Title: Corporate reputation and social media: a game theory approach

Authors: Thierry Warin; Nathalie De Marcellis-Warin; William Sanger; Bertrand Nembot; Venus Hosseinali Mirza

Addresses: HEC Montréal, Côte-Sainte-Catherine Building, 3000 Côte-Sainte-Catherine Road, Montréal, Quebec, H3T 2A7, Canada ' Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7, Canada ' Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7, Canada ' Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7, Canada ' Polytechnique Montréal, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7, Canada

Abstract: Corporate reputation is more and more the most valuable asset for a firm. In this day and age, corporate reputation, although an intangible asset is and will grow as the most essential asset to publicise and also protect. Social media are a formidable tool to publicise a firm's brand and improve its reputation. However, it can also be deadly. Indeed, associated with social media comes the 'buzz', i.e., the means to spread at an unprecedented speed and scale any information being true or false. In this paper, our aim is to propose a game theory approach with both a finite and an infinite horizon. The model presented here helps us evaluate the impact of social media on a firm's reputation. It also highlights the important parameters of a firm's reputation in this new digital era.

Keywords: social media; social economics; brand tribalism; corporate reputation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2015.066005

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2015 Vol.9 No.1, pp.1 - 22

Received: 05 Oct 2013
Accepted: 08 Mar 2014
Published online: 30 Nov 2014 *

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