Matching Consequences and Causes in Crisis Public Relations

This exploratory study examines the phenomenon of consequence cause matching,which is based on the representativeness heuristic,from cognitive psychology,upon crisis management and public relations.A 2(Large Scale Crisis vs.Small Scale Crisis)×2(Large Scale Cause vs.Small Scale Cause)mixed factorial design experiment was conducted based upon a hypothetical crisis scenario.This study found initial evidence that consequence cause matching is a phenomenon that can impact the process of attribution for a crisis.It highlights a potential new area of theoretical growth for the situational crisis communication theory.

Ready or Not: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and Her Crisis Response Strategy During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using Situational Crisis Communication Theory(SCCT)by Coombs(2007),this study analyses the case of Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte’s CoViD-19 Crisis and her crisis response strategy to address the situation.The study looks at the crisis communication of Quezon City on issues stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.The SCCT provides a framework for the organization facing a different complex case of crisis to protect the reputational organization’s assets.The organization’s ability to select the most appropriate and beneficial response helps them deal with an emergency and crisis(Coombs,2007).Simultaneously,in this paper,SCCT was used to examine the stakeholder’s perceptions about the organization’s action and response by Mayor Belmonte on the crisis.This paper concludes Mayor Belmonte did not follow the recommendations of SCCT by combining Deny,such as Attacks the Accuser,Deny and Scapegoat tactics,and Diminish strategies such as Excuse and Justice tactics,to respond to the wide variety of stakeholder’s groups.Mayor Belmonte’s crisis response strategies and tactics do not align with the SCCT.The theory recommends corrective action and response such as Rebuild as well as Bolstering strategies are“considered as the most effective communication of crisis response strategy when an organization perceived a strong attribution of crisis responsibility and results in a severe reputational threat”(Coombs,2007).By reviewing the situation that Mayor Belmonte faced,this paper concludes that she was under severe threat.Mayor Belmonte’s CoViD-19 crisis is the preventable cluster based on the overall stakeholder’s perception of the crisis.The preventable cluster considered her primary,secondary,and additional stakeholders.It depicted an organizational misdeed with and without injuries,and the appropriate responses to adapt to re-establish the organization’s reputation is a Rebuild strategy because interventions such as Compensation and Apology should work to improve the organization’s reputation.Conversely,Mayor Belmonte chose to frequently employ Deny strategy(Attacks the Accuser and Scapegoat)and Diminish strategy(Excuse and Justice)to respond to various stakeholders.

Impact of Crisis Communication Strategies on People's Attitudes toward Behavioral Guidelines Regarding COVID-19 and on Their Trust in Local Officials

Situational Crisis Communication Theory(SCCT)guides responses of corporations in crises.We tested how COVID-19 related crisis communication strategies affect trust in mayors and the acceptance of behavioral measures.A total of 561 participants(53%female)with a mean age of 50 years took part in an online experiment in which we systematically manipulated the mayor's crisis communication strategy(deny crisis,diminish role in crisis,rebuild relationship after taking responsibility,bolster reputation,no response)and pre-crisis reputation(good past crisis management,bad past crisis management).Age,gender,and education served as covariates.We also tested the predictive power of personal concern regarding the COVID-19 pandemic,as well as internal and external control convictions.In our preregistered analysis,we found that crisis communication strategies had no significant effect on participants'ratings of behavioral measures,but they affected participants'trust in the mayor.The deny crisis strategy resulted in the most unfavorable ratings,while the effects of the other strategies were moderated by the mayor's precrisis reputation.Additional exploratory analyses showed that individual concern and trust were important predictors for the acceptance of behavioral measures.Even though we did not find any effects of communication strategies on behavioral measures,our results support SCCT's utility in guiding communication strategy during a pandemic.

Is Being Funny a Useful Policy?How Local Governments' Humorous Crisis Response Strategies and Crisis Responsibilities Influence Trust,Emotions,and Behavioral Intentions

This study is the first to investigate how a local government’s humorously framed response strategy on social media to a low-severity crisis influences people ’s trust in the local government and their crisis-related behavioral intentions,specific ally when considering the government’s responsibility for the crisis.Based on the situational crisis communication theory,we examined the mediating role of experienced positive or negative affect on people’ s responses to a local government’s crisis communication strategy.Further,we exploratorily examined the predictive power and moderating role of demographics,sense of humor,disposition to trust,and the respective crisis scenarios.A total of517 people participated in an online experiment in which they were confronted with three randomly presented fictive crisis scenarios where the local government’s crisis responsibility(high versus low) and the framing of their crisis response strategy(in form of humorous versus rational Twitter posts) were systematically varied between subjects.First,the results mostly corroborate earlier findings about the degree of crisis responsibility(that is,when a government’s crisis responsibility is high,people have less trust and behavioral intentions) and about the mediating role of experienced affect.Second,we found that humorously framed strategies negatively influence trust and positive affect(but not behavioral intentions).In contrast to earlier findings,the crisis responsibility × framing interaction was not significant.Altogether,the results advise against using humor in crisis communications on social media,even in lowseverity crisis.Exploratory analyses indicate that further investigations should focus on specific crisis characteristics and potential moderators.