Message Strategies and Forgiveness during Crises: Effects of Causal Attributions and Apology Appeal Types on Forgiveness

In this study, the concept of forgiveness was proposed as an outcome variable to crisis management, and relationships among message appeals, causal attributions, and forgiveness were investigated. A 2 (causal attributions: internal vs. external) x 2 (message appeals: information-centered vs. emotion-centered) between-subjects design experimental study was conducted. The two types of causal attributions had significant main effects, and the different types of causal attributions and message appeals had interaction effects on forgiveness. This suggests the importance of selectively determining message appeals based on the public's perception of causal attributions during a crisis.