Corporate patriotism as a source of corporate reputation: a comparative multi-stakeholder approach

This paper aims to define the concept of corporate patriotism and clarify its relationship with corporate reputation in the context of multi-stakeholder engagements. It develops a scale to measure corporate patriotism. It then determines the relative importance of corporate patriotism to the perceptions of corporate reputation in four key stakeholder relationships – consumer, purchasing, employment, individual share investment and community relationships. Our research evidence shows that the stakeholder relationship context moderates the role of corporate patriotism as a dimension of corporate reputation. The results further show significant differences in the role of national identity in organisation–stakeholder relationships. Specifically, corporate patriotism is more important for the reputation of a company as an employer and local citizen than as a provider of products and services. Marketing managers should consider the reputational advantage stemming from corporate patriotism in the design of multi-stakeholder corporate communication strategies.