CUSTOMERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND INFORMATION FORMS AS MODERATING VARIABLES

[ 31 May 2021 | vol. 12 | no. 1| pp. 39-52]

About Authors:

Rafif Ibrahim Nasib1 and Shuaa Abdulrahman Aljasir1,*
-Faculty of Communication and Media, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract:

This study analyzes customers’ attitudes towards crisis communication strategies in terms of acceptability and effectiveness. It also investigates the role of and the interplay between social responsibility and information forms such as traditional media, social media, and word-of-mouth in relation to shaping these attitudes. It applies the situational crisis communication theory and the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model. This is a quantitative study in which data was collected through questionnaires distributed to a random sample of 382 Saudi participants. The results reveal that the most effective crisis communication strategy is the rebuild strategy, while the least effective is the deny strategy. Social responsibility plays a key role in influencing customer attitudes toward the bolster strategy, while social media as an information form plays a similar role in influencing attitudes toward both the rebuild and the bolster strategies. No significant interplay between social responsibility and the selected information form, however, had been revealed in relation to customer attitudes toward crisis communication strategies.

Keywords:

Crisis Communication Strategies, Social Responsibility, Social Media, Traditional Media, Word-of-Mouth

 

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