Crisis Communication
Chelsea Levy
Senior Seminar Project
Fall 2008
Jet Blue
Conceptual Definition of Crisis Communication
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Using timely, accurate, and effective communication to protect and defend an
individual or organization facing a crisis.
Key purpose: to maintain the organization’s reputation and credibility.
Organizational crisis:
 “A situation that can potentially escalate in intensity, fall under close government
or media scrutiny, jeopardize the current positive public image of an organization
or interfere with normal business operations including damaging the bottom line in
any way” (Stephens, et al., 2005).
 “The state of uncertainty resulting from a triggering event that disrupts an
organization’s routine activities” (Cloudman & Hallahan, 2006).
Crisis stages (Pearson & Mitroff, 1993)
 Early warning signals of impending disaster
 Preparation and prevention
 Damage containment
 Recovery
 Learning
Who Wants to Know?
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Communication fields
 Mass Media
 Organizational Communication
 Health Communication
Academic and practical fields
 Public Relations specialists
 Customer/consumer relations
 Human Resources
 Politicians
 Law enforcement
Brief Historical Background on the Study of
Crisis Communication
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James Benson (1988)
 Speech communication
 Challenged researchers to discover the range of crisis response and communication
strategies organizations use in a crisis and document the crisis response strategy or
strategies best suited for a particular crisis type.
Myria Watkins Allen & Rachel H. Caillouet (1994)
 Impression management strategies (audience analysis)
William Benoit (1995)
 Image repair strategies
W. Timothy Coombs (1990s)
 Communication professor at Eastern Illinois University
 Symbolic approach to crisis management - examines the strategies used to respond
to crises, matching crisis type and crisis response strategy
 Introduced idea of CMC
Coombs – Crisis Response Strategies
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Five crisis response strategies
 Denial
 Distance
 Ingratiation
 Mortification
 Suffering
Based on attribution theory and Allen &
Caillouet’s 20 impression management
strategies and Benoit’s 14 image repair strategies
Defensive-accommodative continuum
Review of Literature
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Role of technology and the Internet
 Vielhaber & Waltman (2008). Changing uses of technology: Crisis communication
responses in a faculty strike.
 Taylor & Perry (2005). Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis
communication.
Crisis planning
 Pang, Cropp, & Cameron (2006). Corporate crisis planning: Tensions, issues, and
contradictions.
 Cloudman & Hallahan (2006). Crisis communications preparedness among U.S.
organizations: Activities and assessments by public relations practitioners.
Building on Coombs research
 Stephens, Malone, & Bailey (2005). Communicating with stakeholders during a crisis:
Evaluating message strategies.
Theories Associated With Crisis Communication
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Theories used
 Stakeholder Theory (Freeman, 1984)
 Attribution Theory (Kelly, 1973)
 Neoinstitutional Theory (Dimaggio & Powell, 1991)
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Theory derived
 Situational Crisis Communication Theory – SCCT (Coombs, 2002)
Methodological Issues Associated With
Crisis Communication
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Content analysis
Coding
Case studies
Questionnaires
Surveys
What Do We Still Need to Know?
Where Do We Go from Here?
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Future directions
 Brand commitment
 Effectiveness of crisis response messages mediated by technology
 More case studies to validate previous research and draw generalizations
 Use of outside expert to enhance credibility
 Crisis planning
 Effect of media
 Cultural implications
My ideas
 Technology
 Public relations
 Corporate culture
References
Allen, M.W. & Caillouet, R.H. (1994). Legitimation endeavors: Impression management strategies used by an organization in crisis. Communication Monographs, 61, 44-62.
Cloudman, R. & Hallahan, K. (2006). Crisis communications preparedness among U.S. organizations: Activities and assessments by public relations practitioners. Public
Relations Review, 32, 367-376.
Coombs, W. T. (1998). An analytic framework for crisis situations: Better responses from a better understanding of the situation. Journal of Public Relations Research, 10,
177-191.
Coombs, W.T. & Holladay, S.J. (1996). Communication and attributions in a crisis: An experimental study in crisis communication. Journal of Public Relations Research, 8,
279-295.
Coombs, W. T. & Holladay, S.J. (2002). Helping crisis managers protect reputational assets: Initial tests of the situational crisis communication theory. Management
Communication Quarterly, 16, 165-186.
Dean, D.H. (2004). Consumer reaction to negative publicity: Effects of corporate reputation, response, and responsibility for a crisis event. Journal of Business
Communication, 41, 192-211.
Huang, Y. (2006). Crisis situations, communication strategies, and media coverage: A multicase study revisiting the communicative response model. Communication
Research, 33, 180-205.
Pang, A., Cropp, F., & Cameron, G.T. (2006). Corporate crisis planning: Tensions, issues, and contradictions. Journal of Communication Management, 10, 371-389.
Perry, D.C., Taylor, M., & Doerfel, M.L. (2003). Internet-based communication in crisis management. Management Communication Quarterly, 17, 205-232.
Stephens, K.K., Malone, P.C., & Bailey, C.M. (2005). Communicating with stakeholders during a crisis: Evaluating message strategies. Journal of Business Communication, 42,
390-419.
Taylor, M. & Perry, D.C. (2005). Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 31, 209-217.
Vielhaber, M.E. & Waltman, J.L. (2008). Changing uses of technology: Crisis communication responses in a faculty strike. Journal of Business Communication, 45, 308-330.
Vlad, I., Sallot, L.M., & Reber, B.H. (2006). Rectification without assuming responsibility: Testing the transgression flowchart with the Vioxx recall. Journal of Public
Relations Research, 18, 357-379.