The Reputational Configuration and Dynamics of Christian Churches in Switzerland

ABSTRACT This study examines how the reputation of Christian churches is configured, and which sociodemographic variables and experiences (personal or mediated) relate to it. It provides in‐depth insights into how the Swiss population evaluates Roman Catholic, Reformed Protestant, and Evangelical churches on the basis of various theories, such as organizational reputation, media, and social identity theories, embedded in a religious sociological context. Data from representative online surveys conducted in 2022 and 2023 show that perceived identity and attractiveness are the most critical factors for a general organizational reputation in a religious context. The results show that online and offline news media significantly influence the reputation formation of the Roman Catholic Church. However, social media has a less significant influence on churches in general. They also show that Protestants and Catholics rate each other better than Evangelicals, and religiosity is the most decisive factor in rating churches favorably.