Do Strategic Groups Differ in Reputation?

Abstract

While most strategic group research has focused on performance implications, we consider the relationship between strategic group membership and reputation. Using strategic group identity and domain consensus concepts, we propose strategic groups have different reputations. We find significant differences exist in reputation across three identified strategic groups of U.S. property/casualty insurers, supporting our contention that reputation is a multilevel concept. Post hoc analyses suggest strategic groups with higher reputation also have higher performance on some critical measures, indicating reputation may be a mobility barrier beneficial to members of certain groups. Practitioner implications include challenges of within-group differentiation in firm reputation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: strategic group identity, reputation, domain consensus, mobility barriers