The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research

    Authors

    W. T. Coombs

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Bus. Horiz.

    Keywords

    Crisis communication; Evidence-based; Crisis response strategies; Crisis; STEALING THUNDER; REPAIR; TRUST; Business

    Abstract

    The field of strategic communication encompasses a burgeoning crisis communication literature that seeks to identify effective and ineffective crisis communication efforts. Strategic communication has identified an array of crisis response strategies and the factors that determine when these response options are effective or ineffective. This article extracts key lessons from the crisis communication research to develop a set of guidelines managers can use to inform their crisis communication efforts. The analysis includes an examination of the crisis response strategies and their desired outcomes, the timing of crisis responses, and the situational factors that have proven to affect the effectiveness of crisis response strategies. The research results provide the foundation for evidence-based crisis communication. The guidelines help managers to understand how their communicative choices will impact the corporate reputation and other important crisis outcomes, and will help managers to make informed choices about crisis communication. (C) 2014 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Business Horizons

    Volume

    58

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2015

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    141

    Last Page

    148

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000352044400002

    ISSN

    0007-6813

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