Media Frames and Crisis Events: Understanding the Impact on Corporate Reputations,Responsibility Attributions,and Negative Affect

Abstract

This study aims to grow our current understanding of situational crisis communication theory by expanding on the conceptualization of causal responsibility as the primary mechanism contributing to the cognitive formulation of blame by stakeholder groups. By doing so, this research sought to assess the differential impact of common media frames of crisis events in order to inform organizational crisis communication efforts. A total of 186 students participated in an experimental study from a Midwest university. A series of multivariate analyses of variances were computed to assess the hypotheses advanced in the study. Results indicated that crisis frames can negatively affect organizational reputations. Episodic frames were found to amplify the reputational threat levels in both the victim and accidental clusters. Findings also indicated that when stakeholders perceive the source of the media report as being highly credible, more negative perceptions toward the organizations involved in the crisis were generated. The results help inform the corporate communication response process designed to address the “image” of a crisis as an attribute of consideration, in relation to the framing of the crisis event. Limitations and future directions are offered.