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How to steal thunder : the effects of crisis communication timing, crisis communication framing and communication medium on consumer's trust, perceived sincerity, anger, purchase intention and perceived crisis severity

Bielefeld, V. (2021) How to steal thunder : the effects of crisis communication timing, crisis communication framing and communication medium on consumer's trust, perceived sincerity, anger, purchase intention and perceived crisis severity.

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Abstract:Adequate communication in times of crisis is crucial for a company to avoid reputational damage. Proactively and timely revealing a potential crisis, called stealing thunder, can prove altruistic intentions, and in turn regain consumer’s goodwill. However, the effects of other aspects such as message framing and communication medium in relation to crisis communication timing receive only limited attention in extant research. It is still unknown how to optimally create a crisis communication statement in a consumer privacy crisis. Therefore, a scenario-based 2 (crisis communication timing: stealing thunder vs. thunder) x 2 (crisis communication framing: emotional vs. non-emotional) x 2 (communication medium: video vs. text) experiment was conducted with 274 German participants to find out to which extent these variables influence the consumer’s trust, purchase intention and anger towards the company as well as the perceived sincerity of the company and the severity of the crisis. Results of the statistical analysis show that the use of a stealing thunder timing approach positively affects the perceived sincerity of the company and the consumer’s trust. A text format was preferred over a video format in terms of trust, purchase intention and sincerity perceptions and an emotional framing approach resulted in higher ratings for trust and sincerity as well as perceived crisis severity. No interaction effects were found for the three variables except for the finding that an emotional text and a non-emotional video result in higher anger towards the company. Furthermore, practical implications, limitations and suggestions for further research directions are discussed.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/86426
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