mapping the relationship between reputation andcorporate social responsibility in the banking sector: acomprehensive literature review

In recent years, an increasing number of scholars and practitioners have becomeinterested in the concepts of Corporate Reputation (CR) and Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR), examining them fromdifferent perspectives using severalapproaches.Some studies of the banking industry have emphasised the benefits ofpositive CR in achieving competitive advantages.Other studies have investigated the concept of CSR in the banking sector, exploring above all how CSR impactseconomic, financial and non-financial performance and focusing on the adoptionand disclosure of such initiatives (Callado-Munoz and Utrero-Gonzales,2011:755). However, this line ofinquiry is incomplete.In recent years, a growing number ofstudies have explored the relationshipbetween CR and CSR in non-financial sectors, but few studies have investigatedthe relationship in the banking industry. Although academic researches frequentlyconclude that CSR is an important reputational driver, Baldarelli and Gigli (2011)point out that there is a lack of theoryand empirical evidence regarding the linkbetween CR and CSR, highlighting the need for further analysis. The academicdebate has so far failed to answer how responsibility and reputation interact.In the case of the banking industry, where there is no well-established tradition ofinvestigating either reputation or CSR, itis even more important to clarify therelationship between these two concepts. This may give rise to useful insightswith implications for management. Thisstudy aims to contribute to a betterunderstanding of the complex debate on these issues by developing an in-depthanalysis of the extant banking literature. Thus, our literature review has thefollowing aims: a) to investigate the links between CR and CSR in the bankingindustry; b) to critically explore thecharacteristics and methodologies of theprimary reputational and CSR measures; andc) to suggest an agenda for futureresearch.The paper is structured as follows: the next section explainsthe method; section 3reviews current notions ofthe relationship between CR and CSR in the bankingindustry; section 4 offers an overview ofthe primary methods used to measurereputation and CSR; and section 5 discusses our findings and proposes a futureresearch agenda.