Correlation Between Brand Reputation Damage & Hotline Reports
Businesses today increasingly use empirical data to identify, asses and manage a wider range of compliance-related risks. More sophisticated, automated compliance program data collection – significantly from hotline intake and incident management systems – can inform and improve the way firms develop policies, deliver employee training, monitor third party relationships, and implement strategies to meet regulatory requirements. The 2018 study “Evidence on the Use and Efficacy of Internal Whistleblowing Systems” showed a strong association between increased hotline usage and greater profitability and productivity, higher quality corporate governance.
This research provided compliance professionals with additional, quantitative support for their risk-based program assessment and improvement. A subsequent investigation focused on the challenge of protecting against reputational risk. Specifically, the researchers tested for a relationship between hotline usage and media coverage.
Using the same NAVEX Global dataset, researchers compared the rates of a given firm’s hotline use to how that firm was portrayed in the business and financial press. The results showed a strong inverse correlation between an organization’s report volume and the amount of negative news coverage it received. The findings were both striking and encouraging. Read those new findings here!