The dynamic of employees’ trust in their organisation in a corporate brand crisis: the bounce-back effect of organisational identification

Abstract

ABSTRACT Given their increasing number, corporate brand crises are a subject of growing academic interest. Today’s managers face a hostile and often uncontrollable external information environment. Maintaining employee trust during turmoil is key to crisis resolution. However, it is during crises that employee trust can be most threatened. Our study draws on social identity theory to understand the conditions under which trust is destroyed and possibly repaired after a corporate brand crisis. The results from two experimental studies suggest that corporate brand crises decrease employee trust due to the threat to their social image. However, appropriate mitigation strategies that restore employees’ social status can effectively repair their trust. This decline and repair dynamic is amplified among highly identified employees, suggesting that organisational identification has a bounce-back effect on this mechanism.