Chapter 8: Digital Transformation and Corporate Branding: Opportunities and Challenges for Identity and Reputation Management

The purpose of this chapter is to develop a thorough understanding of the corporate brand in the digital age, its aspects (future employment; human well-being; legislation; personal integrity and trust) and its interactions with ethical challenges. Although corporate brands are significant in the implementation of digitalization, and the benefits of its use can be assessed, the extent of what corporate brands owe to society can still be explored, as technological development advances.

The ethics of technology are analysed across a multitude of disciplines, from science and technology to business management and law, but little attention is given to the role that the corporate brand plays in the development, design and dissemination of technology across society and within an organization. In this chapter, we discuss how corporate brands should employ ethical decisions when developing and implementing these technologies. How should corporate brands use technology to acknowledge, mediate and regulate their power, values and biases? If companies are to shoulder technology's inevitable social costs, how should they do so? How should organizations design, implement and invest in technology? And with digitalization in mind, how does the corporate brand face the ethical challenges associated with this?