ZUSAMMENFASSUNG | OMS
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 2
Digital Corporate Communication and Reputation..............................................2
Back to the Roots: The Applications of Communication Science Theories in
Strategic Communication Research.....................................................................4
Strategic Communication: Defining the Field and Its Contribution to Research
and Practice........................................................................................................ 6
2 LEGITIMACY......................................................................................................... 8
Toward a Theory of Social Judgements of Organizations; The Case of
Legitimacy, Reputation and Status......................................................................8
.......................................................................................................................... 11
Journalism and Business Legitimacy..................................................................12
Finding the Tipping Point: When Heterogeneous Evaluations in Social Media
Converge and Influence Organizational Legitimacy..........................................14
3 VISIBILITY........................................................................................................... 17
Buffering Negative News: Individual-level Effects of Company Visibility, Tone,
and Pre-existing Attitudes on Corporate Reputation..........................................17
CSR Communication, Corporate Reputation, and the Role of the News Media as
an Agenda-Setter in the Digital Age..................................................................21
4 FRAMING............................................................................................................ 23
Political framing across disciplines: Evidence from 21st-century experiments..23
Framing in a Fractured Democracy: Impacts of Digital Technology on Ideology,
Power and Cascading Network Activation.........................................................24
Figurative Framing: Shaping Public Discourse Through Metaphor, Hyperbole,
and Irony........................................................................................................... 29
5 ISSUE ARENAS................................................................................................... 31
Towards a more dynamic stakeholder model: acknowledging multiple issue
arenas............................................................................................................... 31
Politicization of corporations and their environment: Corporations’ social license
to operate in a polarized and mediatized society..............................................37
6 RISK AND CRISIS................................................................................................ 41
Situational Theory of Crisis: Situational Crisis Communication Theory and
Corporate Reputation........................................................................................ 41
Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Research. How Information Generation,
Consumption, and Transmission Influence Communication Processes and
Outcomes.......................................................................................................... 43
Revisiting social-mediated crisis communication model: The Lancôme
regenerative crisis after the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement...........................45
1
,1 INTRODUCTION
Digital Corporate Communication and Reputation
Colleoni (2023)
Core Argument
Colleoni redefines corporate reputation in the digital era by emphasizing that
it emerges from continuous, multi-actor communication processes rather
than from top-down corporate narratives. The paper argues that in the context of
social media and algorithmic visibility, reputation is a networked, co-
constructed, and dynamic outcome of interactions between organizations,
audiences, and digital platforms. This perspective extends traditional reputation
theory by integrating sociomateriality and communication constitutive of
organization (CCO) approaches.
Key Concepts
Corporate reputation – a collectively shared evaluation of an
organization’s credibility and trustworthiness, co-created through
communicative practices(cognitive+emotional)
Digital corporate communication – ongoing interactions between
organizations and audiences mediated by digital platforms, algorithms,
and affordances.
Sociomateriality – the idea that digital infrastructures (algorithms, data,
interfaces) actively shape communicative processes and outcomes.
Communicative constitution of organization (CCO) – theoretical
approach positing that organizations and their reputations are constituted
through communication.
Visibility regimes – structures of attention and amplification (e.g.,
algorithms, engagement metrics) that determine what content gains
prominence online.
Main Points
Reputation is no longer built exclusively through corporate control but
through distributed agency involving users, influencers, activists, and
automated systems.
Digital media environments blur boundaries between organizational
voice and public voice, creating polyphonic reputations.
Algorithms act as reputation intermediaries, shaping which narratives
gain traction.
Communication becomes performative: each post, interaction, or
omission contributes to the organization’s perceived legitimacy and
reputation.
2
, The paper argues for moving beyond a managerial perspective to
understand digital reputation as an emergent, processual, and
relational phenomenon.
Reputation management must therefore integrate listening,
engagement, and adaptive participation rather than focusing solely
on message dissemination.
Core Insight
In the digital era, corporate reputation is a networked, communicatively
co-constructed process shaped by human and algorithmic actors alike.
Visibility and legitimacy depend not only on what organizations say, but on how
digital infrastructures and publics reframe and circulate those messages.
3
, Back to the Roots: The Applications of Communication
Science Theories in Strategic Communication Research
Lock (2020)
Core Argument
Lock’s article critiques the lack of theoretical grounding in much of current
strategic communication research and calls for a return to foundational
communication science theories. The paper argues that many studies use
“strategic communication” as an applied label without engaging with core
theories about communication processes, effects, and audiences. Lock proposes
a framework to reconnect strategic communication with its theoretical
roots, ensuring scientific rigor and cumulative knowledge building.
Key Concepts
Strategic communication – purposeful communication by organizations
to achieve goals; here discussed as a scientific field that must be grounded
in communication theory.
Communication science theories – models explaining message
production, dissemination, interpretation, and effects (e.g., agenda-setting,
framing, cultivation, uses and gratifications).
Applied vs. theoretical research – Lock distinguishes between practice-
driven studies and theoretically informed inquiry that advances disciplinary
knowledge.
Conceptual clarity – the need to precisely define and differentiate terms
like communication, strategy, and management.
Main Points
Lock identifies a “theory-practice gap” in strategic communication, where
the field has expanded empirically but drifted from communication science
foundations.
Many strategic communication scholars borrow frameworks from
management or marketing without adapting or integrating them into
communication theory.
The author highlights how agenda-setting, framing, two-step flow,
and systems theory remain vital for understanding contemporary
strategic communication phenomena.
Lock proposes a taxonomy of communication science theories that can be
applied across different domains of strategic communication (corporate,
political, crisis, etc.).
The article emphasizes that theory integration strengthens both academic
legitimacy and the field’s ability to inform practice.
Lock calls for systematic theory application and for journals and
educators to promote theory-based work as the standard for disciplinary
advancement.
4
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 2
Digital Corporate Communication and Reputation..............................................2
Back to the Roots: The Applications of Communication Science Theories in
Strategic Communication Research.....................................................................4
Strategic Communication: Defining the Field and Its Contribution to Research
and Practice........................................................................................................ 6
2 LEGITIMACY......................................................................................................... 8
Toward a Theory of Social Judgements of Organizations; The Case of
Legitimacy, Reputation and Status......................................................................8
.......................................................................................................................... 11
Journalism and Business Legitimacy..................................................................12
Finding the Tipping Point: When Heterogeneous Evaluations in Social Media
Converge and Influence Organizational Legitimacy..........................................14
3 VISIBILITY........................................................................................................... 17
Buffering Negative News: Individual-level Effects of Company Visibility, Tone,
and Pre-existing Attitudes on Corporate Reputation..........................................17
CSR Communication, Corporate Reputation, and the Role of the News Media as
an Agenda-Setter in the Digital Age..................................................................21
4 FRAMING............................................................................................................ 23
Political framing across disciplines: Evidence from 21st-century experiments..23
Framing in a Fractured Democracy: Impacts of Digital Technology on Ideology,
Power and Cascading Network Activation.........................................................24
Figurative Framing: Shaping Public Discourse Through Metaphor, Hyperbole,
and Irony........................................................................................................... 29
5 ISSUE ARENAS................................................................................................... 31
Towards a more dynamic stakeholder model: acknowledging multiple issue
arenas............................................................................................................... 31
Politicization of corporations and their environment: Corporations’ social license
to operate in a polarized and mediatized society..............................................37
6 RISK AND CRISIS................................................................................................ 41
Situational Theory of Crisis: Situational Crisis Communication Theory and
Corporate Reputation........................................................................................ 41
Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Research. How Information Generation,
Consumption, and Transmission Influence Communication Processes and
Outcomes.......................................................................................................... 43
Revisiting social-mediated crisis communication model: The Lancôme
regenerative crisis after the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement...........................45
1
,1 INTRODUCTION
Digital Corporate Communication and Reputation
Colleoni (2023)
Core Argument
Colleoni redefines corporate reputation in the digital era by emphasizing that
it emerges from continuous, multi-actor communication processes rather
than from top-down corporate narratives. The paper argues that in the context of
social media and algorithmic visibility, reputation is a networked, co-
constructed, and dynamic outcome of interactions between organizations,
audiences, and digital platforms. This perspective extends traditional reputation
theory by integrating sociomateriality and communication constitutive of
organization (CCO) approaches.
Key Concepts
Corporate reputation – a collectively shared evaluation of an
organization’s credibility and trustworthiness, co-created through
communicative practices(cognitive+emotional)
Digital corporate communication – ongoing interactions between
organizations and audiences mediated by digital platforms, algorithms,
and affordances.
Sociomateriality – the idea that digital infrastructures (algorithms, data,
interfaces) actively shape communicative processes and outcomes.
Communicative constitution of organization (CCO) – theoretical
approach positing that organizations and their reputations are constituted
through communication.
Visibility regimes – structures of attention and amplification (e.g.,
algorithms, engagement metrics) that determine what content gains
prominence online.
Main Points
Reputation is no longer built exclusively through corporate control but
through distributed agency involving users, influencers, activists, and
automated systems.
Digital media environments blur boundaries between organizational
voice and public voice, creating polyphonic reputations.
Algorithms act as reputation intermediaries, shaping which narratives
gain traction.
Communication becomes performative: each post, interaction, or
omission contributes to the organization’s perceived legitimacy and
reputation.
2
, The paper argues for moving beyond a managerial perspective to
understand digital reputation as an emergent, processual, and
relational phenomenon.
Reputation management must therefore integrate listening,
engagement, and adaptive participation rather than focusing solely
on message dissemination.
Core Insight
In the digital era, corporate reputation is a networked, communicatively
co-constructed process shaped by human and algorithmic actors alike.
Visibility and legitimacy depend not only on what organizations say, but on how
digital infrastructures and publics reframe and circulate those messages.
3
, Back to the Roots: The Applications of Communication
Science Theories in Strategic Communication Research
Lock (2020)
Core Argument
Lock’s article critiques the lack of theoretical grounding in much of current
strategic communication research and calls for a return to foundational
communication science theories. The paper argues that many studies use
“strategic communication” as an applied label without engaging with core
theories about communication processes, effects, and audiences. Lock proposes
a framework to reconnect strategic communication with its theoretical
roots, ensuring scientific rigor and cumulative knowledge building.
Key Concepts
Strategic communication – purposeful communication by organizations
to achieve goals; here discussed as a scientific field that must be grounded
in communication theory.
Communication science theories – models explaining message
production, dissemination, interpretation, and effects (e.g., agenda-setting,
framing, cultivation, uses and gratifications).
Applied vs. theoretical research – Lock distinguishes between practice-
driven studies and theoretically informed inquiry that advances disciplinary
knowledge.
Conceptual clarity – the need to precisely define and differentiate terms
like communication, strategy, and management.
Main Points
Lock identifies a “theory-practice gap” in strategic communication, where
the field has expanded empirically but drifted from communication science
foundations.
Many strategic communication scholars borrow frameworks from
management or marketing without adapting or integrating them into
communication theory.
The author highlights how agenda-setting, framing, two-step flow,
and systems theory remain vital for understanding contemporary
strategic communication phenomena.
Lock proposes a taxonomy of communication science theories that can be
applied across different domains of strategic communication (corporate,
political, crisis, etc.).
The article emphasizes that theory integration strengthens both academic
legitimacy and the field’s ability to inform practice.
Lock calls for systematic theory application and for journals and
educators to promote theory-based work as the standard for disciplinary
advancement.
4
