Do Mixed Emotions Matter in a Crisis? The Impact of Expressing Sadness and Sympathy on Organizational Reputation and Forgiveness

Abstract

This study seeks to advance the literature in emotional crisis communication by comparing the effects of single emotional message framing to mixed emotional message framing in organizational crisis on organizational reputation and forgiveness. Through an online four (emotional message framing: control vs. negative emotion [sadness] vs. positive emotion [sympathy] vs. mixed-valence emotions [both sadness + sympathy]) by two (crisis type: preventable vs. victim crisis) between-groups experiment, this study investigated the effects of mixed-valence emotions, where the CEO expressed both positive and negative discrete emotions (N = 424). Additionally, the current study sought to test the mediating effects of perceived sincerity and empathy toward the CEO on the relationship between the crisis type and message framing on both organizational reputation and forgiveness. The findings show that, during a preventable crisis, expressing mixed emotions results in a more positive organizational reputation and organizational forgiveness than expressing single emotions (sadness or sympathy). Also, both empathy toward the CEO and perceived sincerity mediated the relationship between a preventable crisis and organizational reputation as well as forgiveness. Both practical and theoretical implications of this study are discussed.