Is old news no news? The impact of self-disclosure by organizations in crisis

This study examines the impact of self-disclosing incriminating information in the context of organizational crises. Study one indicates that when an organization self-discloses a crisis, participants devote less attention to subsequent negative publicity and any attention this information receives has less impact on the organizational post-crisis reputation. An interaction between crisis timing strategy and crisis involvement in study two suggests that if an organization self-discloses a crisis, both participants' attention to negative publicity and the impact of this attention on post-crisis reputation are low, irrespective of crisis involvement. If an organization does not self-disclose a crisis, however, crisis involvement affects consumers' attention to negative publicity but not the impact of this attention on the organizational post-crisis reputation. These findings offer an important indication that organizations in crisis should self-disclose potentially incriminating information.