Managing bureaucratic reputation in the face of crises: An experimental examination of the effect of strategic communication

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lee, Danbee
• 署名单位: University of Nebraska System
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.13520
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 1124-1137
• 关键词: ORGANIZATIONAL REPUTATION; Blame; ACCOUNTABILITY; expectations; silence; media

摘要

Research on bureaucratic reputation has found that public organizations respond strategically to reputational threats. To understand better the way public organizations should communicate with their external audiences, upon which they depend for necessary resources and democratic legitimacy, this study examines the effectiveness of various communication strategies that agencies often use in response to a crisis. The results of a series of vignette experiments involving US adults show that an agency's communication strategy in response to crises does indeed influence citizens' reputation judgments. Specifically, compared with remaining silent, organizations that offer the public explanations of crises mitigate their reputational losses more effectively. Further, this study finds that people's prior reputation judgments and the nature of the crisis itself are important factors involved in the formation of reputation judgments, although these findings contradict communication theories. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. Evidence for Practice The threat a crisis poses to organizational reputation can be mitigated by public organizations and managers strategically communicating with the public. In response to a crisis, providing an explanation is more effective in terms of protecting an organization's reputation than remaining silent. Reputational damage is more severe after a crisis when citizens have a favorable prior view of the agency's reputation or when the failure seems repeated and preventable.