Stakeholder Attributions in Crises: The Effects of Covariation Information and Attributional Inferences on Organizational Reputation

Abstract

Organizational crises and related communication activities can create severe threat to the reputation of organizations. However, the kinds of information stakeholders rely on to decide about causes and responsibility for crises are still not well researched. Therefore, this study investigates if and how stakeholders covary organizations with crisis causes and how this affects their perceptions of organizational responsibility and reputation. An experimental study that was conducted with stakeholders of a German university showed that covariation information patterns as proposed by Kelley are significantly related to causal attributions. The subsequent structural equation modeling analysis revealed support for the assumption that organizational responsibility mediates the effect of causal attributions on reputation. Finally, potential applications of findings in the field of strategic crisis communication are discussed.