Believe me, I am one of you! The role of common group affiliation in crisis communication

Abstract

This research analyzes the effectiveness of a CEO spokesperson’s affiliation to a social group during a crisis. Specifically, it addresses the question of whether a group affiliation with a large heterogeneous group, such as parents, can engender similarly positive effects in members of the same social category, compared with a smaller distinctive group, here an amateur sports community. An experimental study using a product harm crisis by a bicycle manufacturer as stimulus was conducted to answer the research question. The results reveal positive effects when the CEO signaled his/her affiliation with a social group that is distinctive and rather homogenous. In this case, corporate trustworthiness, purchase intentions, and abstaining from negative word-of-mouth are directly impacted by stakeholders’ identification with the CEO spokesperson, and indirectly through identification with the CEO and message credibility. However, when the CEO spokesperson communicated his/her affiliation with a large and heterogeneous group, in this case parents, the company did not benefit. The results yield implications for both crisis communication research and practice.