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Purpose: Recent economic and social instability, which has been increased by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has prompted nonprofit organizations (NPOs), whose role in society has been widely questioned (Türkel et al. 2021), to be considered economically critical to help preserve “the welfare state” in all social strata. Given that the early identification of social needs with similar characteristics to manage them efficiently is their main mission, NPOs provides tools aimed at meeting such needs. Hence, NPOS are primarily focused on fulfilling that social purpose (Crettez et al. 2021). Accordingly, because NPOs do not have profitable objectives (Lee and Zhang 2020) and, therefore, cannot be effectively studied with traditional measurement tools, such as profitability or profit, the existence of alternative instruments that allow an evaluation of their management becomes important; likewise, evaluating whether NPOs have contributed to fulfil the social purposes for which they were created is crucial (Maguregui et al. 2015). Therefore, NPO reputation could be used as an alternative mechanism to reveal how an entity has been managed given that, among other aspects, it reflects the trustworthiness of financial reports (Kitching 2009). Furthermore, this research aims to redefine NPO reputation by investigating the basic elements that compose it to develop a complete definition that allows an evaluation of its influences and its impact on an NPO’s management. Since reputation is an intangible resource (Hume and Hume 2008; Kumi and Copestake 2021; Padanyi and Gainer 2003; Sarstedt and Schloderer 2010) which can help NPOs to achieve a competitive advantage (Buonomo et al. 2020), this paper also intends to provide an instrument to improve management in NPOs, through which an effective response to meet the demands of any stakeholders, both internal and external, can be carried out to foster lasting relationships with them; i.e., an instrument that considers NPO stakeholders main actors when determining NPO strategies (Ivašković 2019).Thus, this work provides a basis for understanding how reputation is formed in NPOs by delving into the elements that configure NPO reputation and providing a full definition, whose primary purpose is to help improve NPO management, thereby complying with the levels of efficiency societies require of this sector. Methodology: This work was carried out through the implementation of a common method in the social sciences, i.e., a systematic review of the relevant literature. This technique facilitates a manual establishment of the search criteria, a characteristic that makes it the most suitable method for our field of study (Ortega-Rodríguez et al. 2020). To properly apply this method, we have followed its 5-step structure (Denyer and Tranfield 2009; Kraus, S., Breier, M. y Dasí-Rodríguez 2020) as follows: (1) formulating the research question; (2) identification of the studies; (3) selection and evaluation of relevant studies; (4) analysis and synthesis; and (5) presenting research results. Step 1: Formulating the research question The main goal of this step is the identification of the research questions (RQs). Accordingly, we can formulate the following research questions: RQ1: What are the main characteristics of NPO reputation? RQ2: What are the factors in which an NPO´s reputation influence? RQ3: What does NPO reputation depend on? Step 2: Identification of the studies The importance of this step is based on the choice of an appropriate literature that allows us to correctly proceed through the successive steps (Sangwa and Sangwan 2018). In the specific case of this work, the two following stages are included. Stage 2.1: Identification of the databases We use two databases that have been used by extant research to create our starting list of studies, WOS and Scopus. Stage 2.2: Keywords and search strings The keywords were identified. On the one hand, Set 1 lists all the terms used to define the nonprofit, or third, sector; on the other hand, Set 2 comprises only reputation and intangible asset as its search terms. The search strings result from the combination of both sets. Step 3: Selection and evaluation of the relevant studies To select only relevant research, the search was limited to “articles”, as document type, that were written in English. Notably, the search was limited to studies published by 2020; that is, there was no initial time restriction. Due to overlaps in the two databases, we identified Scopus papers that had already been identified in WOS and eliminated them. Therefore, after excluding duplicates, we selected only the journals indexed in JCR. Phase 3B: Evaluation of the relevant studies. Here, we used reading titles, abstracts and keywords (TAKs) to exclude all the papers without any relation with the main purpose of our work from the final sample. Step 4: Analysis and synthesis In this phase, a complete reading of the 271 articles selected in the previous phase (Step 3) is carried out to specify those papers closely related to our object of study that would comprise our final sample. Finally, Step 5: Presenting research results. Results: Regarding the 52 papers that make up our final sample, NPO reputation is a complex intangible asset whose definition extends beyond what prior researchers have presented. In other words, NPO reputation is much more than society's perception of the activity carried out by an NPO. Moreover, among all the research contributions made to date, none has exhaustively defined NPO reputation. With reference to the current literature, the study of NPO reputation is clearly incipient and lacks development. Therefore, the research contributions analysed in this SLR verify that the understanding of NPO reputation is insufficient and, in particular, that there is no general and standardized definition that allows us to effectively assess NPO reputation. Thus, the primary objective of our research was this aspect, with the intention of bridging the information gaps in this field of study. Originality: The originality of this paper is based on the attempt to propose a definition of the reputation of nonprofit organizations since, as demonstrated by this systematic review of literature in the nonprofit field, there is no consensus on the definition of this intangible asset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
