The Ripple Effect of Reputation Spillover: How Corruption Fugitives Shape Consumer Perceptions of Fugitives’ Host Countries and Their MNEs?
研究腐败逃犯所在东道国如何因声誉外溢而损害其跨国公司品牌可信度，并揭示消费者母国腐败感知和民族敌意的调节作用，对跨国企业管理者有参考价值。
The relocation of corruption fugitives raises an important question: how does their presence in host countries affect the brand credibility of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from those destinations? Drawing on the reputation spillover perspective, this study theorizes and tests a ripple effect of reputational damage. Consumers in fugitives’ home countries attribute corruption-related reputational damage to the host country’s image and extend it to MNE brands originating there. This spillover effect is moderated by perceived corruption in consumers’ home country and by national animosity between the home and host countries. By uncovering how corruption fugitives indirectly shape foreign brand evaluations, this study broadens the understanding of nonmarket actors as carriers of reputational contagion across borders. It also highlights the paradox that anti-corruption efforts, while normatively desirable, can generate unintended reputational externalities that complicate the balance between global policy enforcement and international business legitimacy.