Mixed Messages: Crisis Communication–Dismissal (In)Coherence and Shareholder Trust Following Misconduct

Hersel, Matt C.; Gangloff, K. Ashley; Shropshire, Christine

doi:10.5465/amj.2020.0275

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…In terms of coverage, the configurations accounted for about 77% of the membership in cases adopting highly sustainable HRM. Our coverage and consistency statistics are comparable to other management studies that have used fsQCA to investigate similar outcomes (Dwivedi et al, 2018; Gupta et al, 2020; Hersel et al, in press).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

When firms adopt sustainable human resource management: A fuzzy‐set analysis

Jia

Yuan

Wei

et al. 2023

Human Resource Management

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Sustainable human resource management (HRM) is critical to sustainable corporate development. However, there is little systematic research examining the determinants of sustainable HRM adoption. We fill this void by identifying and introducing a configurational approach to examine when firms adopt sustainable HRM. Based on institutional theory, we develop a typology of institutional contexts associated with sustainable HRM adoption. We posit that institutional conditions in configuration facilitate firms' adoption of sustainable HRM. Thus, we hypothesize a primary institutional configuration where institutional support, institutional quality, and institutional infrastructure combine to promote the adoption of sustainable HRM. We further propose alternative types of configurations conducive to the adoption of sustainable HRM by introducing two organizational conditions: strategic leadership support and resource slack. A fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis on data from 57 cases in China supports our hypotheses. We find that the combination of institutional conditions promotes the adoption of highly sustainable HRM, and the two alternative types provide functional substitutes for the primary type: (a) strategic leadership support substitutes for the combination of institutional support and institutional infrastructure, and (b) resource slack substitutes for institutional infrastructure. We build an institutional configurational model to advance a holistic understanding of the theoretical drivers of sustainable HRM, contributing to the research on sustainable HRM, institutional theory, leadership, and resource slack.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

When firms adopt sustainable human resource management: A fuzzy‐set analysis

Jia

Yuan

Wei

et al. 2023

Human Resource Management

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“…Furthermore, QCA methodologies cannot show the relative independent effect (or importance) of a given condition. Therefore, to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon under study, future researchers may wish to follow the example of other recent fsQCA studies, where mixed methods research designs were employed (Hersel et al, 2022; Lewellyn & Muller-Kahle, 2020). Also, as we noted, our choice to use a frequency of 10 firms as the cutoff value for identifying configurations resulted in firms from countries with less than that number being excluded from analysis.…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To accommodate the causal complexity and multilevel nature of our research question, we apply a configurational analytical approach using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with a sample of 1,338 firms from 32 countries. Similar to prior research using an abductive approach with fsQCA (Hersel et al, 2022; Witt et al, 2022), we employ a process of configurational theorizing as suggested by Furnari et al (2021), whereby we rely on our guiding theoretical lenses of resource dependence and institutional theories along with previous empirical research to scope board characteristics and institutional factors that, in combination, shape a board’s capacity to provide resources important for ESG performance. Our empirical analysis with these factors identifies multiple equifinal configurations of board characteristics associated with resource provisioning and institutional factors that lead to high and low ESG performance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

ESG Leaders or Laggards? A Configurational Analysis of ESG Performance

Lewellyn

Muller‐Kahle

2023

Business & Society

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We draw from resource dependence and institutional theories to explore how board characteristics associated with directors’ capacities to provide resources and legitimacy (i.e., board size, the number of non-executive, interlocking, and female directors) along with regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional conditions combine to shape firm environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Using a process of configurational theorizing with fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis and data from firms in 32 countries, we identify multiple equifinal configurations that are associated with high and low ESG performance. We find that high and low ESG performance have different drivers due to complementarities among the presence and absence of board characteristics. Our results also show that the effectiveness (or not) of the bundles of boards’ characteristics for ESG performance varies across institutional contexts. By leveraging these findings to construct a typology of board archetypes that lead to high and low ESG performance, we offer novel theoretical and empirical insights to scholars as well as implications for practice.

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“…Managers should, therefore, select crisis response strategies that match the organization’s responsibility (Coombs and Holladay, 2002). Organizations can use blame shifting effectively only in situations when a sender can credibly claim not to be responsible for the misbehavior (Antonetti and Baghi, 2021a; Hersel et al , 2022; Guckian et al , 2018). Crisis responses that do not conform with expectations tend to yield negative responses from the public (Bundy and Pfarrer, 2015; Raithel and Hock, 2021).…”

Section: Conceptual Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attempting to shift blame toward actors who are not ultimately responsible would be an unethical strategy (Fricker, 2016) and one that would be likely to backfire (Park et al , 2018). Consistent with previous research in this domain (Antonetti and Baghi, 2021a; Hersel et al , 2022; Gangloff et al , 2016; Moisio et al , 2021; Park et al , 2018), we focus instead on crises where blame shifting is a reasonable, structural option for the sender because there is an actor that can be portrayed as sharing an (arguably) large share of responsibility. Finally, we compare the effects of blame shifting, as a quintessentially defensive strategy, to an apology, which represents the prototypical accommodating response (Bundy et al , 2017; Coombs, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who can afford to blame? Sender effects in blame-shifting crisis communications

Antonetti,

Baghi

2024

EJM

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Purpose When companies face a crisis, they sometimes deliver blame-shifting communications, trying to shift blame onto another actor to protect their reputation. While previous research has considered how different features of the message affect its persuasiveness, little is known about whether specific senders can blame more effectively. This paper aims to contribute to research in this domain through an investigation of the sender’s social perception as a critical moderator to the persuasiveness of blame shifting. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct four between-subjects scenario experiments to test the research hypotheses. In each experiment, participants are presented with a realistic crisis scenario and the crisis communications delivered by the company. The authors assess the extent to which perceptions of the sender influence the message’s ability to reduce negative word-of-mouth intentions and to increase purchase intentions. Findings The authors show that blame shifting is more likely to be effective when deployed by senders that are small (Study 1) or have a positive CSR track record (Study 2). Furthermore, The authors find that even large senders can successfully deploy blame shifting if they can benefit from being known for their CSR programs (Study 3). Finally, the authors show that the effect of blame shifting depends on the receiver’s level of concern about the crisis: stakeholders significantly concerned by the crisis reject blame-shifting communications (Study 4). Research limitations/implications Further research should examine the impact of information about brand competence on blame-shifting effectiveness. Further research is also needed to explore sender effects for other defensive crisis communication strategies such as denial or the use of excuses or justifications. Practical implications The study offers critical information for marketers considering the use of defensive crisis communications strategies such as blame shifting. Originality/value The study extends the understanding of how sender effects influence blame-shifting communications. The analysis allows us to clarify why this strategy is effective for certain senders and certain receivers while, for others, it tends to backfire. Blame shifting backfires for large senders unless they can boast a strong CSR record.

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Mixed Messages: Crisis Communication–Dismissal (In)Coherence and Shareholder Trust Following Misconduct

Cited by 5 publications

References 118 publications

When firms adopt sustainable human resource management: A fuzzy‐set analysis

When firms adopt sustainable human resource management: A fuzzy‐set analysis

ESG Leaders or Laggards? A Configurational Analysis of ESG Performance

Who can afford to blame? Sender effects in blame-shifting crisis communications

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