Review of Finance Vol. 30 No. 3 2026

Hacking corporate reputations

Pat Akey¹; Stefan Lewellen²; Inessa Liskovich³; Christoph Schiller⁴

¹ ESSEC Business School , Cergy, 95000, · ² Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, · ³ Uber , San Francisco, California, 94158, · ⁴ The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio, 43210,

Abstract

We exploit unexpected corporate data breaches to study the loss and repair of corporate reputation. Reputation loss decreases equity and brand values, increases customer churn, and prompts more negative media coverage. Firms repair their reputation by increasing their charitable donations and have CSR scores that are more than 0.5 standard deviations higher. They increase political contributions, employee wages, and IT investment. These actions are targeted to stakeholders that are particularly important or in situations that are particularly salient to their stakeholders. We observe similar dynamics of reputation loss and repair following the release of negative news about firms’ social behaviors.

DOI

10.1093/rof/rfag009

Volume

30

Issue

3

Pages

795-862

Language

en

Sources

openalex crossref

Cite

APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓