Abstract
Organizational credibility, the extent of which an organization as the source of messages is perceived as trustworthy and reliable, is one important aspect to determine organization’s survival. The perceived credibility of the messages will either strengthen or worsen an organization reputation. The primary objective of this paper is to revisit the concept of organizational credibility and its interaction with organizational outcomes such as organizational reputation. Based on the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), this paper focuses on the impact of organizational credibility on organizational reputation following a crisis. Even though the SCCT has been widely used in crisis communication research, the theory still has its own limitations in explaining factors that could potentially affect the reputation of an organization. This study proposes a model by integrating organizational credibility in the SCCT theoretical framework. Derived from the theoretical framework, three propositions are advanced to determine the relationships between organizational credibility with crisis responsibility and perceived organizational reputation. This paper contributes to further establishing the SCCT and posits key attributes in the organizational reputation processes..
Highlights
How credible is a government agency in communicating crisis messages? Do stakeholders always belief the crisis information coming from public organizations? Recent research on organizational credibility showed that public trust toward public organizations has been consistently decreasing [1]
This study provides a starting point in advancing the literature on organizational credibility and fills an important void in the crisis communication and public organization reputation literature
In viewing the uniqueness of public organizational reputation, scholars in the political science approach agree with a definition on organizational reputation which is “a set of symbolic beliefs about the unique or separable capacities, roles, and obligations of an organization, where these beliefs are embedded in audience networks” [9]
Summary
How credible is a government agency in communicating crisis messages? Do stakeholders always belief the crisis information coming from public organizations? Recent research on organizational credibility showed that public trust toward public organizations has been consistently decreasing [1]. The role of organizational credibility in re-building public organization reputation following a crisis is noticeable yet empirical evidence on its effect is still absent. A huge body of research suggests that it’s highly relevant to address this issue due to the fact that the impact of organization credibility has not yet fully understood [2]. This study extends the research on the effect of credibility on organization reputation and its interaction with crisis responsibility in a public organization setting. The primary aim of this study is to assess the impact of crisis on Malaysia’s public organizational reputation within the framework of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) [3,4,5]. This study provides a starting point in advancing the literature on organizational credibility and fills an important void in the crisis communication and public organization reputation literature. By incorporating corporate credibility into the model, it is hoped that this study strengthens the existing model to cater for public sector and offers wider perspective in looking into reputation management during crisis
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