The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 40 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Integrating Moral Outrage in Situational Crisis Communication Theory: A Triadic Appraisal Model for Crises
Abstract
This study uses moral outrage to create a triadic appraisal of crises for situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The addition of moral outrage improves the theory with an eye toward enhancing its application to the practice of crisis communication. The authors argue that adding moral outrage resulted in a needed reconceptualization of the preventable crisis cluster in SCCT identified by earlier researchers. Moral outrage becomes a third factor stakeholders utilize to assess crisis threats along with (1) determining if the situation is negative and (2) evaluations of crisis responsibility. The results of the study indicate that the preventable crisis cluster should be treated as three distinct sub-clusters. We argue that this triadic appraisal of crisis threat improves SCCT theoretically and has implications for the practice of crisis communication.
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“Injustice, or unfairness, was measured using Coombs and Tachkova's (2023) 3-item measure of injustice on a 7-point Likert scale, including”
From Artificial Intelligence in Crisis Communication: Investigating Source Effects and Matched Crisis Responses on Stakeholder Perceptions (2026) · cites this paper as Coombs and Tachkova 2023
In the citing paper
“Injustice, or perceptions that a company is dishonest or unfair, has been found to be a key factor in the generation of moral outrage (Coombs and Tachkova 2023).”
From Artificial Intelligence in Crisis Communication: Investigating Source Effects and Matched Crisis Responses on Stakeholder Perceptions (2026) · cites this paper as Coombs and Tachkova 2023
Citations
Cites
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Self-citationOngoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding
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Bundy, J., Pfarrer, M. D., Short, C. E., & Coombs, W. T. (2017) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206316680030 · Cited by 1,331
Self-citationCoombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2002) · Management Communication Quarterly · doi:10.1177/089331802237233 · Cited by 1,144
Self-citationColquitt, J. A., & Zapata-Phelan, C. P. (2007) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2007.28165855 · Cited by 1,015
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Coombs W. T., 2018, Scandalogy: An interdisciplinary field, 172
- Coombs W. T., 2021, Advancing crisis communication effectiveness: Integrating public relations Scholarship with practice, 165
- Grebe S., 2012, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 13, 13
- Institute for Crisis Management, 2020, ICM annual crisis report
- Patel S., 2015, 2015 2nd international conference on Computing for sustainable global development, 537
- Verbalyte M., 2018, Scandalogy: An interdisciplinary field, 62
Cited by
How Emotions Can Enhance Crisis Communication: Theorizing Around Moral Outrage
Coombs, W. T., & Tachkova, E. R. (2023) · Journal of Public Relations Research · doi:10.1080/1062726x.2023.2244615 · Cited by 94
Self-citation“If it can be done, it will be done:” AI Ethical Standards and a dual role for public relations
Bowen, S. A. (2024) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102513 · Cited by 66
Niu, R., Eng, N., Zhao, Y., & Jin, Y. (2025) · Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management · doi:10.1111/1468-5973.70054 · Cited by 21
Voges, T. S., Jin, Y., Buckley, C., Eaddy, L. L., & Lu, X. (2024) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102424 · Cited by 17
Selaković, M., Ljepava, N., Bagheri, N., & Chami, R. A. (2024) · Corporate Communications An International Journal · doi:10.1108/ccij-01-2024-0011 · Cited by 17
Metadata
- Authors
- Coombs, W. T., & Tachkova, E. R.
- Affiliations
- Centre for Crisis and Risk Communications
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Tachkova, Elina R.
- ORCID
- Tachkova, Elina R.
- Venue
- Management Communication Quarterly
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2023-01-09
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 798-820
- ISSN
- 0893-3189 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-6798
- OpenAlex
- W4319838991
- Semantic Scholar
- 1368372634302167e2fcbc9dcdd9d361342151cb
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9
- FWCI
- 33.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
- Locations
- Management Communication Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Public Relations and Crisis Communication
- Social Sciences › Communication › Interpersonal and Organizational Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Keywords
- moral outrage, Situational Crisis Communication Theory, crisis responsibility, stakeholder perspectives, crisis communication
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
