Measuring leader reputation within the South African business context : a study in two financial industry organisations

M.A. (Strategic Communication)In today’s increasingly competitive business environments, one of the greatest challenges that continue to face organisations extends beyond financial performance, market share, and attracting and retaining employees and customers, to now include the reputation of the individual that heads up or leads the organisation – in most instances the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The leader’s reputation has become increasingly important for a number of reasons, one of which includes customers making purchasing and contracting decisions based on the reputation of the CEO and no longer on the products and services offered by organisations only. It is no surprise then that leaders who have a solid leadership stature, reputation or ‘personal brand’, attract more customers. The CEO’s reputation impacts on all aspects of organisational existence – from internal communication to branding, from customer service to the external image and reputation and media exposure. The aim of this study was to develop a measurement scale with which to measure leader reputation in the South African business context by using two high profile organisations in the financial industry. In order to do so, a conceptually relevant set of leader reputation criteria were developed from a comprehensive review of available literature. Eight key dimensions of leader reputation were developed, which served as the framework for measuring leader reputation within the South African business context, namely; Individual Accountability, People Alignment, Brand Citizenship, Communication Competence, People Management, Personal Charisma, Ethical Leadership and Adaptability. This study adopted a quantitative research design which used a survey questionnaire, descriptive analysis and multivariate research techniques. The survey questionnaire was completed by 122 respondents from two financial industry organisations. The results of the statistical analysis suggest that the survey questionnaire was a reliable and valid instrument, and that there are very few differences between various subsets (based on biographical data) of the sample