By using social media, corporations can communicate about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the public without having to pass through the gatekeeping function of the news media. However, to what extent can corporations influence the public’s evaluation of their CSR activities with social media activities and if the legacy news media still act as the primary agenda setters when it comes to corporate reputation have not yet been thoroughly analyzed in a digitized media environment. This study addressed this research gap by looking at the effect of CSR communication through Facebook and news media coverage of CSR on corporate reputation in Switzerland. The results of this longitudinal study show that the salience and tone of news media coverage of CSR were positively related to corporate reputation, even though the news media coverage about CSR was predominantly negative. Thus, reputation was still strengthened even in the face of negative publicity. No effect of CSR communication through Facebook on corporate reputation was found. The results suggest that legacy news media still were influential in determining how the public evaluates corporations in the digital age.

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PurposeThis study investigated the reputation of Swiss universities on Twitter. It gives detailed insights on how the reputation of universities was constituted in a digitized media environment.Design/methodology/approachThe reputation of universities was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct with an overarching scientific and corporate dimension. It was measured for academic and societal stakeholders as well as for the media. Tweets about Swiss universities were collected through the Twitter application programming interface (API) and analyzed with a manual content analysis.FindingsAcademic stakeholders had a stronger focus on the scientific dimension of reputation and evaluated universities more positively than societal stakeholders or the news media. The news media were the main source of negative evaluations of universities on Twitter.Research limitations/implicationsThe study showed a dichotomy between the scientific dimension on the one hand, and the corporate dimensions of reputation on the other hand, and thus implies a decoupling of scientific and corporate reputation. However, the findings should be explored beyond Twitter to be more generalizable.Practical implicationsThe news media play an important role in the constitution of the scientific and corporate reputation of universities on Twitter. An orientation toward the news media, therefore, remains a promising strategy to manage reputation.Social implicationsThe news media are an important source of information for academic and societal stakeholders. Thus, they can contribute to integrating academic and societal stakeholder groups by producing a common base of knowledge of higher education and its organizations.Originality/valueThis is the first study to comprehensively measure the reputation of universities on Twitter.