CEOs of dual marketers organizations : communication and reputation management issues

The paper aims at analyzing how Chief Executive Officers of dual marketers organizations are engaged in corporate communication and reputation management activities. The analysis of the literature enables to define the research questions and an exploratory survey was carried out, involving 82 CEOs from large companies located in Italy, included in the Report of Mediobanca. Results show that CEOs play a strategic role in corporate communication. Particularly, CEOs are strongly engaged in institutional and internal communication, even if they are still reluctant in the use of personal social media. Findings also highlight CEOs are strongly committed in corporate reputation management, above all in activities related to leadership, workplace and performance. The paper is the first of its kind in the Italian context. It sheds light on CEO communication dynamics and contributes to the debate on CEO role in reputation management of dual marketers organizations. [Publishers' text].