Title

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

Authors

Authors

W. T. Coombs

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

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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