Factors Affecting the Escalation of Detrimental Corporate Reputation Predicaments Through Social Media Platforms in the Fast Casual Restaurant Industry

Abstract

By the virtue of a total of 3.48 billion social media users, which account for 42% of the world's population currently (Global Digital Report, 2019) across numerous social media platforms, social media has come to have a significant impact on how businesses operate today. Many corporations have excelled in utilizing social media to increase their market reach and improve their customer communications strategies. While social media amplifies engagement with the consumers, it also provides a platform for the consumers to share their opinion. If there is a corporate reputation predicament, social media can facilitate the escalation of the incident within the population through negative electronic word of mouth. Social Media can amplify a corporate reputation predicament that could have significant impacts on a business as a result. Hence, there must be a way for corporates to manage these detrimental reputation predicaments. Thus, identifying factors that could escalate corporate reputation predicaments through social media will be discussed in this research as identifying the factors collectively would help organizations to assess the level of impact and be able to manage these predicaments effectively. To identify the factors, a survey questionnaire was utilized to collect data, leveraging rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis to comprehensively review and analyze the data collected. The data collected and the analysis outcome is presented in the respective sections of the dissertation.