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The effects of crisis history and response posture on stakeholders’ perception of organizations in crisis

Reezigt, M.L. (2012) The effects of crisis history and response posture on stakeholders’ perception of organizations in crisis.

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Abstract:This study will seek whether or not the crisis history of an organization affects the way stakeholders perceive a current crisis in combination with the crisis response postures of Coombs (2007). The main reason to examine crisis history is the likelihood that it will influence the calculated trust that stakeholders have in an organization, and the role that trust plays in the way that stakeholders perceive and process information. Participants were exposed to 1 of the 4 conditions manipulated on crisis history (positive/negative) and response posture (best fitting/least fitting). The effects of the manipulations were measured, after participant had read a case story about a Telecom company, on calculative trust, perceived intentions, attribution of crisis responsibility, reputation and actual information seeking. Findings suggest that the crisis history of an organization is of more importance than choosing the right response posture. On a multitude of dependent variables, only calculative trust showed a difference between the two response postures. Any other measured construct demonstrates that is doesn’t matter which strategy an organization uses. On the other hand, a positive history seems to ensure besides a higher calculative trust, also better perceived intentions, a better evaluation of reputation and lower actual information seeking behaviour. This study seems to provide evidence that the crisis history of an organization is of more importance for stakeholders’ perception of organizations in crisis than individual response postures.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/62207
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