The Impact of Image on Corporate Reputation: The Case Of Giresun Municipality

The perception of a corporation by its environment is based on the presented conducts, produced service or product, and established communication with the target group in this process. This is the result of active communication between the source and the recipient. At the same time, there are marks of the past and the future in this perception. Both the total perception that has developed based on the interaction between the corporation and target groups for different reasons in the past, and the emotion that this interaction creates in relation to the future affect the outlook on the corporate outputs. Therefore, two types of perception can be defined by the environment of an institution. The first is a perception that is defined by the active communication process based on corporate behaviour, product, or service. The second is a perception that is an important factor in the background of the first perception and at the same time it is related to the past and the future which is affected from the first perception. These are defined in the literature as image and reputation. This study inquires into the effect of the citizens' impressions provided by the municipalities in terms of the president, staff or services on the general perception of the municipalities. In this context, a survey was conducted in Giresun city centre regarding Giresun Municipality. In the research, image factors related to municipality services and the power of representatives of Giresun Municipality based on the president and the staff were determined and then the effect of these factors on Giresun Municipality's general perception was examined. In the study, it was concluded that the image factors are important explanations of the general perception of the municipality and the biggest 'factor on the general perception is the mayor 'factor.