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Which spokesperson should be used in which crisis? : An experimental study into the effects of message frame, gender of the spokesperson and crisis severity on credibility of the spokesperson, emotions and trust in the organization.

Nijenkamp, M.G.M. (2019) Which spokesperson should be used in which crisis? : An experimental study into the effects of message frame, gender of the spokesperson and crisis severity on credibility of the spokesperson, emotions and trust in the organization.

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Abstract:The purpose of this study was to experimentally investigate to what extent message frame (rational vs emotional), the gender of the spokesperson (male vs female) and the crisis severity (low vs high) influence the perceived credibility of the spokesperson, emotions (anger and sympathy) and trust in the organization.An online experiment, using 2 (message frame: rational vs emotional) x 2 (gender of the spokesperson: male vs female) x 2 (crisis severity: high vs low) research design was executed among 204 Dutch respondents. The findings of this study show a trend effect of message framing on the amount of sympathy. Additionally, the results show that the gender of the spokesperson has a significant effect on expertise. A male spokesperson is perceived as more expert than a female spokesperson. The crisis severity had an effect on the amount of anger and sympathy. Furthermore, the study shows a trend in the interaction effect between message frame and crisis severity. A rational message frame scores better in a crisis with high severity than in a crisis with low severity. Other interactions or mediation effects are not found.
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/80237
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