The power of empathy: the dual impacts of an emotional voice in organizational crisis communication

ABSTRACT

This study examines how sadness, expressed through the voice of a CEO of an organization in crisis, affects the public's perceptions in times of crisis. A first experiment shows that a sad voice increases the public's empathy toward the CEO, which results in positive attitudes toward the organization. However, at the same time, that sad voice results in negative attitudes toward the organization because it makes the CEO appear less powerful. A second experiment examined if the impact of an emotional voice depends on the crisis stage. The negative effect of vocal emotions due to reduced perceptions of powerfulness only occurs during the trigger event of the crisis. The positive effect of vocal expressions of sadness through increased empathy occurs throughout all stages of the crisis life cycle. These findings indicate that organizational spokespersons should not be afraid to express genuine emotions in their voices in times of crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis communication
• nonverbal communication
• emotions
• empathy
• voice

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT) under grant number [141414].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The indirect effect of emotions in the voice on attitudes toward the organization through empathy toward the CEO remained significant when gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis (ab = 0.29, SE = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.02, 0.63]).

2 The direct effect of emotions in the voice on attitudes toward the organization remained not significant when gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis (c′ = −0.25, SE = 0.23, 95% CI = [−0.71, 0.20]).

3 The indirect effect of emotions in the voice on attitudes toward the organization through perceived powerfulness of the CEO remained significant when gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis (ab = −0.26, SE = 0.16, 95% CI = [−0.64, −0.02]).

4 The direct effect of emotions in the voice on attitudes towards the organization remained not significant when gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis (c′ = −0.29, SE = 0.25, 95% CI = [−0.21, 0.80]).

5 When gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis, the indirect effect of emotions in the voice on attitudes towards the organization through the perceived powerfulness of the CEO remained significant during the crisis (ab = −0.36, SE = 0.12, 95% CI = [−0.60, −0.16]), and remained not significant in the aftermath of the crisis (ab = −0.16, SE = 0.10, 95% CI = [−0.37, 0.02]). However, the difference between the conditional indirect effects was no longer significant, because the index of moderated mediation was not significant (ab = 0.20, SE = 0.12, 95% CI = [−0.02, 0.46]). This suggests that listeners’ characteristics might play a role in how the relationship between emotions in the voice, perceived powerfulness, and the crisis stage is perceived. Further research should look into this issue.

6 The index of moderated mediation remained not significant when gender, age, and education level were included as covariates in the analysis (ab = −0.07, SE = 0.12, 95% CI = [−0.30, 0.17]).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT): [grant number 141414].