Feb 14, 2020
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In the first part of this episode, we introduce different types of crisis as well as communication strategies to deal with them. Two central readings here are:
Benoit, W. L. (1997). Image repair discourse and crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 23(2), 177-187.
Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). The Handbook of Crisis Communication. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
This link provides some examples of how broad crisis comms strategies are put into practice in specific messages: http://lirias.kuleuven.be/cv?Username=U0090854
Bernard mentions one communication strategy to head off a crisis, ‘stealing thunder’. It is for instance discussed in this article:
Claeys, A-S., Cauberghe, V., Leysen, J. (2013). Implications of stealing thunder for the impact of expressing emotions in organizational crisis communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 41(3), 293-308.
As part of our discussion, Erika cites a study showing that even unnecessary apologies can make others more likely to respond to a request:
Brooks, A.W., Dai, H., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2014). I'm sorry about the rain! Superfluous apologies demonstrate empathic concern and increase trust. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 5(4), 467-474.
Our interview guest for this episode is Matteo Fuoli, whose publications include:
Fuoli, M., & Hart, C. (2018). Trust-building strategies in corporate discourse: An experimental study. Discourse & Society, 29(5), 514-552.
Fuoli, M., & Paradis, C. (2014). A model of trust-repair discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 74, 52-69
Fuoli, M., van de Weijer, J., & Paradis, C. (2017). Denial outperforms apology in repairing organizational trust despite strong evidence of guilt. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 645-660.
Matteo in turn makes reference to this study on regaining trust:
Kim, P. H., Ferrin, D. L., Cooper, C. D., & Dirks, K. T. (2004). Removing the shadow of suspicion: the effects of apology versus denial for repairing competence- versus integrity-based trust violations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 104–118.
The model of trust that he mentions is explained in
Colquitt, J. A., & Salam, S. C. (2009). Foster trust through ability, benevolence, and integrity. In Locke, E. (ed.) Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 389-404.
In the course of the interview, Matteo provides some detail of his research in:
Fuoli, M. (2012). Assessing social responsibility: A quantitative analysis of Appraisal in BP’s and IKEA’s social reports. Discourse & Communication, 6(1), 55-81.
Fuoli, M. (2015). Trust dynamics in multimodal corporate discourse: the role of metaphor. Paper presented at 13th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC-13), Newcastle/UK.
The video by pharmaceutical company Novartis that Matteo talks about is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzXFugXU33M
In the final part of the episode, we analyse a letter featuring an apology, written in 1928 by artist Thelma Wood to her former lover, the writer Djuna Barnes:
Djuna beautiful - I know I had lost you - I realized every misdeed committed in eight years would come back - that every one in Paris would be against me … The knowing you saw us, I had said such terrible things I hated myself - something I did not care about - It seemed a shame for foolishness to spoil us - I wanted no acknowledged disloyalty and after you came back from N.Y. I loved you so terribly - and my one idea was to wipe out the fact I’d been stupid … As for the rest of our eight years you seemed to have had a pretty rotten time - with my brutishness and I’m sorry - sorry
The letter is quoted in
Weiss, A. (1995). Paris was a Woman: Portraits from the Left Bank. San Francisco: Harper.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all listeners and readers!