Measuring Up: The Challenges of Quantifying Social Evaluations
Book Chapter
Gardberg, NA, Haack, P, Newburry, W. (2026). Measuring Up: The Challenges of Quantifying Social Evaluations
. 558-577. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198933137.013.0035
Gardberg, NA, Haack, P, Newburry, W. (2026). Measuring Up: The Challenges of Quantifying Social Evaluations
. 558-577. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198933137.013.0035
The intangible nature of organisational social evaluations, such as celebrity, legitimacy, reputation, status, stigma, and trust, challenges their construct validity and measurement. This chapter reviews and integrates extant research on these social evaluations to identify the current state of measurement along with future opportunities and challenges. Social evaluation research is rich with a variety of data collection methodologies. While measurement has shown signs of improvement, overlapping conceptualisations of some social evaluations and their measurement cloud their practical application and managerial relevance. This chapter reviews best practices in construct measurement. In addition, it highlights distinctions among level of measurement, level of analysis, first-order and second-order judgements, and consensus, among others. The chapter revisits the creation and use of rankings tables as well as the availability of archival data. It also describes the varied use of content and sentiment analysis, beginning with media reputation and current approaches to quantifying social evaluations in media and social media coverage. Advances in technology and the growth of social media have fundamentally changed some elements of measurement, providing better tools for both academic research and practice. Yet, overlapping social evaluation construct operationalisations limit the ability to draw distinct conclusions. These difficulties intensify in international and cross-national settings. In addition, shifting and increasingly polarised stakeholder evaluations and institutional environments signal potential change in evaluation criteria and necessary adjustments in measurement and interpretation. The chapter concludes with recommendations for rigorous measurement and directions for future research.
