Optimizing the Organizational Crisis Communication Portfolio

Organizational reputation can be seriously damaged after a self-inflicted or externally induced crisis. Studies have tested the restoring and protective effects of various crisis communication strategies. For this paper, we compared the effects on organizational reputation dependent on (a) crisis type and (b) crisis communication strategy used. We combined six strategies in a stepwise manner, showing which ones are most effective in which type of crisis in an experimental online setting. Respondents were randomly assigned to questionnaires with varying combinations of (b) in a different sequence of (a) rating the organization for three points in time. Using a diverse sample, we show that organizational reputation improves significantly only after combining at least five strategies.