Dual modes of ‘Good will hunting’: Untangling the reputation and relationship correlations en route to foreign amity

•The causality of reputation and relationship has been long-standing puzzle.•Levels of firsthand experience affect the reputation and relationship causality.•Relationship quality affects reputation for the behavioral relationship group.•Reputation affects relationship quality for the reputational relationship group.•Public diplomacy should consider the foreign publics’ firsthand experience. The present study theorizes ways in which foreign publics’ different relationship building patterns are associated with the reputation of a host country and with the outcomes of those patterns, which yield positive behavioral intentions. The study first distinguished the reputational relationship group (i.e., those who lack firsthand experience with the host country) from the behavioral relationship group (i.e., those who have firsthand experience with the host country). Next, it further conceptualized and tested the structural paths that theoretically illustrate how reputation is built across these two different groups of foreign publics. Model testing results suggested that the two groups fit well with the respective models. The results imply that the puzzle of relationship’s and reputation’s causal influences on the formation of future behavior can be solved using differentiated communication strategies. An understanding of these two distinct processing models provides a new foundation for theory building in public relations and public diplomacy, as well as new ground for strategic relationship management with foreign publics.