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

Abstract

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.