How Should You Tweet?: The Effect of Crisis Response Voices, Strategy, and Prior Brand Attitude in Social Media Crisis Communication

Abstract

This study examines the role of human voice over corporate voice in crisis responses and the moderating role of prior brand attitude on the public evaluation of corporate crisis communication on Twitter. The impact of crisis response strategies and its interaction with prior brand attitude is also explored in this study. Using a mixed-design experiment, the findings showed that human voice had no impact overall on crisis communication evaluation but that prior brand attitude had a significant moderating effect on participants’ crisis communication evaluation. Theoretical implications as well as implications for managers who utilize social media in crisis communication are discussed.