The Mediation Effect of Corporate Image on the Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility Perception on Corporate Reputation: The Case of Healthcare Employees

Today, corporations undertake a number of responsibilities in order to provide benefits to humanity, the environment and society, beside their usual services and activities. These types of responsibilities are called "corporate social responsibility". It is known that corporate social responsibility creates positive contributions to both the organization and the stakeholders, with which the organization interacts. The concept of corporate social responsibility is defined as a corporation's questioning of its own existence not just in terms of monetary benefits, but also in terms of the services it provides to the society. In this concept, the fundamental idea is based on the scenario where corporations, beside their activities aimed at economic gain, also make efforts to increase the life standards of the society in which they operate, avoid any negative actions which may lead to disruptions in the natural environment and generally develop positive relations with other stakeholders. Corporate reputation, which helps a corporation gain sustainable competitive advantage in order to be able to create value and guarantee the continuation of its own existence, is a factor which not only consists of the corporate image in the eyes of the public, but also of many elements from management and employee quality to financial performance, from product and service quality to corporate social responsibilities and accountability, hence playing a crucial role in the sustainability of business. On the other hand, a well-planned corporate image process gains an organization a high degree of recognizability and a positive reputation. The interaction between a positive image and reputation will lead to satisfaction for customers and employees. Today, the interaction between social responsibility, which is also considered as a strategic corporation initiative, and reputation, is the main focal point of many studies and there is no consensus on the subject. Moving forward from this point, the purpose of this study is to determine, through regression analysis, the mediation function of corporate image within the directive effect of corporate social responsibility perception on corporate reputation, for 398 employees working at four private hospitals in İstanbul. As a result of the analysis, the variable of corporate social responsibility has a statistically significant positive effect on corporate image and corporate reputation. Also it was determined that in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation, corporate image is a partial mediator effective variable.