Abstract

To enhance organisational reputation, entrepreneurs are frequently put in the centre of attention. Particularly social entrepreneurs, who combine pro-social and entrepreneurial identities, often represent their organisations. Yet, we know little about how the presentation of a leader influences organisational reputation. Results of a 2 × 2 × 2 pre-registered experiment indicate that a leader-centred communication barely influences the stakeholders’ perceptions. However, stakeholders have a significantly better perception of a social enterprise that presents a leader with salient society-oriented character traits (versus business-oriented character traits). This study contributes to social entrepreneurship and reputation research and reveals new insights for practice.

摘要

为了提高组织声誉，企业家经常成为人们关注的焦点。特别是社会企业家，他们结合了亲社会和企业家的身份，经常代表他们的组织。然而，我们对领导者的表现如何影响组织声誉知之甚少。2  × 2 × 2 预注册实验的结果表明，以领导者为中心的沟通几乎不会影响利益相关者的看法。然而，利益相关者对社会企业的看法要好得多，因为社会企业的领导者具有显着的面向社会的性格特征（相对于面向商业的性格特征）。这项研究有助于社会企业家精神和声誉研究，并揭示了实践的新见解。