Crisis communication: The mediating role of cognitive and affective empathy in the relationship between crisis type and crisis response strategy on post-crisis reputation and forgiveness

This study seeks to contribute to the growing body of research in crisis communication by exploring how two types of empathy; cognitive empathy and affective empathy, affect organizational reputation and publics’ forgiveness for an organization that is in a crisis. An online three (crisis type: victim vs. accidental vs. preventable) × two (response strategy: rebuilding vs. denial) between-subjects experiment was conducted with 648 participants (N = 648) recruited through Amazon’s research tool MTurk. The results of the study reveal that crisis type affects both cognitive and affective empathy and people are more likely to feel empathetic toward an organization that uses rebuilding strategies than an organization that denies the existence of a crisis. Theoretical and practical implications of empathy on corporate reputation and forgiveness are discussed.     

Restoring reputations in times of crisis: An experimental study of the Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the moderating effects of locus of control

This study attempts to provide empirical evidence for Coombs’ (2007) Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), which provides guidelines for matching crisis response strategies to crisis types to best restore organizational reputations in times of crisis. The impact of crisis type and crisis response strategies on perceptions of corporate reputation is measured for 316 consumers participating in a 3 (crisis type: victim crisis, accidental crisis, preventable crisis) × 3 (crisis response: deny strategy, diminish strategy, rebuild strategy) between-subjects experimental design. The results show that preventable crises have the most negative effects on organizational reputation and that the rebuild strategy leads to the most positive reputational restoration. Moreover, the more severe people judge a crisis to be, the more negative are their perceptions of the organization's reputation. The interaction effect between crisis type and crisis response strategies on corporate reputation is not significant. However, a person's locus of control has a moderating impact on the relationship between crisis response strategy and organizational reputation. Specifically, the results show that people with an external locus of control prefer the use of deny strategies more than people with an internal locus of control.     

Trust and Relational Commitment in Corporate Crises: The Effects of Crisis Communicative Strategy and Form of Crisis Response

The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which crisis communicative strategy and form of crisis response affect trust and relational commitment with respect to crisis contexts at the firm level, after controlling the effects of crisis type and organizational association. A survey of communication managers, crisis managers, and public relations and/or public affairs managers from Taiwan's top 500 companies was conducted. The results showed that in crisis managers' assessment, the form of crisis response (timely response, consistent response, and active response) is more powerful than crisis communicative strategies (denial, diversion, excuse, justification and concession) in predicting trust and relational commitment. Moreover, the result, on one hand, supports the robustness of concession as an effective communicative strategy above and beyond the impacts from crisis type and organization association. On the other hand, however, it challenges this traditional wisdom involving concession by emphasizing the intriguing mediating role of form of crisis response by demonstrating that form of crisis response is necessary for more concession communicative response to generate more favorable relational outcomes.     

Crisis response and crisis timing strategies,two sides of the same coin

This study investigates the moderating impact of the timing of crisis disclosure on the effect of crisis response strategies on organizational post-crisis reputation. It proposes that self-disclosing a crisis allows organizations to avoid explicitly taking or rejecting responsibility by means of a crisis response strategy. A 2 (crisis timing strategy: ex-ante vs. ex-post) × 2 (crisis response strategy: response strategy vs. objective information only) between-subjects factorial design was conducted among 137 participants. The results show that organizations that do not steal thunder better use a reputation restoring crisis response strategy than just providing stakeholders objective information about what happened. In addition, the results demonstrate that if an organization steals thunder, it is not necessary to offer reputation restoring crisis response strategies such as an apology. These findings stress the importance of timing to disclose crisis information in addition to the content of crisis communication strategies.     

The Effects of Corrective Communication and Employee Backup on the Effectiveness of Fighting Crisis Misinformation

Crisis misinformation, including false information about a crisis or a crisis-stricken organization, has become a fundamental threat to organizational wellbeing. Effective crisis response geared toward fighting crisis misinformation demands a more systematic approach to corrective communication. Grounded in misinformation debunking theory, this study aims to advance misinformation research in public relations and organizational crisis communication. An online experiment using a U.S. adult sample (N = 817) was conducted to examine the effects of corrective communication strategy (simple rebuttal vs. factual elaboration) and employee backup (present vs. absent) on perceived message quality, organizational reputation, and perceived crisis responsibility. Results show: 1) the use of factual elaboration and the presence of employee backup were direct contributors to crisis response effectiveness; and 2) perceived message quality mediates the effect of corrective communication. This study provides insights into advancing crisis communication theory and offers evidence-based recommendations for practitioners to combat crisis misinformation more effectively.     

Organization–Public Relationships and Crisis Response Strategies: Impact on Attribution of Responsibility

The study examines how relationships with an organization and crisis response strategy affect attribution of crisis responsibility. Participants were exposed to 1 of 4 different crisis response strategies, manipulated through news articles. The study measured perceptions of the organization–public relationship, and after exposure to 1 of the 4 news articles, attribution of crisis responsibility. People with a positive relationship with the organization were less likely to place blame for the crisis on the organization regardless of crisis response strategy. The study provides evidence that maintaining positive relationships with stakeholders may be more important that individual crisis strategies.     

Crisis response strategy manipulation: A systematic review and a test of nuances

Although testing the effectiveness of crisis response strategies has been a prominent topic in crisis communication research, studies have rarely addressed whether the manipulation of these strategies accurately reflects their theoretical definitions in experiments. Through a systematic review, this study first identified nuances in the manipulation of apology, diminishing, and scapegoating strategies. The study then tested the effect of the variation of the same strategy on the public’s responses using three experiments. The findings revealed that an explicit apology was more effective than an implicit apology, while an apology with corrective action was even more effective than an apology alone. Internal scapegoating significantly harmed an organization compared to external scapegoating. Following the results of the study, researchers are encouraged to review their crisis response strategy manipulations to ensure the internal validity of experimental studies in crisis communication.     

Managing Turbulence in the Blogosphere: Evaluating the Blog-Mediated Crisis Communication Model with the American Red Cross

Through interviews with 40 American Red Cross communication professionals, this study examines how an organization that frequently responds to crises proactively manages on- and offline communication before, during, and after crises. The results provide the first empirical evaluation of an emerging model: the blog-mediated crisis communication model (BMCC). The lessons shared by the American Red Cross are insightful for researchers to understand the process of blog-mediated crisis communication in the nonprofit sector, which are also relevant for other public relations professionals. The findings support components of the original BMCC model, but also clearly indicate important revisions, including renaming the model the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC).     

The Blog-Mediated Crisis Communication Model: Recommendations for Responding to Influential External Blogs

Practitioners and academics are buzzing about the impact of the blogosphere on public relations practices. Emerging evidence indicates that strategically managing blog-mediated public relations may be especially critical for crisis managers. Yet, no known research provides a comprehensive, theoretically sound approach indicating how crisis managers should engage with the blogosphere. Therefore, this study proposes a new conceptual model to help public relations professionals navigate the evolving blogosphere: the blog-mediated crisis communication model. This model helps crisis managers monitor the blogosphere and respond, when appropriate, to influential bloggers. Future research will test the model in applied contexts, working with corporate, government, and nonprofit organizations.     

Reducing anger and blame: The role of the morality news frame and crisis response strategy

This study examined how crisis response strategies and news frame can be used to reduce people's anger and blame in an internal crisis. College students participated in the 2 (individual vs. organizational responsibility) × 2 (immorality vs. non-immorality frame) between-subject factorial design. Individual responsibility strategy and the immorality frame can make people angry and blame more the organization. Significant interaction effects between the news frame and the strategies on blame were found.     

Organizational crisis-denial strategy: The effect of denial on public framing

By applying a framing perspective, this study explores the effect of a crisis-denial strategy on public response. The online public framing of a specific crisis is compared with the crisis-denial frame provided by the organization. An automated semantic-network analysis is used to identify frames embedded in the public and organizational communication. The Max Havelaar crisis revealed that denial strategy is not always unsuccessful and would advance a more complex understanding. Moreover, the framing perspective and the semantic-network approach prove to be useful to analyze crisis-response strategies.     

Incorporating competition and comparisons into crisis communication: How competing organizations respond to industry crises

Crisis communication research typically focuses on how a single organization strategically responds to crises based on its own set of situational factors. However, it is common for multiple competing organizations to be involved in responding to the same crisis. By analyzing two industry crisis cases in China, this study provides insights into what we termed competitive crisis communication, which involves not only crisis response timing and strategies but also competition and comparisons among the different organizations involved in the same crisis. The analysis of organizational statements on social media reveals the extent of differences in crisis response strategies adopted by competing organizations. Findings from an analysis of online media coverage and public posts on social media further suggest that stakeholders’ comparisons of different organizations’ crisis responses can influence stakeholders’ emotions and reputational perceptions of the organizations. Finally, the competitive advantages for an organization to respond as the first mover or late mover in industry crisis communication are discussed.     

Evangelical Christian Crisis Responses to Same-Sex Sex Scandals

This research examines the crisis responses of four evangelical leaders (Paul Crouch, Ted Haggard, Lonnie Latham, and Eddie Long) involved in same-sex sex scandals by comparing their responses against those recommended by the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Using a quasi-case study approach to add context and richness to the SCCT, this research examined the leaders’ strategies and the response to them and found that the evangelical pastors generally adhered to the recommended strategies of the SCCT, thus reinforcing the broad applicability of the SCCT when handling a crisis, even in a religious context. Despite reinforcing the validity of the SCCT, this article also recommends the inclusion of additional categorical considerations for the SCCT for situations where a crisis inflicts spiritual or emotional harm, particularly for crises occurring in a religious environment.     

Public's expectation about an organization's stance in crisis communication based on perceived leadership and perceived severity of threats

Considering the importance of general public support of an organization during a crisis, this study examined how perceived leadership style influences public expectation about an organization's stance in crisis and the relationship between perceived severity of threat and the expected stance of the organization based on leadership perception. The results of the study strongly supported main effects of leadership on public estimation about an organization's stance. Managerial implications were discussed.     

Rupture Resistance: An Archaeology of Pedophilia Crisis Communication

The national attention brought to high-profile sex crimes such as the Penn State scandal of 2011 and the Catholic Church scandal of 2002 has elevated public awareness of what can be appropriately referred to as pedophilia. Perceived as a public health threat, pedophilia has become a priority news item for its lascivious and predatory characteristics that instill fear within a widespread audience. This article conveys three ideas essential to pedophilia crisis communication. First, a brief introduction of pedophilia is offered as a social construct and catalyst for moral panic within organizations and their communities. Second, a review of modern and postmodern crisis frameworks is offered to examine an organizational approach to pedophilia and its Foucauldian conception as a rupturing, discursive formation. Third, a call for organizations to embrace ruptures in their pedophilia crisis response is advanced to align their activities with the prevailing historical moment rather than within metaphysical traditions.     

Exploring public relations challenges in compounding crises: The pariah effect of toxic trailers

This study examined the distinct exigency of a compounding crisis, a crisis that occurs in close succession to another (potentially unrelated) crisis before an organization has had the opportunity to rebuild legitimacy. Specifically, we identified the public relations challenges faced by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency during the formaldehyde travel trailer crisis and examined how the Hurricane Katrina crisis encumbered the agency’s response efforts. We offer a theoretical frame for understanding the public relations challenges inherent in compounding crises and propose that, in a compounding crisis, organizational legitimacy and social capital decrease while stakeholder risk perceptions and attribution of crisis responsibility increase. A new phenomenon termed the pariah effect is offered to explain when an organization experiencing a compounding crisis is ostracized by other organizations that could assist with the crisis response to avoid negative spillover effects that could result from associating with the offending organization. This study also demonstrates how attribution of responsibility in a compounding crisis can create an exigency in which an organization must take actions beyond the scope and original mission of the organization.     

Crisis? What crisis?: How European professionals handle crises and crisis communication

A broad study in 43 European countries shows that 70% of communication professionals encounter at least one crisis a year, mostly institutional, related to the performance of the organization or a crisis in management or leadership. Organizational response and image restoration approaches are mainly based on information, sympathy and defense strategies. Traditional media relations and personal communication are the most important instruments used in crisis communication, while social media is used less often. The variation of crisis types, responses and instruments across European regions and types of organization indicate that economic and cultural aspects play a role in defining a crisis and communicating about it.     

企业公共关系危机及其处理

组织遇到危机事件是不可避免的,关键是危机事件发生以后怎么处理。文章试图从公共关系危机的特点和公共关系危机处理程序两个方面来阐述危机事件的处理过程。当危机发生后,企业应冷静应对,解决危机,同时要善于化解危机,利用危机,化被动为主动,借势造势进一步宣传和塑造企业形象。     

Crisis Communication Strategies in the Media Coverage of Chemical Accidents

Two studies examine media reports of chemical accident crises to explore the extent to which crisis communication strategies are included. Study 1 found that although reputation repair strategies were rarely included, about 1/4 of the reports included some combination of information-giving strategies attributed to organizational spokespersons. First responders were quoted more frequently than organizational representatives. Study 2 examined follow-up stories associated with the initial reports and revealed that, although reputation repair and information giving strategies appeared more frequently than in Study 1, they were only used in 24% and 60% of the cases, respectively. Overall, organizational spokespersons were not featured prominently in the media reports.     

Renewal or Re-Entrenchment? A Case Study of 2011 Education Union Crisis

This case study provides insights into how a community of organizations communicates during a crisis by examining how challenges to collective bargaining laws in Wisconsin and Ohio provoked a dramatic response by education unions and the labor sector as a whole. Using the theoretical frameworks of reflective management and the discourse of renewal, this insider account of the response found that these pivotal events were a cause for change in how the education unions and their partners communicated. These events resulted in increased collaboration between partners, embracing an organic response of members, and the rearticulation of organization values. In addition to the presentation of crisis communication beyond the traditional narrow-focus of the response of a single organization, the results of this study also challenge the concept of what constitutes reflection and renewal after a crisis.