Communication in Times of Crisis: The Stakeholder-Organization Relationship Under Pressure

• In Event: Stakeholder Response to Crisis

Abstract

This paper studies the interplay between organizations and their stakeholders during organizational crises. During a crisis, the stakeholder-organization relationships are likely to be under pressure, and therewith the organization’s reputation and the crisis intensity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, during a crisis, pressure from both internal stakeholders (i.e., management and employees) and external stakeholders (i.e., news media and general public) influences communicative relationships between organizations and these stakeholders. 444 European public-relations professionals, who experienced a crisis, were surveyed about crisis and routine times. Special focus was on the mediation role of time pressure and uncertainty. Structural-equation models revealed that, in crisis, the increased pressure from news media, the public, and employees negatively affects the organizations’ communicative relationship with these stakeholders, whereas management pressure was found to have a positive effect. This observation might point to organizational isolation on a managerial level in the initial crisis phase.

Authors

• Toni G.L.A. van der Meer, University of Amsterdam

• Piet Verhoeven, U of Amsterdam

• Johannes W.J. Beentjes, U of Amsterdam

• Rens Vliegenthart, U of Amsterdam