Under What Conditions Do the News Media Influence Corporate Reputation? The Roles of Media Dependency and Need for Orientation

Previous research has assumed uniform effects of the news media's influence on corporate reputation. This study uses theories of media system dependency and ‘need for orientation’ to examine contingent conditions affecting the degree of the media influence. Our integrated measurement approach gauging media coverage and stakeholder evaluations on the same dimensions of reputation furthered the methodological approach to this research area. We found that stakeholders depend more on the news media to learn about reputation dimensions that are difficult to directly experience or observe and for which the news media are the main source of information.