Corporate Reputation in Public Relations Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends and Themes (1970–2024)

Corporate reputation is of growing interest in communication studies as an intangible and inimitable asset. The multiple-stakeholder view of reputation is believed to intersect with the responsibility of the field of public relations. This study explores the intellectual landscape of corporate reputation research within public relations by identifying current trends such as the influence of social media and crisis communication on stakeholder relationships. These trends are crucial for understanding how public relations strategies adapt to evolving communication platforms and global crises, directly affecting corporate reputation by shaping public perception and trust. The study systematically examines 10,873 academic publications retrieved from the WoS database using bibliometric analysis. The analysis employs BiblioShiny and VOSViewer due to their advanced capabilities in visualising performance metrics and mapping scientific networks. The findings suggested that social media, crisis communication, and COVID-19 hold significance and are fundamental to the field of public relations in terms of corporate reputation. Keyword co-occurrence network analysis suggested that public relations, corporate reputation, and crisis communication are three clusters that reflect the crucial role of public relations in both cultivating and sustaining corporate reputation, as well as its significance in managing crisis communication effectively. These findings emphasise the necessity for organisations to adopt proactive crisis communication strategies and integrate social media into reputation management. Integrating these topics into public relations curricula can better prepare future professionals to manage corporate reputation in a complex media landscape.