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Reputation management by Chinese universities: Primary profile and comparative features
Author(s) -
Christensen Tom,
Gavrila S. Gabriela,
Ma Liang,
Ramirez Francisco O.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12679
Subject(s) - reputation , reputation management , performative utterance , globalization , public relations , sociology , higher education , political science , social science , law , linguistics , philosophy
In this study, we analyse data from 176 Chinese universities to examine the use of reputation symbols on official websites. We find that Chinese universities prefer professional and performative symbols more than moral symbols. Reputation symbols are mainly observed in teaching, research, history and strategy categories, whereas their use in internal operations and the external environment is limited. A comparison with samples from the United States and Nordic countries indicates that their universities differ in the use of reputation symbols, with relatively high emphasis on professional and moral symbols, respectively. This difference can be attributed to divergent national cultures, higher education regimes and globalization. Here, we discuss the implications of our findings on reputation management by universities in a globalized world.