A definition of reputation is the socially transmitted belief of third parties, namely their attitudes toward socially desirable behaviour, be it cooperation, reciprocity, or compliance. Reputation plays a crucial role in the evolution of these behaviours: reputation transmission allows socially desirable behaviour to spread. Rather than concentrating on the property only, the cognitive model of reputation accounts also for the transmissibility and therefore for the propagation of reputation.
Most recently, the cognitive nature of reputation was substantially ignored. This has caused a misunderstanding of the effective role of reputation in a number of real life realms. Reputation plays a crucial role in the evolution of these behaviours.
A recommendation can be extremely precise. On the contrary, rumours whether true or false are often revealing and may contain hints both to actual facts and conflicts taking place.
Gossip can also be used as a tag only when gossiping about unreachable icons, like royalty or celebrities, useful only to show the gossiper belongs to the group of the informed ones.
The statement that someone is a cheater is intrinsically a reputation spreading act, because on the one hand it refers to a common opinion that may not necessarily be true. The very act of saying “it is said” is self assessing, since it provides at least one factual occasion when that something is said, exactly for the fact the person who says so the gossiper, while appearing to spread the saying a bit further, may actually be in the act of initiating it against the gossipee.
Consider a communication between you and someone you hold in trust or fiduciary. You are seeking a comfort level on the potential for danger or success in a financial transaction with another party and seek affirmation of credibility from your financial advisor.
The advice could fall under one of the following three categories:
Your advisor believes the party is or is not good for the transaction in object;
Your advisor believes another rumour or set of circumstances and believes the potential partner is or is not good for the transaction in object;
Your advisor believes in an undefined set of circumstances, there is a belief the potential partner is or is not good for the transaction in object;
There is care taken to maintain the possible levels of truth that your advisor declares, what if he is lying? Your advisor believes the party is trustworthy or reputable, what if he is wrong? It does become evident that there is a decreasing order of responsibility. The fiduciary analogy has some weakness as the nature of the relationship requires that only the truth be told, but certainly gives way to discussion of some merit and the strength and source of the rumour.
Reputation is the result of what you do, what you say, and what other people say about you. From the very moment someone is targeted by the community, his or her life will change whether he or she believes it or not. Reputation has become the more powerful equivalent of a scarlet letter sewed to one’s clothes. It is more powerful because it may not even be perceived by the individual to whom it sticks, and consequently it is out of the individual’s power to control and manipulate.
More simply speaking for those who want a working definition of reputation, reputation is the sum of impressions held others “reputation is in the “eyes of the beholder”. It need not be just a company’s reputation but could be the reputation of an individual, country, brand, political party or industry. The key point in reputation is not what the leadership insists but what others perceive it to be. For a company, its reputation is how esteemed it is in the eyes of its employees, customers and the list goes on.
