These days, many companies are getting interested in the corporate identity and the corporate reputation as a tool which may enhance the competitive value of a company in Korea. Although there are many evidences that corporate identity influences corp...
These days, many companies are getting interested in the corporate identity and the corporate reputation as a tool which may enhance the competitive value of a company in Korea. Although there are many evidences that corporate identity influences corporate reputation, the studies of the corporate identity and the corporate reputation have been researched not so rigorously but merely to the level of propositions so far in Korea. Also a few studies conducted are mainly focused on some major companies.
This study is about relationship among the corporate identity, identification and the corporate reputation, and especially is focused on three department stores in Korea.
Corporate identity is used to distinguish the different components of corporate identity and to show how the identities of corporate differ from each other. And corporate identity creates identification. Stakeholders who identify strongly with companies are more likely to show a supportive attitude toward them and to make decisions that are consistent with the company’s objectives. Corporate reputation is also very important term with corporate identity and identification. Corporate reputation is the overall estimation in which a company is held by its constituents, and a respected reputation should enhance the wellbeing of any company. Hence this study is attempted to establish the systematic definition of the department store identity and what corporate identity components influence corporate reputation through mediated consumer identification. After all this study is examined the structural relationship among these concepts.
The subjects of this study are the three major Korean department stores (Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai) and four stakeholders (employee, consumer, investor, journalist). To find out the components of corporate identity for department store, this study is conducted several steps which are literature review, experts’ survey, pretest so that I could find out nine corporate identity components: Corporate idea and value, corporate vision and mission, product and service quality, corporate social responsibility, employee behavior, financial performance, advertising, architecture atmosphere, logo and symbol.
In this study, there are four research questions. The following research questions were posed:
RQ1 : Are there perception gap among employees, consumers, investors, and journalists who estimate the identities of three department stores?
RQ2 : How can the relationship between corporate identity of department stores and identification be described among each stakeholders?
RQ3 : How can the relationship among corporate identity of department stores, identification, and corporate reputation be described among each stakeholders?
RQ4 : What is the structural relationship among corporate identity, identification, and corporate reputation in three department stores?
Four results have been found from the research. First, there are significant differences with four stakeholders estimate the identity of three department stores. Internal stakeholder evaluate better than external stakeholder about their corporate identity. Second, corporate identity has a significant influence on identification. Third, corporate identity has influence on identification. Recognized identification also has a significant influence on corporate reputation so that identification also plays a role as a mediating variable. Lastly, there are a significant causal relationship among corporate identity, identification, and corporate reputation one another. As a matter of fact the results show that the benefits of a strong and positive corporate identity could boost identification and corporate reputation.
In past, the corporate identity represents a relatively new but crucially powerful tool through which management scholars, practitioners and advisers can regard and respond to important strategic concerns encountered by corporate characteristic. The most company has their own identity, but they need to work their identity systematically and strategically. And identity management that accomplishes both is remarkably effective and is also long-lasting. Because an important benefit is emphasis on the company as integral employees as well as to other stakeholders, and they are to feel positively towards the corporate or they are likely to identify to the corporate when the corporate works for their identity management well. Also systematical and strategic corporate identity management can have influence on corporate reputation. In general, the more respected corporate reputation, the more likely negative elements or negative stories about the company will be edited or filtered out of the stakeholders’ consciousness.
I hope that more comprehensive studies on the related field will be conducted continuously in the future.