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Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724

TRANSCOM 2017: International scientific conference on sustainable, modern and safe transport

Multifactor analysis of online reputation of selected car brands

Peter Dorčáka, Peter Markoviča, František Pollákb*
a
University of Economics in Bratislava, Faculty of Business Management, Dolnozemská cesta 1, 852 35 Bratislava, Slovakia
b
University of of Presov in Presov, Faculty of Management, Konstantínova 16, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia

Abstract

The paper discusses the issue of online reputation, more specifically the ways and methods of its measurements in selected entities
operating in the automotive sector. A thorough multifactor analysis of reputation in the virtual world of the Internet was conducted
on a specific sample of entities/ subjects – selected car brands operating on a central European market. Using a careful statistical
testing relationships between factors were examined in order to identify and describe basic facts affecting online reputation of those
entities in the hyper competitive market environment of the Internet. The findings identified by the analysis conducted on the
selected part of the global market, can be effectively used in any market for the purpose of increasing competitiveness of selected
entities from (not only) automotive industry.
©©2017
2017TheThe Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd.is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of TRANSCOM 2017: International scientific conference on
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review
sustainable,under responsibility
modern and safe of the scientific committee of TRANSCOM 2017: International scientific conference on sustainable,
transport.
modern and safe transport
Keywords: Reputation; Reputator; Internet; Automotive.

1. Introduction

Reputation is an extremely important factor for gaining and strengthening consumer trust and confidence in the
virtual as well as real world [1, 2, 3]. Trust building is a long and arduous process and includes feelings, impressions
and experiences of people who came into contact with the given company / business entity. Business entities pay this
matter due attention. [4] Its importance is undeniably gaining momentum, especially in the current period when a good
reputation, long-lasting dominant position on the market and a huge success are not possible only thanks to innovative

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +421 903 848 404.

E-mail address: frantisek.pollak@unipo.sk.

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of TRANSCOM 2017: International scientific conference on sustainable, modern and safe transport
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.06.124
720 Peter Dorčák et al. / Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724

know-how and unique products, determination, undying entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and capability in the
particular field of business. The vision of a successful business needs a bit more than just that [5]. A positive reputation
is increasingly becoming one of the most effective tools around one’s tough competition. According to surveys carried
out by foreign research agencies, when faced with a choice between two products with comparable properties, 89 %
of consumers ultimately decided on the basis of the popularity of the brand and its reputation. Moreover, 72 % of them
added that the company's reputation influences their purchasing decisions and investments to the great extent [6].

1.1. Reputation, the basic characteristics

When it comes to the actual process of building a corporate reputation, it is necessary to focus on the selected
baseline characteristics linked with the process of positive reputation building. According to Svoboda [7], reputation
has three dimensions:

x primary reputation,
x secondary reputation,
x cyclical reputation.

This is a rather interesting view. What exactly is meant by these different dimensions? Primary reputation takes
into account first-hand experience a customer has with the business entity – the face to face experience. This experience
is immediate and personal. Psychologists call the phenomenon a first impression. Following the first contact,
consumers strongly perceive significant attributes of the business entity and form their opinion on the entity.
Employees who are in a direct contact with customers shape their perception. Secondary reputation is rather indirect
and largely relies on the communication with the media, relatives, friends, as well self-presentation. The contact thus
established is impersonal and mediated and easily influenced by various prejudices and stereotypes that usually refer
to the behavior of different groups or individuals. Such stereotypes and prejudices negatively influence individuals
leading to wrong conclusions. Cyclical reputation is influenced by social attitudes. If the social attitudes are in their
favor, they do not feel the need to change their behavior. If, however, attitudes are negative, they try to change their
behavior, products, or services through appropriate tools.

1.2. Reputation in the online environment, online reputation management

Many domestic and foreign authors [8, 9, 10] argue that the concept of online reputation may cover many aspects
ranging from organic presence in the search results, through traditional channels of marketing communication to its
presence in its own virtual channels via social media. Reputation is thus the result of the activities carried out by a
business entity on the Internet. Reputation also includes interaction with customers and their reactions [11]. Today,
there is no need to question why the online reputation is important, but rather how to analyze the current state of online
reputation and how to get started with its active management [12]. In the following three points we will point out a
few facts that are crucial for active online branding:

x the number of potential online customers is increasing,

x availability of information on the Internet,
x need to keep the brand under control.

It is an objective fact that the number of potential online customers is increasing. More and more companies are
becoming aware of the fact that online presence is a necessity. Consumers enjoy fast access to and favorable prices of
services and goods on the Internet. It is likely that people soon will buy online goods and services mainly because of
their convenience and not only for favorable prices. Therefore, online presence and reputation are crucial for attracting
new customers. Online references and reviews have a similar effect as recommendations from customers. Overlooking
online reputation may mean the difference between success and failure or bankruptcy [13]. Another very important
factor speaking in favor of online presence is the ever-increasing availability of information. Nowadays many people
are familiar with social networks which also feature online reviews. It is quite possible that a lot of things we do offline
 Peter Dorčák et al. / Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724 721

will become online matters. Therefore, it is important to remember that online and offline world are closely linked
and our business activities in the offline world will be eventually reflected in our online reputation [12]. Online
reputation management is one of the best possible ways to find out the current status of business entity’s corporate
brand. It is more than possible that our customers will at some point of time leave a review on the Internet. In addition
to web platforms and websites it is necessary to control all the "other" media associated with our brand like interaction
with customers, fans or even competitors [6]. The article provides an insight into the active reputation management in
the online environment using a thorough analysis of one of the available methodologies. Moreover, the article also
evaluates data, identifies common background and provides recommendations regarding the subject matter, namely
top-selling brand of cars operating on the Slovak market.

2. Aims and methods

The main objective of the paper is to present chosen option for measuring online reputation of selected entities
operating in the automotive sector with an aim to increase their competitiveness through a better understanding of the
basic determinants of effective management of online reputation. Based on the current state of the issue theoretical
knowledge and bases were accumulated, that provide knowledge base for the subsequent empirical research. A
thorough multifactor analysis of reputation in the virtual world of the Internet was conducted on a specific sample of
entities – Top 10 Slovak bestselling car brands of year 2015 [14] by tier market share (in table indicate in % as “MCS”,
or MCS score). For the purpose of this research we used modified multi-factor sentiment analysis on which we would
like to demonstrate model option for measuring total online reputation (TOR) of selected entities. Methodology of the
modified multi-factor analysis [3] of the total online reputation TOR [6], brings more variability in its application on
a broader spectrum of subjects than standard multi-factor analysis introduced by Sasko [9]. Moreover, it also brings a
comprehensive look at the reputation of the given entity relative to the total possible reputation expressed as a
percentage. Methodology used in the TOR index uses n-factors.
The first step analyses the sentiment of the first 10 results on Google. As for the number of groups, the standard is
at least three groups: 1st group: name of the entity, 2nd group: name of the entity + the first most important keyword
from the field the entity operates in, in our case it was „Slovensko“. The number of groups is not particularly limited.
Quantification is then ensured by unifying the scores into the percentage form. This is based on the assumption that
within a single group the entity may receive a maximum score of 155 points – the ratio 1 point = 0.645%. For purpose
of our analysis with 2 groups, the entity may receive a maximum score of 310 points – the ratio 1 point = 0.32%.
Second step identifies the determinants of online reputation, the so-called reputators. Reputator can be any
determinant that can objectively affect the perceived online reputation of the entity, while its value can be quantified
as a percentage. Normally these are important web pages, catalogs or social networks that can significantly affect the
reputation of the entity. Given the various business fields entities operate in, reputation determinants cannot be clearly
defined in advance. In terms of advantage quantification, it is possible to approach individual reputation determinants
by calculation of reputators’ competitive score - the amount of users (fans / customers / followers) the particular entity
has relative to the sum of all tested subjects. The result serves as a basis for calculating the percentage of the reputators’
competitive score (CS) of the particular entity. In other words, reputator competitive strength of the particular subject
can be calculated as the size ratio of its own tribe [15] indicated as the total number of subject followers/ fans/
subscribers/ to the total amount of tribes of all tested subjects.
In the third step we can calculate the total advantage of the entity’s online reputation with regard to its pre-defined
competitors, as follows: Standard equation [3] features specific determinants of online reputation and their weight.
The basic reputation determinant is the ASA percentage score. The equation allows us to take into account any number
of other reputation determinants. For the calculation itself it is necessary to determine the weights of individual
reputation determinants which are normally determined depending on the subject and target market. If the weight of
individual reputation determinants is not known in advance, the simplified formula [3] for calculating the overall
online reputation is as follows in equation (1):
722 Peter Dorčák et al. / Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724

R ASA  ¦i 1 Ri
n

TOR (1)
n 1

TOR- Total online reputation in %

Ri - Reputator (% score based on a given i-th determinant of online reputation
RASA - Reputator ASA (% score based on the advanced sentiment analysis)
n - Number of indicators

In this case, the value of the overall online reputation of an entity is the arithmetic mean of individual indicators
(partial scores of individual reputators). Relations among factors (online reputation score based on the advanced
sentiment analysis compared to the indices of reputation offered by the main Internet players, such as Instagram,
Facebook and YouTube provide as a part of their ratings) were then examined in thorough statistical testing using
non-parametrical methods, such as Kendall rank coefficient, in order to identify and describe basic facts affecting
online reputation of selected entities in the hypercompetitive market environment of the Internet.

3. Results and discussion

Each of the set of selected entities, in this case top 10 Slovak bestselling car brands of year 2015, try to shape their
reputation both within real and virtual world through their management. For the purposes of our research, we focused
on the virtual world of the Internet.

3.1. Overview table of partial score

Using the advanced sentiment analysis (ASA), we calculated partial score presenting the power of online reputation
of entities based on the nature of the first 10 Google search results. Google and its search results are, however, only
one of many ways in which potential customers can access relevant information. Considering the previous research in
the field of automotive industry, we identified the following other determinants of online reputation (reputators) of
automotive entities, in particular:

x Instagram (total number of followers of the official global profile),

x Facebook (total number of fans of the official global profile),
x YouTube (total number of subscribers of the official global profile).

Each of these reputators has its own system which determines the overall score. But basically all of them operate
with a certain tribe of the customers (followers, fans, subscribers). For the purposes of further analysis scores of partial
reputators were unified to the parameter which we named competitive strength, hereafter referred to as CS and
converted into a percentage. Before we analyze the results by statistical testing, it is necessary to expound the specific
values and partial score for the analyzed subjects through the overview table. The following Table 1. presents partial
results - measured values of individual determinants / score of partial reputators of online reputation/ as well as score
of total (overall) online reputation:

Table 1. Overall (Total) online reputation.

ASA ICS FCS YCS Number of pages MCS TOR

Rank by
Brand score score score score indexed by score score
MCS
(%) (%) (%) (%) Google (%) (%)
1. Skoda 26.24 0.00 18.96 28.31 54 200 000 29.37 24.50
2. Volkswagen 42.56 0.00 0.55 18.37 683 000 000 13.50 20.49
3. Hyundai 50.24 39.86 33.10 7.53 624 000 000 11.17 32.68
4. KIA 32.32 46.55 25.33 13.51 625 000 000 9.93 29.43
5. Peugeot 28.48 5.75 0.00 17.96 510 000 000 7.93 17.40
6. Opel 48.96 0.00 0.00 2.75 426 000 000 7.48 25.85
7. Dacia 34.24 0.00 6.59 1.48 123 000 000 5.87 14.11
 Peter Dorčák et al. / Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724 723

8. Renault 36.16 7.47 13.73 6.57 528 000 000 5.33 15.98
9. Citroën 33.28 0.16 0.00 1.08 284 000 000 4.74 11.50
10. Suzuki 17.92 0.21 1.74 2.45 724 000 000 4.68 5.58

Firstly, we focused on analyzing the reputation of the selected business entities using broad sentiment analysis.
For each analyzed subject we took into account the first ten results after typing in the selected keywords – name of
the brand - in the search engine Google. The first results featured, as expected, brands’ own websites followed by
websites with predominantly neutral character. A link to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and links to profiles on
virtual social networks were marked as having a positive sentiment. we have focused on the following brands:
Volkswagen, Hyundai, Opel and Citroën. Interestingly enough, neither of these brands showed negative results in the
search engine. Then, we added to the name of the brand another key word - "Slovakia". This keyword significantly
increased the incidence of positive sentiments in the search results. Except for the brand Suzuki, all subjects showed
at least one positive sentiment.
In the second step, we analyzed the dominant determinants of reputation focusing on profiles on the most popular
virtual social networks / media. We found that each of the analyzed business entities actively uses localized channels
on YouTube, however, only four entities, namely Hyundai, KIA, Peugeot and Renault have localized profiles on the
social network Instagram. Each of the analyzed entities uses the social network Facebook to implement their marketing
activities (although this medium is in terms of e-marketing considered a necessity). What we see as a negative aspect
is that Peugeot, Opel and Citroën do not distinguish between national and international fans on their Facebook profile.
Although the language and content localization are sufficient, the efforts are insufficient given the trend.
In the third step of our analysis we calculated the overall reputation. The clear winner is Hyundai KIA, which
showed the best results among all the studied subjects. The following Figures 1 (a), and (b) will show some interesting
facts resulting from the analysis.

Fig. 1. (a) Market share vs. Overall On-line Reputation; (b) Activity on VSN.

Figure 1. (a) compares the market share of brands from the point of view of the strength of their total virtual
reputation. Figure 1. (b) shows the power each brand has on the social network Facebook and YouTube in terms of
fans / followers. With regard to the overall reputation and the total market share of the brand, figure a) clearly shows
that the Korean duo does the best work among all the studied brands. In general, it can be stated that the level of virtual
reputation is generally twice the market share. This finding is evaluated as highly positive. The brand Skoda is a bit
special since its market share is way ahead (when compared to the competition, Skoda’s market share is three times
bigger than that of the rest of the brands). In terms of brand presence on virtual media, the local market is being
governed by Volkswagen Group, which has a cumulative share of almost 40 % of the market. In terms of local fans
on Facebook, Hyundai KIA is a clear leader, owning almost 60 % of the market. Based on the analysis’ results we
began with statistical testing of the selected context. Regarding the correlation between the market share and the level
of the overall virtual reputation, the p-value is less than 0.05 (the significance level of 5 %). Thus, we cannot reject
the existence of a statistically significant connection between the variables. With regard to the correlation between the
724 Peter Dorčák et al. / Procedia Engineering 192 (2017) 719 – 724

scores given by the sentiment analysis and the total number of Google index pages regarding the business entity, we
can conclude that the p-value is less than 0.05 (the significance level of 5 %). Thus, we were not able to confirm a
statistically significant correlation between variables. This only confirms the already known fact about the importance
of quality over quantity.

4. Conclusions

We agree with the author Juraj Sasko [9], who states, the active online reputation management utilizing platforms
like Google, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube can greatly facilitate active communication with the public, help in
acquiring and evaluating feedback or speed up implementation of measures related to a crisis marketing
communication. However, a wide variety of platforms requires a comprehensive approach. Reputation is perception
and reality reflecting the total sets of components of the most complex asset of an organization. Knowledge and
understanding are considered one of the major contributions for sequences of connected factors, determinants,
standardization, and formation of a systematically exhaustive exploration of the mathematical model, model checking
as powerful tool of the presented paper. The findings identified by the analysis conducted on the local market (in this
case, used as a model example), can be effectively used in any market for the purpose of increasing competitiveness
of (not only) selected entities.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-15-
0511.

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