The effects of social media on brand attitude and WOM during a brand crisis: Evidences from the Barilla case

Abstract

Brand crises endanger companies. Social media are a key platform where stakeholders elaborate and react to crises. This research explores whether social media audience and traditional mass media audience react differently to a brand crisis in terms of their (1) attitude towards the brand and (2) word-of-mouth (WOM). As to the brand attitude, we argue that stakeholders mainly exposed to the brand crisis via social media have a more negative reaction towards the brand compared to those who are principally exposed via traditional media. As to the behaviour, we posit that social media exposure intensifies WOM. By analysing the Barilla crisis, the findings suggest that the social media act as ‘multipliers’ of the reaction of stakeholders to a brand crisis.

Keywords:

• social media
• crisis management
• brand attitude
• word-of-mouth
• mass media

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article won the best paper award at the 19th Corporate and Marketing Communications Conference held at the Cattolica University in Milan (Chairs: Dr Rossella C. Gambetti and Prof. Edoardo T. Brioschi; Conference founder: Prof. Philip J. Kitchen). The authors would like to sincerely thank the conference Chairs, participants and Prof. Kitchen for their suggestions to improve this article.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stefano Pace

Stefano Pace, PhD, is an Associate Professor in Consumer Behaviour and Marketing at Kedge Business School (France). His research interests include brand communities, consumer tribes, and digital culture. His work has been published in a number of journals including Journal of Business Ethics, International Marketing Review, European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Letters, and Journal of Brand Management.

Bernardo Balboni

Bernardo Balboni, PhD, is Research Fellow at the University of Trieste (Italy). His research interests include business marketing, marketing communications, and SMEs internationalization process. His work has been published in a number of journals including The Service Industries Journal, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, and Transformations in Business and Economics.

Giacomo Gistri

Giacomo Gistri, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Department of Political Sciences, Communication and International Relations, University of Macerata (Italy). His research interests include consumer behavior and marketing communications. His work has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Brand Management and Marketing Letters among others.