Situational Crisis Communication Research Articles

“Gatekeeper or Crisis Manager? Coverage of "Lahad Datu" Conflict”

Lahad Datu conflict also known as “Sabah standoff” conflict, is unforgettable tragedies until killed about 10 of Malaysian security personnel and impacted economic, social and emotion of citizens especially at Lahad Datu, Sabah. The objective of this research is to examine the portrayal of solution from Malaysian Government for the “Lahad Datu Crisis” through newspaper framing in Malaysian mainstream newspapers namely Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily. The measurement for the crisis response will be measure through few independent variables such as category of “Lahad Datu” news; between problem, solution, people or neutral category. The following independent variable is through the slants of news; whether news is slanted in positive, negative or neutral slant. With the assistance of “Situational Crisis Communication Theory”, this research employed a systematic quantitative content analysis to gather the data. Finding revealed that, category of solution appeared most in Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily and news in positive slants were covered in all the selected dailies. In providing responses for the crisis, Justification and Concern crisis response portrayed most, however, through Kruskal Wallis test, data found that The Star and Utusan Malaysia portrayed most of the Justification and Concern responses compare to Sin Chew daily and Nanban daily.

Using situational crisis communication theory to understand Orlando hotels’ Twitter response to three crises in the summer of 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the crisis communication strategies implemented by hotel and lodging organizations via social media. Specifically, this study analyzed Twitter content by hotels in Orlando, Florida during the summer of 2016 when several crises occurred that made global media coverage, including the alligator snatching on Disney property, the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub and growing concerns of Zika virus.Design/methodology/approachTo understand crisis communication in the hotel industry, this study was guided by the technology-environment-organization framework and situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Twitter content between June 1 and August 31, 2016 from Orlando hotels was collected and content analyzed to determine: was the message related to the crisis event, the SCCT strategy used and the influence of hotel organizational factors (ownership, size, classification) on the use of social media for crisis communication.FindingsResults indicate that most hotels are not currently using Twitter as a form of crisis communication. Only the shooting at Pulse Nightclub was communicated and the SCCT bolster strategy was used throughout each of the crisis-related message, reminding stakeholders that they too are a victim.Originality/valueThis study provides insight into the ways hotels are using social media for crisis communication. Each crisis explored was different, and while the hotels were not responsible for creating the crises, they are responsible for the safety of guests. These results inform hoteliers that there is a responsibility to communicate during a crisis, particularly for informative purposes.

Frames and framing effects in Chinese online and offline crisis communication: the case study of a celebrity scandal

This study develops a model for analyzing the flow of frames and the multiple levels of framing effects in Chinese crisis communication both online and offline. To investigate the convergence and/or divergence of traditional media and social media in framing a crisis event in China, the study uses the sample of a celebrity scandal case that received extensive attention both online and offline. The empirical findings showed that crisis communicative strategies (CCSs), that is, the frames used in crisis communication, were correlated with those used in newspaper coverage (i.e. frames in representation) but were not correlated with the CCSs used by the online public (i.e. frames in thoughts). Specific and defensive CCSs, such as attacking the accusers and denial, led to fewer favorable responsibility-oriented frames than ambiguous strategies, such as excuses and justification. This finding supports the assumptions of classic situational crisis communication theory. However, none of the above-mentioned CCSs significantly predicted the relationship-oriented frames in thoughts. Relationship-oriented frames were found to be a predictor of the valence of online public opinion whereas no CCS was observed to be influential in the online public opinions expressed by social media users.

How to turn your friends into enemies: Causes and outcomes of customers’ sense of betrayal in crisis communication

Crises are violations of customers’ expectations for a company. Loyal customers who feel betrayed due to the violations of expectations often become the company’s worst enemies. To extend the line of research of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), this study explored how attributed responsibility, customer-company relationship (CCR), and their interaction affect betrayal. A company’s defining attributes and customer-company identification (CCI) shape customers’ expectations for a company. This study also examined how a direct threat to a company’s defining attribute in a crisis and CCI affect betrayal. A total of 395 Whole Foods customers participated in an online quasi-experiment.The antecedent concepts from SCCT all affect betrayal, with the attributed responsibility being the strongest predictor. Customers also feel more betrayed when the crisis directly threatens the company’s defining attribute and when they strongly identify with the company. Consequently, sense of betrayal has strong effects on customers’ attitudinal, emotional, and intentional responses.

Crisis history tellers matter

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore crisis history further. The paper also examines the possible impact of information source on publics’ perceptions. The study seeks to expound on the tenets of the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), particularly the underutilized crisis history component.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a 3 × 3 between-subjects experiment design to examine the effects of crisis history and information source on publics’ crisis emotions, perception of crisis responsibility, control, and organizational reputation. Participants were 174 undergraduate students from a large Southeastern university.FindingsThe study’s findings suggest that an organization’s crisis history by the media can increase publics’ perceived organizational control (referred to as personal control) in a crisis situation. However, negative crisis history told by the media can evoke more severe public anger in a crisis. A positive crisis history still could lead to negative perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses a fictional crisis scenario that may not evoke the same emotions or perceptions as an actual crisis.Practical implicationsCrisis communicators concerned with angry publics should focus less on traditional media relations and more on new media to reach other gatekeepers; or focus more heavily on media strategy since the media is more likely to elicit more anger among publics. Furthermore, a positive crisis history does not give organizations a pass in current crises.Originality/valueAlthough the SCCT identifies crisis history as an intensifier of attribution of responsibility, few studies have examined crisis history.

How to Fix a Lie? The Formation of Volkswagen’s Post-crisis Reputation Among the German Public

This study intends to clarify the psychological mechanism that explains the crisis responsibility and corporate reputation link, aiming at gaining knowledge on individuals’ perception formations in and reactions to a crisis. We extended the situational crisis communication theory through identifying the moderation effects of personal relevance and person–company fit in this relationship. The VW emissions scandal was investigated with respect to its impact on post-crisis reputation and negative word-of-mouth. A sample of 721 German respondents was analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results suggest that personal relevance strengthens the positive relationship between crisis responsibility and anger. Next to this, person–company fit weakens the impact of crisis responsibility on anger, as well as on sympathy. The results suggest that more attention needs to be drawn on the personal perspective in crisis communication, while different response strategies should be developed with respect to distinct stakeholder groups for protecting corporate reputation in the crisis context.

Evangelical Christian Crisis Responses to Same-Sex Sex Scandals

ABSTRACTThis research examines the crisis responses of four evangelical leaders (Paul Crouch, Ted Haggard, Lonnie Latham, and Eddie Long) involved in same-sex sex scandals by comparing their responses against those recommended by the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Using a quasi-case study approach to add context and richness to the SCCT, this research examined the leaders’ strategies and the response to them and found that the evangelical pastors generally adhered to the recommended strategies of the SCCT, thus reinforcing the broad applicability of the SCCT when handling a crisis, even in a religious context. Despite reinforcing the validity of the SCCT, this article also recommends the inclusion of additional categorical considerations for the SCCT for situations where a crisis inflicts spiritual or emotional harm, particularly for crises occurring in a religious environment.

Analysis on Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) Strategy and Severity Effect toward Crisis Responsibility and Company Reputation in Indonesian Transportation Industry

Analysis on Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) Strategy and Severity Effect toward Crisis Responsibility and Company Reputation in Indonesian Transportation Industry

Elaborating the halo effect of SCCT: how and why performance history affects crisis responsibility and organizational reputation

ABSTRACTThis study explored how and why a halo effect occurred during a food-related crisis in South Korea. The research questions were framed using situational crisis communication theory. A qualitative research method involving 16 in-depth interviews revealed that the good performance history of the company involved in the crisis caused people to attribute less responsibility to the organization, as they doubted the alleged cause of the crisis and interpreted the crisis as a one-time mistake. A good performance history reduced threats to the organization because people felt a personal bond with, and trust in, the organization, partly due to its long history of operations and relatively large size.

The Role of CSR in Crises: Integration of Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the Persuasion Knowledge Model

Despite widespread discussion of the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on consumer perceptions, little research has examined how consumers cope with CSR-based crisis response messages as a bolstering strategy. To fill this gap, we propose a framework integrating situational crisis communication theory with the persuasion knowledge model, applying the model to an experiment with a 2 (topic knowledge − crisis type: accidental vs. intentional) × 2 (persuasion knowledge− CSR motives: intrinsic vs. extrinsic) × 2 (agent knowledge− CSR history: long vs. short) between-subjects factorial design. In Study 1, we found interaction effects between CSR motives and crisis type on word-of-mouth intention and purchase intention. In addition, inferences about CSR motives interacted with perceptions about CSR history on purchase intention. In Study 2, we replicated study 1 and found that crisis responsibility mediated the main effect of crisis type on behavioral intentions, but neither the main effect of CSR motives and CSR history nor the interactions effects among those variables were mediated by crisis responsibility. Our results indicate that consumer inferences from a company’s CSR-based crisis communications play a significant role in increasing consumer behavioral intentions in two situations: when a crisis is accidental and when a CSR history is short. Ethical and theoretical implications are discussed.

A New Look at Celebrity Endorsements in Politics: Investigating the Impact of Scandalous Celebrity Endorsers and Politicians’ Best Responses

ABSTRACTWhen a celebrity receives negative news coverage, his or her endorsements of politicians can pose negative consequences for the politicians. We investigated such negative consequences with the help of two experimental studies. In Study 1 (celebrity involved in tax scandal), we manipulated whether an endorsement was initiated by a politician or a celebrity (i.e., controllability) in a 2 × 2 between-subject experiment. We also manipulated politicians’ responses (i.e., no response vs. response). Study 2 was a conceptual replication of the first experiment (celebrity involved in a real estate scandal). Results of Study 1 revealed that politicians are perceived to be more in control of self-initiated endorsements than other-initiated ones. Perceived controllability, in turn, influenced feelings of anger and pity, eventually affecting voting intentions. For self-initiated endorsements, no response appears to be the best reaction. By contrast, public response is advised when the endorsement was initiated by another entity. Results were replicated in Study 2. However, particular responses of a political candidate revealed no influences in connection with a real estate scandal. We explain our findings by applying the theory of planned behavior, attribution theory, and situational crisis communication theory.

Victims or conspirators? Understanding a hot-issue public’s online reactions to a victim cluster crisis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to qualitatively understand the reactions of online publics to a victim cluster crisis as the crisis unfolds and offer a new way of tracking online hot-issue publics using comments on online news articles.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a mixed-methods approach, employing both descriptive quantitative techniques and qualitative thematic analysis.FindingsQualitative analyses of online news comments on BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post revealed that publics’ reaction to the cyber-attack on Sony, the following threats of attack, and Sony’s response to it largely ran counter to the situational crisis communication theory’s (SCCT) assumptions about victim cluster crises. Analyses also revealed a pattern in the volume of comments on the two online news outlets, supporting the conceptualization of hot-issue publics growing and decreasing as news coverage of an issue rises and falls.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis was limited to one incident and two online media.Practical implicationsThis paper provides empirical support for the use of online news comments to track hot-issue publics and what is important to them. In addition, tracking the tone and content of the comments allows for an examination of the fit of SCCT assumptions and provides a way for practitioners to understand public opinion and adapt communication plans based on insights gleaned from such data.Originality/valueThis study is one of few to provide empirical support for the conceptualization of hot-issue publics, and to do so using online news comments. In addition, it is one of very few to study the SCCT in real-world settings, examining real publics’ reactions to real issues.

Framing the Oil Spill Disaster: How South Korean Newspapers Present Responsibility and Severity When Covering the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill

This study examines how South Korean newspapers framed the Hebei Spirit oil spill disaster in 2007 with two key concepts of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT): crisis responsibility and severity. Also, we investigate how the political stances of newspapers—conservative and liberal—affect the selection of news frames. By using a content analysis from four nationwide South Korean newspapers, findings showed that frames regarding severity appeared more often than frames about crisis responsibility. Also, the results revealed that there were differences of frames according to time periods and the political stances of newspapers. This study provides empirical evidence to support that the two SCCT concepts can be used in the content analysis appropriately. Also, this study offers crisis managers with helpful information by showing how the media present a crisis in practice and, thus, can inform how organizations develop appropriate crisis communication responses.

Who says what during crises? A study about the interplay between gender similarity with the spokesperson and crisis response strategy

This study examined the relative importance of verbal and visual cues in organizational crisis communication, focusing on the importance of gender similarity between an organizational spokesperson and stakeholders and the moderating role of the crisis response strategy used. The findings indicate that gender similarity is beneficial for organizational reputation because it enhances stakeholders' empathy toward the spokesperson. However, this effect is only found when the spokesperson uses an appropriate crisis response strategy based on the guidelines of situational crisis communication theory. More specifically, when a spokesperson offers a rebuild strategy in the context of a preventable crisis, gender similarity results in more empathy toward the spokesperson and, subsequently, in improved organizational reputation. However, the effect of gender similarity on organizational reputation through empathy toward the spokesperson was not found when a deny strategy was used.

Effect of Rational and Emotional Framing on Highly Involved Audience in Severe Crisis Situation: An Experimental Study on MH370

Rational and Emotional framing is an important crisis response strategy (CRS) used by organisations in its effort to minimize damage and reputational threat of a crisis. The framing effect of a message is crucial not only in influencing the audience attitude towards the organization, but also behaviour. Using one of Malaysia’s most high profiled crises MH370 as a crisis scenario, this study examines the effect of framing used by Malaysia Airlines System in its crisis communication effort on Facebook. Facebook is one of the prominent social media platforms used by organizations in time of crisis. Despite its ability to facilitate immediacy and interactivity, the messages that are spread within the dynamic setting of Facebook however could also create contradicting outcome for the organization. This present study seeks to examine the effect of rational and emotional framing from the perspective of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). Cognizant to the influencing factor of audience involvement on the effect of framing, this study incorporates Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) in examining audience response towards the organization by taking into consideration audience different motivation to message processing. The convergence of SCCT and ELM has made this study significant as it advances the explication of potential crisis communication effects by underscoring the distinct effect held by rational and emotional frames on highly involved audience; especially in regards to a crisis as severe and nationally salient like MH370.

Examining the paracrisis online: The effects of message source, response strategies and social vigilantism on public responses

A 2×2 experimental study (N=168) examined the effects of the message source (CEO vs. individual real estate agent) and response strategies (deny vs. diminish strategies) on public perceptions of controversial online comments and emotional and behavioral responses. This study extends situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) by applying it to paracrisis situations as well as by testing a cognitive model in which breach of expectation by different actors leads to different degrees of judgment of responsibility and counterfactual thinking processes (i.e., the person could/would/should have done something else). A deny crisis response (e.g., scapegoating) was effective in reducing blame and negative affective responses and yielded less negative reputation assessment of the message source. The expectation breach led participants to engage in a counterfactual thinking process, which in turn evoked greater indignation and more negative reputation assessment. Indignation and negative reputation were both significant predictors of online word-of-mouth intention. Social vigilantism, individuals’ tendency to propagate their opinions onto others, mediated the relationship between indignation and online discussion intention.

Keeping Investors Onboard: A Corporate Social Responsibility Crisis Response Framework

There is evidence to suggest that managers use CSR reporting as a means to manage their firms’ CSR reputations. In this study, I jointly examine CSR reputation and CSR crisis response in the context of CSR crises, and how they can influence investor judgments and decision making. In particular, in the context of CSR crises, I build on situational crisis communication theory to develop a CSR crisis response framework which managers can use to examine and understand how specific types of CSR crises can influence their firm’s CSR reputations, which can in turn influence investor judgments and decision making. Following from that, I also specify three CSR crisis response strategies that managers can employ to manage their firms’ CSR reputations.

An Expected Crisis : A Case Study of Volkswagen Diesel Crisis

This exploratory case study analyzes the Volkswagen diesel crisis from a crisis communication perspective. The Volkswagen diesel case provides a unique opportunity to examine how a Fortune 500 company managed (or mismanaged) an intentional corporate misdeed, and to understand the shortcomings of existing crisis communication theories. In analyzing the case, this study adopted the theoretical frameworks from the two dominant crisis communication theories, namely Image Repair Theory and Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Our findings show Volkswagen’s systemic failure of crisis management and communication before and after the crisis erupted. The findings also suggest the scholarly need to further develop crisis communication theories in providing strategic implications for major crises such as the Volkswagen diesel case.

Revisiting Organizational Credibility and Organizational Reputation – A Situational Crisis Communication Approach

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..

THE USE OF THE SITUATIONAL CRISIS COMMUNICATION THEORY TO STUDY CRISIS RESPONSE STRATEGIES AT A UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Over the past few years, crises at South African universities have become a regular occurrence. A growing number of researchers have confirmed that Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) assists in understanding how management generally responds to a crisis situation. This study used SCCT to investigate how the crisis communication activities at one South African university of technology was perceived by the staff of that institution. The study examined, through a survey among a stratified random sample of staff members, the respondents’ perceptions of the communication channels and crisis response strategies that management used when communicating with staff during crises related to student protests at the University. The findings suggest that the University mainly used the justification crisis response strategy to communicate to university stakeholders, while rarely using the other strategies found in SCCT. The communication channels most preferred by staff for crisis communication were SMSs and WhatsApp messages, while the University website was perceived to have been used most by management. The article finally makes some recommendations, but also points out some limitations of the study.