Exploring the role of online consumer empowerment in reputation building: Research questions and hypotheses

Working consumers: Co-creation of brand identity, consumer identity and brand community identity

“…Brand reputation derives from the perspective of external stakeholders (Basdeo, Smith, Grimm, Rindova, & Derfus, 2006) or wider audiences (Walsh & Beatty, 2007) and is an aggregate set of pubic judgments whose valence may change over time (Siano, Vollero, & Palazzo, 2011). Reputation also incorporates assessments of the brand's positioning and salient characteristics (Veloutsou & Moutinho, 2009).…”

“…Research, however, also acknowledges that many stakeholders contribute to how audiences perceive brand reputation (Ruzzier & de Chernatony, 2013;Walsh & Beatty, 2007). Empowered consumers play a role in reputation building, especially in contexts in which consumer interaction is greater (Siano et al, 2011). In these cases, a brand's value is beyond the tangible and intangible offer components and contains experiences co-created with consumers (Payne et al, 2009).…”

“…First, they can express their opinions and signal information about the brands, including their assessments of and experiences with the brands (Siano et al, 2011). Here, consumers are an uncontrolled source of information that shapes the reputation of the brand.…”

A multidimensional analysis of the information sources construct and its relevance for destination image formation

“…Therefore, it is important to account for how such content contributes to not only the creation of but also changes to a destination image. In particular, several studies note that negative consumer comments in Web 2.0 spaces spread quickly, with great potential for damaging the image and reputation of a brand (e.g., Siano, Vollero, & Palazzo, 2011). Because UGC in a tourism setting means that tourists send instantly updated, real-time information about any problem, deception, or situation experienced at the destination (Munar, 2011), the potential negative impact is nearly incalculable; it is difficult to measure the consequences of a negative video or a terrible review.…”

Financial Performance and On-Line Reputation: Empirical Evidence from a Random Sample of European Food Industry

“…Consumers are able to obtain information on potential suppliers and products, but they can also create new content on the Internet which may affect the perception of other consumers and stakeholders of the respective company. Negative comments on the Internet can quickly and seriously damage the image and reputation of the brand (In: Siano et al 2011), eWOM (electronic word of mouth) is an important part of online reputation. According to Henning-Thurau (2004), this form of communication may be defined as any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customers about a product or company via the Internet.…”