalists, i.e., information transmission via these channels is low-efficient and causes negativism. Conducted studies also prove that some methods of the business reputation management worked out in the countries with well-developed market economy, cannot be applied in Russia so far, mainly due to unstable business practice and low business culture.

Contrary to reputation management, reputatiology is not restricted to a managerial approach to consideration of the corporate reputation. Management of corporate reputation is the most important, but not the only line of reputatiology. In our opinion, special principles of the corporate reputation management at the emerging markets (Russia, China) are as follows:

- objective of achieving a final practical result, this principle means that reputation management should be only a theoretical task, moreover, the purpose of reputation management is to obtain a concrete practical result, for example, profit earning for a profit-making company;

- dependency on the past and consideration of the organization's basic strategies: this principle means that reputation management rests on the previous activities of the organization and major implemented strategies in the activities and should not contradict them;

- combination of the prospective, current and operative management: this principle implies a rational combination and logic inter-relation of different kinds of management to attain a final optimal practical result from the reputation management;

- monitoring of the level of business reputation: this principle means that reputation management should base on a system of regular durable observations in space and time of the level of the organization's reputation aimed to prevent critical situations dangerous for the organization.

We see the following prospects for reputatiology development:

- correction of the system of views and methods of reputatiology proceeding from opinions of the leading scientists in the filed of reputation;

- deeper research in the filed of corporate reputation at the emerging markets (Russia, China);

- cooperation with the foremost world institutes engaging in reputation studies and more.

Research group of reputiology

Research group of reputiology (reputatiology) is generated from scientists and experts-researchers in 2004 in Moscow (Russia). The purpose of creation - an all-around development reputatiology as new scientific direction and research of features of management by corporate reputation in Russia.

Reputiology is a science that studies regularities in formation and management of corporate reputation of organizations and private persons. Reputiology (from English — reputation or Latin Logos – knowledge) is an applied branch of knowledge on corporate reputation brought by the GorinS.V. into scientific usage. The purpose of reputiology is to shape a holistic notion on corporate reputation as an economic-legal category with a view of its practical application by economic entities.

The founder and the head – Gorin Sergey V. Cand.Econ.Sci. the author more than 100 scientific and studies, including 5 monographies.

 Results of work for 2004-2010 are reflected in 4 monographies, 20 article and materials of work of 12 conferences.

We shall be glad to any offers on joint researches. Also are interested in any forms of co-operation with foreign colleagues in the field of studying reputation.

Contacts:

Dr. Sergey V. Gorin 

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