Since Schultz et al. discovered that “the medium had an effect on the organisational reputation”, our study grasps upon these aspects by analysing the perception of varying messages through a social media site and a press release. Here, “electronic word of mouth communications, which are able to reach a vast number of people in a short period of time” might be relevant. Crises threaten the organisation’s attractiveness and trustworthiness. Consequently, a solution is to prevent worse, with respect towards the manifold stakeholders.
This spring, when COVID-19 peaked, Bottega Veneta decided to have a fashion show at a club in Berlin. Thus, celebrities were invited and even had a party afterwards. However, the label denied commenting on the accusations of acting unethically. This example illustrates one of the few existing crisis response strategies, namely the denial strategy. Also, the communication channel is an essential aspect.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Methods
Design
Participants
Procedure and stimuli
Manipulation checks
Measures
Plan of analysis
3. Results
Effect of communication channel on corporate reputation: twitter vs press release (H1)
Effect of response strategy on corporate reputation: rebuild vs denial strategy (H2)
Effect of interaction between communication channel and response strategy on corporate reputation (H3)
Moderation of crisis-involvement on the relationship between response strategy and the corporate reputation (H4)
4. Discussion
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary objective of this study is to investigate how different crisis response strategies and communication channels influence a company's post-crisis reputation. By utilizing an experimental design, the research explores whether the choice of platform (Twitter vs. press release) and the nature of the response (denial vs. rebuild) significantly mitigate or exacerbate the negative perception of a firm following a crisis event.
- Analysis of crisis response strategies (denial versus rebuild approaches).
- Evaluation of communication channels (social media vs. traditional press releases).
- Investigation of the impact of crisis involvement on stakeholder perceptions.
- Measurement of corporate reputation and organizational trustworthiness.
- Experimental testing of communication effectiveness in a fictional crisis scenario.
Excerpt from the Book
Manipulation checks
As our foundation are the independent variables, we opted to notice technical and interpretative issues. So, we asked two dichotomous questions about the response strategy and the communication channel. Since we examine the relationship between two categorical variables, we must conduct two chi-squared tests on a contingency table. For our first one, the data satisfy the conditions since there are zero cells (<20%) counted less than five, and no cell has a frequency of zero. Chi-square requires a table with at least three columns or rows. Therefore, we conduct Fischer's exact test, p < .001, which shows that our manipulation worked. This is a strong effect, Goodman & Kruskal's tau = .72. Participants in the denial condition stated way more often (94%) that Francis´ Fries denied the incident than those in the rebuild condition (9%). At the same time, individuals in the former condition had a lower score (7%) compared to those in the latter condition (92%) when they were asked whether the restaurant admitted their responsibilities.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the research context, the fictional scenario involving an LGBTQ+ discrimination event, and outlines the four main hypotheses concerning crisis response strategies and communication channels.
2. Methods: This section details the experimental design, including the participant sample, the specific procedure for stimuli presentation, the manipulation checks performed, and the statistical methods used to analyze the collected data.
3. Results: This chapter presents the empirical findings for each of the four hypotheses, evaluating the impact of communication channels, response strategies, and the moderating role of crisis involvement on corporate reputation.
4. Discussion: This chapter interprets the statistical results in the context of existing literature, addresses the study's limitations, and suggests directions for future research regarding corporate crises and communication.
Keywords
Crisis communication, corporate reputation, response strategy, communication channel, Twitter, press release, crisis involvement, organizational trust, experimental study, rebuilding strategy, denial strategy, stakeholder perception, social media, crisis management, reputation repair.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper examines how organizations can effectively manage their corporate reputation after a crisis by choosing appropriate response strategies and communication channels.
Which key factors influence corporate reputation during a crisis?
The study highlights the roles of response strategies (such as denial or rebuilding) and the media platform used (Twitter versus traditional press releases) as critical factors.
What is the primary research question?
The central question is whether the communication channel and the chosen crisis response strategy significantly influence a company's reputation in the aftermath of a crisis.
What research methodology was employed?
The researchers conducted a survey-embedded online experiment using a 2x2 factorial design, involving 214 participants who were exposed to fictionalized crisis scenarios.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body covers the experimental design, data collection via questionnaire, statistical manipulation checks, measurement scales (Likert), and testing of hypotheses through t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple regression.
What are the characterizing keywords of this study?
The work is characterized by terms such as crisis communication, corporate reputation, rebuild strategy, denial strategy, and crisis involvement.
How does "crisis-involvement" affect the results?
The study found that higher levels of personal crisis involvement are associated with a decrease in perceived corporate reputation, acting as a significant moderator in the relationship between response strategy and reputation.
Why was Twitter compared specifically to a press release?
Twitter was chosen to represent social media "electronic word of mouth" channels, while the press release served as a formal organizational statement, allowing for a comparison between modern and traditional communication formats.
- Quote paper
- Julien Brühl (Author), 2021, Preserving corporate reputation through response strategy and communication channel. An experimental study towards a crisis scenario, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1043100
