Development of A Tool for Assessing the Reputation of Zoos: The Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The reputation of a zoo indicates the level of public consideration of this institution and is determined by the actions, values, and behaviors that it has conveyed over time. The reputation of zoos is a complex construct and highlighting the key factors that can negatively affect it can lead to identifying ways to promote their reputation. To address these critical issues, a zoo must not only promote higher operational and ethical standards and animal welfare but also be certain that the stakeholders perceive the importance of its mission. This will benefit the individual institution and zoological institutions as a whole as a positive reputation will enable zoos to thrive in the future as biodiversity conservation institutions and places of environmental education and entertainment publicly supported. In this work, we report the development and the first trial of the Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS), a tool that, through a survey designed with ad hoc items, analyzes public opinion on features that can influence the reputation of a zoo, focusing on ethical aspects. During its first applications, ZERS proved to be a tool able to provide information on the visitors’ opinions about several drivers that, according to the literature, influence corporate reputation. ABSTRACT: Nowadays, most zoos have taken prominent and active positions in endangered species conservation and educating visitors about the value of biodiversity. However, to be effective and trusted in their mission, they must act ethically and have a good reputation. Yet, the drivers that can influence their reputation are still little investigated, and there are still few studies focused on assessing the reputation of these institutions. In the present work, we report the development of a tool, the Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS), and its pilot application to assess the opinions of the visitors of two zoos, one in Italy and one in Germany, on drivers that may influence the ethical reputation of zoos. Preliminary results based on the answers of 274 respondents show that visitors’ opinions on zoos acting with ethical responsibility are correlated with emotional appeal and familiarity with these institutions. The application of ZERS can help zoos identify weaknesses in their reputation and develop new strategies to improve people’s attitudes towards them, bringing many benefits to the individual zoo and zoological institutions in general.