Audience-Oriented Approach to Crisis Communication: A Study of Hong Kong Consumers’ Evaluation of an Organizational Crisis

Abstract

This study investigated the responses of consumers to information about an organizational crisis. Three hundred and eighty-five individuals from Hong Kong responded to hypothetical scenarios describing a plane crash. The scenarios manipulated causal attribution (internal and external), the organizations’ crisis response (shifting the blame, minimization, no comment, apology, compensation, and corrective action), and crisis severity (severe and extremely severe). Results showed significant main effects of causal attribution and crisis response on (a) judgment of organizational responsibility for the crisis, (b) impression of the organization, (c) sympathy toward the organization, and (d) trust in the organization. However, no significant effects of crisis severity were found. Crisis response affected participants’ judgment of organizational responsibility, and the “no comment” crisis response fostered more trust in the organization than did the minimization crisis response. Implications of the findings for attribution theory and cross-cultural research on crisis communication are discussed.