IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v58y2015i2p141-148.html

The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research

Author

Listed:
  • Coombs, W. Timothy

Abstract

The field of strategic communication encompasses a burgeoning crisis communication literature that seeks to identify effective and ineffective crisis communication efforts. Strategic communication has identified an array of crisis response strategies and the factors that determine when these response options are effective or ineffective. This article extracts key lessons from the crisis communication research to develop a set of guidelines managers can use to inform their crisis communication efforts. The analysis includes an examination of the crisis response strategies and their desired outcomes, the timing of crisis responses, and the situational factors that have proven to affect the effectiveness of crisis response strategies. The research results provide the foundation for evidence-based crisis communication. The guidelines help managers to understand how their communicative choices will impact the corporate reputation and other important crisis outcomes, and will help managers to make informed choices about crisis communication.

Suggested Citation

  • Coombs, W. Timothy, 2015. "The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 141-148.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:58:y:2015:i:2:p:141-148
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2014.10.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681314001505
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.10.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, Peter H. & Dirks, Kurt T. & Cooper, Cecily D. & Ferrin, Donald L., 2006. "When more blame is better than less: The implications of internal vs. external attributions for the repair of trust after a competence- vs. integrity-based trust violation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 49-65, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Corgnet, Brice & Gächter, Simon & Hernán-González, Roberto, 2025. "The contractual dispute resolution game: Real-effort experiments on contract negotiation and arbitration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    2. Dutta, Sujay & Pullig, Chris, 2011. "Effectiveness of corporate responses to brand crises: The role of crisis type and response strategies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 1281-1287.
    3. Dirks, Kurt T. & Kim, Peter H. & Ferrin, Donald L. & Cooper, Cecily D., 2011. "Understanding the effects of substantive responses on trust following a transgression," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 87-103, March.
    4. Dijke, Marius van & Cremer, David De, 2011. "When social accounts promote acceptance of unfair ultimatum offers: The role of the victim's stress responses to uncertainty and power position," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 468-479, June.
    5. Raju, Sekar & Rajagopal, Priyali & Murdock, Mitchel R., 2021. "The moderating effects of prior trust on consumer responses to firm failures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 24-37.
    6. Brühl, Rolf & Basel, Jörn S. & Kury, Max F., 2018. "Communication after an integrity-based trust violation: How organizational account giving affects trust," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 161-170.
    7. Dandan Wang & Thomas Walker, 2023. "How to Regain Green Consumer Trust after Greenwashing: Experimental Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-24, October.
    8. Sue-Chan, Christina & Au, Al K.C. & Hackett, Rick D., 2012. "Trust as a mediator of the relationship between leader/member behavior and leader-member-exchange quality," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 459-468.
    9. AERTS, Walter & TARCA, Ann, 2008. "The effect of institutional setting on attributional content in management commentary reports," Working Papers 2008010, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    10. Eric Schniter & Roman M. Sheremeta & Daniel Sznycer, 2011. "Restoring Damaged Trust with Promises, Atonement and Apology," Working Papers 11-18, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    11. Jörn S. Basel & Katja Rubin, 2021. "Repair of Trust Through Apology at a Reputable Company: The Case of PostBus In Switzerland," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 12(3), pages 116-138, June.
    12. Lutz Kaufmann & Jens Esslinger & Craig R. Carter, 2018. "Toward Relationship Resilience: Managing Buyer‐Induced Breaches of Psychological Contracts During Joint Buyer–Supplier Projects," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 54(4), pages 62-85, October.
    13. Alyson Byrne & Julian Barling & Kathryne Dupré, 2014. "Leader Apologies and Employee and Leader Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 91-106, April.
    14. Weiquan Wang & May Wang, 2019. "Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure on Perceived Integrity of Biased Recommendation Agents: Psychological Contract Violation and Knowledge-Based Trust Perspectives," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 507-522, June.
    15. Kathleen Cleeren & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Harald J. Heerde, 2017. "Marketing research on product-harm crises: a review, managerial implications, and an agenda for future research," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 593-615, September.
    16. Li, Yi-Na & Li, Yan & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Wei, Jiuchang, 2023. "How verbal and non-verbal cues in a CEO apology for a corporate crisis affect a firm’s social disapproval," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    17. Strömmer, Sofia & Lawrence, Wendy & Rose, Taylor & Vogel, Christina & Watson, Daniella & Bottell, Joanne N. & Parmenter, Janice & Harvey, Nicholas C. & Cooper, Cyrus & Inskip, Hazel & Baird, Janis & B, 2018. "Improving recruitment to clinical trials during pregnancy: A mixed methods investigation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 73-82.
    18. Enis Yakut & Ayse Gul Bayraktaroglu, 2021. "Consumer reactions to product recalls: the effects of intentionality, reputation, and public apology on purchase intentions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 527-564, May.
    19. Bob Fennis & Wolfgang Stroebe, 2014. "Softening the Blow: Company Self-Disclosure of Negative Information Lessens Damaging Effects on Consumer Judgment and Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 109-120, March.
    20. Ruchdee Binmad & Mingchu Li & Zhen Wang & Nakema Deonauth & Chettupally Anil Carie, 2017. "An Extended Framework for Recovering From Trust Breakdowns in Online Community Settings," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-13, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:58:y:2015:i:2:p:141-148. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.