How sorry are you? Intensified apologies and the mediating role of perceived remorse in corporate crisis communication |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;2. Department of Communications and New Media, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore;3. School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;4. Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore;1. College of Arts and Sciences, University of Dayton, OH, United States;2. College of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Alabama, AL, United States;1. School of Health Sciences, College of Health Professions, Central Michigan University, United States;2. School of Communication, Journalism and Media, College of Arts and Media, Central Michigan University, United States;1. Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia;2. Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia;3. Department of Communication Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan;4. Department of Communication, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia;1. Department of Journalism and Public Relations, Jeju National University, South Korea;2. Media Convergence Research Institute, Sogang University, South Korea;3. Debiasing and Lay Informatics (DaLI) Lab, Center for Applied Social Research, University of Oklahoma, USA;4. Gaylord Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Communication, University of Oklahoma, USA |
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| Abstract: | This article reports the results of a between-subject experiment investigating the direct and indirect effects of intensified apologies on purchase intent. The study adopts a linguistic approach to apologies and operationalizes them based on Blum-Kulka and Olshtain’s (1984) apology framework. The study compares the effectiveness of a simple apology (‘We’re sorry’) to four intensified apologies which - in addition to expression of remorse - contain one of the following apology strategies: a) intensification through adverbials, b) admission of guilt, c) offer of repair or d) promise of forbearance. In addition, the study examines the role of perceived remorse as a mediating factor between intensified apologies and purchase intent. Intensified apologies containing adverbials and offer of repair are found to have a positive effect on perceived remorse which, in turn, leads to higher purchase intent. The experiment is the first one in the field of corporate crisis communication to examine the mediating role of perceived remorse in intensified apologies. |
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| Keywords: | Intensified apologies Corporate crisis Perceived remorse Purchase intent Linguistics |
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