Abstract
This study addresses the paradoxical demands of a hoax perpetrated through social media that require an organization to make a substantial response to an unsubstantiated claim. Dominos’ response to its 2009 YouTube crisis is used as a case study to demonstrate how this paradoxical challenge can be resolved by publicly casting the crisis as a learning opportunity. Analysis reveals that learning manifests in observable actions that further emphasize a commitment to the values and norms the organization originally met to earn social legitimacy prior to the crisis. Also, responding to a hoax through the same medium by which it was distributed is imperative to counter the hoax message for the same audience that received it.
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