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Top1. Introduction
Corporate reputation is a significant competitive advantage for a firm because the competitors can’t copy this asset. A firm with strong positive corporate reputation can achieve important financial and non-financial incentives (Feldman, 2014; Walsh et al., 2009). A good corporate reputation has been shown to positively impact on financial performance (e.g. Fombrun and Shanley, 1990 ; Pham and Tran, 2020; Gangi et al, 2020; Ansong and Agyemang, 2016), as well as on different constructs, such as customer retention (e.g. Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998), employee retention (e.g. Ali et al, 2020) and positive word of mouth behaviour (e.g. Groenland, 2002). A company’s reputation may serve as a quality promise for customers. This should push companies to continually focus on serving their customers with high quality products and services with integrity and honesty. If executed well, it should reduce the customer’s transaction costs and perceived risk and encourage greater customer loyalty, functioning as a formidable barrier to market entry (Rose and Thomsen, 2004; Heinberg et al, 2018). Moreover, Companies with very good reputations will stimulate positive word of mouth, while companies with very poor reputations may stimulate negative word of mouth (Walsh et al, 2009). Money et al. (2017) stated that management researchers and practitioners are becoming interested toward the concept of corporate reputation. Therefore, modern corporations try to achieve a positive corporate reputation which is a sustainable competitive advantage that differentiates a firm and creates a reliable image for the relevant stakeholders. Achieving a positive corporate reputation is not a simple task and firms devote a great investment and efforts to build a strong corporate identity that can lead to positive corporate reputation (Walsh and Beatty, 2007; Walsh et al, 2017). Corporate reputation is vital for the success and survival of every firm in this era of competition because numerous choices are available to a customer and brand switching is very common now a days. The present condition of private sector firms in Bangladesh is not so healthy and firms are struggling to maintain their customer base especially in telecommunications and banking sectors. Several notable firms have closed their operations in the country or faced with serious difficulty e.g. Citycell, Airtel, Farmers bank etc. Therefore, examining the performance of firms on corporate reputation dimensions and its consequences is vital in the present context.
Moreover, corporations often get corporate recognition awards due to their managerial excellence, operational excellence, and for fulfilling corporate social responsibilities. Firms always make publicity of their corporate recognition awards with the motive of building a strong corporate reputation and identity in the market.
Previous studies have identified antecedents and building blocks of corporate reputation and examined the consequences of corporate reputation from numerous contexts (Feldman et al, 2014 ; Walsh et al, 2009; Wang et al., 2003; Fombrun and Rindova, 2000, Confente et al, 2019; Love et al, 2017; Hasan and Yun,2017; Swoboda and Hirschmann, 2017). However, there is no study on antecedents, consequences and elements of corporate reputations from the perspectives of Bangladesh. Therefore, the present study will be conducted to fill this research gap. Moreover, there is a dearth of research work on the impact of corporate recognition award on corporate reputation dimensions. Therefore, the present study has aimed at filling this vacuum by answering the following research questions: Does corporate recognition award influence corporate reputation? Does corporate recognition award influence corporate reputation consequences? Does corporate reputation and its dimensions influence corporate reputation consequences? Does corporate reputation mediates between corporate recognition award and customer satisfaction and loyalty?