Exploring the Impact of Corporate Reputation on Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Corporate reputation is known to facilitate new customer acquisition. How reputation affects already established customer relationships, however, has not been investigated in detail. Using a structural equation modelling approach and a German consumer sample, the paper is aimed at investigating the relationship between reputational perceptions of consumers, their satisfaction, and loyalty. The findings show that investing in corporate reputation is a means to augment both, satisfaction and loyalty, thereby stabilizing corporate relationships to consumers. These results stress the strategic importance of reputation as consumer loyalty is considered a pre-economic performance measure and important success factor of the firm.