Corporate Identity and Reputation
Peer reviewed
Scollr summary
What this paper is about
It is found that CEOs engaging in digital activism is a double-edged sword from an organizational point of view and may positively affect corporate reputation through thought leadership and increased popularity and authenticity but poses the risk of financial loss, strategic misalignment between the individual and organizational communication strategies, and additional surface for social media firestorms.
Full abstract
Read the full abstract
Social media constitutes a digital arena for public debates and steady interchange of issues relevant to society. Commercial organizations, too, engage in political, social, or moral debates on social media. Here, they are increasingly represented by individual proxies such as CEOs instead of their corporate brand. This study aims to investigate hitherto little-understood dynamics between the role of CEO digital activism and corporate reputation. To this end, we conducted qualitative interviews with CEOs and other executives to explore this emerging phenomenon. We find that CEOs engaging in digital activism is a double-edged sword from an organizational point of view. It may positively affect corporate reputation through thought leadership and increased popularity and authenticity. At the same time, CEO digital activism poses the risk of financial loss, strategic misalignment between the individual and organizational communication strategies, and additional surface for social media firestorms. Based on these findings, we contribute a theoretical framework of CEO digital activism to information systems (IS) research that integrates with previously known dimensions of corporate reputation management. Furthermore, our study informs practitioners about strategic trade-offs that need to be considered when engaging in digital activism campaigns.
Direct answer
What can I do from this paper page?
Use this page to scan "CEO Digital Activism and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation Management" quickly: start with the summary and abstract, then check the authors, source, topics, and related papers. From here, open Scollr to follow Corporate Identity and Reputation research, save the paper, or map adjacent work.
Research areas
Follow related topics
Citation
BibTeX
@article{Marx2026Digital,
title = {CEO Digital Activism and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation Management},
author = {Julian Marx and Felix Brünker and Milad Mirbabaie and Stefan Stieglitz},
journal = {ACM SIGMIS Database the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1145/3822165.3822171},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3822165.3822171}
}FAQ
Using this paper in a discovery workflow
How do I find related work for this paper?
Use the related papers and topic links on this page as starting points. In Scollr, you can also open the paper and build a literature map around its references, citing papers, and related work.
How can I keep up with new Corporate Identity and Reputation research papers?
Follow Corporate Identity and Reputation research in Scollr. New papers from the topic flow into a personalized feed, and you can save useful studies to revisit later.
Can I cite this paper from this page?
This page includes a static BibTeX block for CEO Digital Activism and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation Management. Always verify the DOI, source, and publication details against the publisher record before submitting a manuscript.
Follow this research in Scollr
Follow the topics and authors behind this paper, save useful studies, and build a literature map when you are ready to go deeper.
Get the app