Stakeholder engagement to replace traditional activities in Reputation Management System: insights from Ukrainian food processing companies

Abstract

Engaging stakeholders in reputation management processes in the digital economy, including through the use of their activity on the Internet and social networks, is a way to reduce the irrational reputation-support activity of the company’s management and staff. Given the empirical research data (sociological survey) on the Ukrainian food processing companies, the article analyzes stakeholder engagement to replace traditional activities of the company’s management and personnel in the reputation management system. As a result, the author’s hypothesis was proved that the natural development (increasing the maturity level) of the Reputation Management System (RMS) takes place towards a gradual transfer of reputation management functions from managers to enterprise stakeholders, that is, the traditional reputation activity of the company’s management and personnel is being replaced by stakeholder engagement. It is also proved that the level of development of the reputation management organizational system (organizational preconditions) should be high, but aimed not so much at ensuring the activity of the enterprise management and personnel to maintain its reputation, but rather at the involving stakeholders’ delegated to manage the company reputation.