Keeping up Appearances: Reputational Threat and Impression Management after Social Movement Boycotts

Reputational threats occur when stakeholders publicize organizational misdeeds and pressure the organization to rectify or take responsibility.

“Reputational threats can occur when stakeholders recognize organizational misdeeds and bring those actions to light in an effort to pressure the organization to rectify its actions or take responsibility for its transgressions”

Certifications reveal otherwise hidden organizational attributes and provide assurance that the organization is trustworthy and aligned with socially prescribed values.

“By revealing information about organizational attributes that would otherwise be hidden from external audiences (King, Lenox, and Terlaak, 2005), certifications provide assurance that the organization is trustworthy and that its actions are aligned with socially prescribed values and actions (McDonnell and King, 2013).”

Positive organizational claims may be effectively used to deflect criticism or direct attention away from a reputational threat.

“Recent work has argued that positive organizational claims may be effectively used to deflect criticism or to direct attention away from a reputational threat”

Company size is positively correlated with the likelihood of environmental disclosure and the number of prosocial claims made by a firm.

“prior research has found company size to be positively correlated with the likelihood of environmental disclosure (Reid and Toffel, 2009;Lewis, Walls, and Dowell, 2014) and, more generally, the number of prosocial claims made by a firm (McDonnell and King, 2013)”