Framing effect on the public's response to crisis: Human interest frame and crisis type influencing responsibility and blame

This study investigated the effects of a human interest frame and types of crisis in news coverage of a corporate crisis on people's responses to the crisis. To examine the effects, this study used 2 (human interest frame versus non-human interest frame) × 2 (an accident versus a transgression) mixed factorial design. The results indicate that the human interest frame influenced participants’ emotional response to the crisis and the emotional response influenced by the human interest frame was a significant predictor of blame and responsibility in a transgression crisis.