Effects of voluntary activities of university students on reputation management strategies of universities: Sample of public university

Abstract

Reputation and reputation management, referred to as evaluations related to organizations, are a compilation of perceptual descriptions that are in relation with nearly all of the concepts included within public relations field at national and international levels, that are impossible to be characterized independently from the notion of society they exist in, that are determined by West centered frameworks, whose conceptual structures change relatively at social and cultural levels, and that are included in social sciences disciplines which have the nature to create the agenda especially after 1990s. In the era of change where preferences, tastes, needs, desires, and daily routines change, reputation and reputation management are considered as a prescription including crucial elements in reaching target groups and having the nature of a key to institutional approach whose conceptual framework cannot be drawn by sharp lines. In today's cyclical structure in which every element the institutions face together with their competitors change rapidly and the process of decision making turns into a complex structure, the efforts of interpreting the complex structures that exceed the national level and tend to institutionalize at global scale have been an issue of discussion questioned, framed, and followed by many social sciences disciplinary, from sociology to anthropology, from marketing to communication sciences. In this manner, reputation and reputation management concepts including emotional and rational aspects are descriptions of information and opinions of individuals with relation to institutions and organizations as well as values. In today's world, in which we experience the age of information, it is impossible to reach the speed and density of communication networks, basic marketing strategies, the fact of globalization, every doctrine, concept and thesis change radically, the reputation and reputation management concepts take over a key role in enabling the institutions to make the highest level of profit, to increase recognition and productivity in terms of products and services they introduce, and they are considered as long term processes composing the whole of current and potential perceptions. The thesis of reputation and reputation management, forming the basic subject of the study and considered as successor of Public Relations disciplinary, have been studies within the scope of public institutions, especially Universities providing Higher Education, questioned within the framework of culture, intercultural communication and organizational culture concepts and theories, and examined in parallel with Public Relations context. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd