The Use of Equivocal Messages in Responding to Corporate Challenges

A framework is constructed to examine communication professionals’ views regarding the use of equivocal and nonequivocal messages for managing initial statements about corporate challenges. As predicted, equivocal responses were viewed as more appropriate to use and linked to a positive corporate reputation when the crisis situation contained avoidance–avoidance goal conflicts, whereas nonequivocal responses were viewed as more appropriate and linked to a positive corporate reputation when the crisis situation did not contain avoidance–avoidance goal conflicts. Communication professionals also judged nonequivocal and equivocal messages to be appropriate and linked to a positive corporate reputation when they believed the specific message would satisfy the multiple goals of the crisis situation. Implications for public relations practice are discussed.     

Corporate Crisis Communication: Examining the Interplay of Reputation and Crisis Response Strategies

This experiment study used a 2 × 3 between-subjects design to assess two factors in crisis communication and reputation management—prior corporate reputation (good and bad) and crisis response strategies (apology, sympathy, and compensation)—on an organization facing high crisis responsibility. Results indicate that stakeholders prefer apology to compensation response strategies. Organizations with a prior good reputation have better postcrisis reviews that those with a prior bad reputation. Crisis managers facing crises that generate high attribution of crisis responsibility and anger are advised to rely on apology rather than compensation strategy. It would also be advantageous for an organization with prior good reputation to highlight its past achievements when responding to a crisis.     

Shaping the Corporate Perimeter in a Changing Media Industry

ABSTRACT

A constant theme in strategic media management literature is the transformational impact that digital media technologies and deregulation have had on shaping media firms’ corporate strategies. Whilst the role of corporate strategy is to encapsulate a firm’s long-term direction and scope of activities, it will also give a strong indication of how the firm will compete and be positioned in an industry. However, the transformative effects of a highly technological media environment have changed our traditional view of how the media industry is defined, and so developing a strategic recipe for competing in an ill-defined industry becomes more challenging. This paper examines a single media firm’s corporate strategy and perimeter and considers this in the context of a changing media industry. The paper takes a practice-led approach by undertaking a longitudinal analysis of a firm’s acquisition and divestment activities in order to understand its corporate perimeter and by implication the industry or industries where it competes. We argue that by exploring a media firm’s corporate strategy and perimeter over time, scholars will not only be able to better understand the dynamics of media practice and strategy, but also gain an insight into the changing nature of the media industry. The paper concludes that the 'five forces framework' on industry structure, profitability and attractiveness remains a relevant form of strategic analysis that can help media management researchers to conceptualize and understand the evolution of media firm corporate perimeter and the industries in which they compete.     

Inoculation messages as a preemptive financial crisis communication strategy with inexperienced investors

This study focuses on the problem of collapsed ‘stay in the market’ (SIM) beliefs during financial crises. More specifically, the goal of this investigation was to ascertain whether or not inoculation messages are a viable preemptive crisis communication strategy to protect the SIM beliefs of inexperienced investors amidst a major stock market downturn. Inoculation messages were compared to both supportive messages and no-message controls to determine their effectiveness in protecting SIM beliefs. Additionally, the impact of inoculation messages on beliefs in the absence of a crisis and the impact of crisis message modality (i.e. video versus print) on inoculation-generated resistance were explored. A between-subjects factorial design (3?×?2 plus one additional condition) was designed to explore three hypotheses and two research questions. Results indicate that inoculation messages can serve as a viable preemptive financial crisis communication strategy and that inoculation messages did not harm SIM beliefs in the absence of a crisis.     

The media and the crisis of democracy in the age of Bush‐2

In this study, I demonstrate the consequences of the triumph of neoliberalism and media deregulation for democracy. I argue that the tremendous concentration of power in the hands of corporate groups who control powerful media conglomerates has intensified a crisis of democracy in the United States and elsewhere. Providing case studies of how mainstream media in the United States have become tools of conservative and corporate interests since the 1980s, I discuss how the corporate media helped forge a conservative hegemony, failed to address key social problems, and promoted the candidacy of George W. Bush in the 2000 US presidential election.     

负面评论挖掘的网络口碑危机预警模糊推理

[目的/意义]通过挖掘电子商务平台的在线负面评论信息,对网络口碑危机进行模糊预警计算和类型划分,为企业实时监控网络口碑舆情,提高产品正面口碑传播和规避口碑风险提供参考。[方法/过程]以欧洲消费者满意度模型(ECSI)为基础,从感知质量、感知价值、感知声誉和感知期望4个属性方面构建负面评论网络口碑危机模糊语料词典,结合模糊综合评判方法并改进顾客满意度的四分图模型对网络口碑危机预警进行计算和分类。[结果/结论]以美团外卖在线评论为例进行实证研究,提出的负面评论网络口碑危机预警计算方法得到了较好的实验检验效果,可为在线产品的网络口碑危机预警提供信息决策。     

Implications of Stealing Thunder for the Impact of Expressing Emotions in Organizational Crisis Communication

This study examines if and when spokespersons of an organization in crisis can express their genuine emotions as opposed to appearing rational. The impact of emotional (sadness) versus rational message framing on perceptions of an organization in crisis is studied by means of a 2 (crisis timing strategy: ex-antecrisis timing strategy vs. ex-postcrisis timing strategy)×2 (message framing: rational vs. emotional) between-subjects factorial experimental design with 168 participants. The findings first show that organizations can restore their reputation in times of crisis better by means of an ex-antecrisis timing strategy than by means of an ex-postcrisis timing strategy. In addition, the study illustrates that an ex-antecrisis timing strategy leads to more effective use of organizational message framing. In the case of an organizational self-disclosure, expressing sadness as a discrete negative emotion results in a better postcrisis reputation than rational message framing, whereas no impact of message framing is found for an ex-postcrisis timing strategy. Finally, the results indicate that organizations can benefit from allowing their spokespersons to express sadness because consumers will consider them more sincere.     

Media Exposure or Media Hype: Evidence from Initial Public Offering Stocks in Taiwan

It is frequently observed that the price at which a firm's stock is listed for its initial public offering (IPO) is considerably less than the price at which it trades at the end of its first day of trading, a phenomenon known as underpricing. This article examines how media-provided information affects IPO underpricing and trading turnover. The empirical findings show that the more media coverage a firm receives over a substantial period of time prior to its IPO, the smaller the degree to which its stock is underpriced. However, more media coverage immediately prior to the IPO date increases the degree of underpricing. It is also shown that the tenor of media coverage affects the relations between the volume of near-term, pre-IPO information provided by media and both underpricing and trading turnover.     

A reputational approach examining publics' attributions on corporate social responsibility motives

This study introduced publics' perceived attribution about the sincerity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) purposes as the main reason why publics react differently to companies that practice similar CSR activities. The effects of congruence of CSR activities and the source of CSR-related information on publics' attribution were examined using prior corporate reputation as a moderator in an experimental setting. Overall, the study found that corporate reputation moderated publics' perceived attributions on the sincerity of the CSR purposes. Sincere motives were more severely downgraded when a negatively-reputed company engaged in a high-congruence CSR activity and used a company source than when a highly-reputed company did.     

投资者信息行为分析:信息源的选择与利用研究

文章采用案例研究与半结构化深度访谈法研究个体股票投资者信息搜寻过程中信息源的选择和利用。通过开放编码和描述性统计对数据进行定性和定量分析。研究发现,财经网站、电视及投资者自身是投资者的主要信息来源;质量、数量、时间及个人内在因素是投资者选择和利用信息源时考虑的主要维度;而方便性、客观可信性、权威性、使用习惯等则是用户选择信息源时遵循的主要标准。投资经验、投资知识和投资模式一定程度上影响用户信息源选择;信息源的选择和利用与投资者的投资成功与否有一定关系。     

COVERING “FINANCIAL TERRORISM”

The 2010 Greek financial crisis marks an important chapter in an era where the underlying maneuvers of private financial entities figure centrally in the wherewithal of Western nation states. Utilizing framing research, this study examines representation of the Greek crisis by US news media from December 2009 to July 2010. In contrast to the incident's coverage in the European and business press initially attributing the crisis to speculation and the manipulation of Greek debt, major US news media presented the event through specific event-driven frames that obscured knowledge of deeper causes. By drawing attention to dramatic events in Athens and the American stock markets, US outlets presented the financial crisis in narrow terms that blamed the event on alleged character flaws and ineptitudes of a nation and its people. This reportage legitimized proposals of economic austerity as reparation. In the midst of excessive business and financial-related information, the ability of US journalism to explain how and for whom transnational economic processes proceed remains provisional. Journalism prompting public discourse on such dynamics is crucial at present as the formulas hastening the Greek crisis now threaten industrialized countries throughout the West.     

From War-net to Net-war: The Internet and Resistance Identities in Indonesia

For decades following independence, informational media in Indonesia developed parallel with the interests of the state that made use of the media as a means to legitimize and maintain its identity as a progressive ‘‘developmental state’’. The Internet, which came to Indonesia during the early phase of the political crisis in the 1990s, economically and politically has risen to become an alternative media that is no longer under state control, thus bolstering civil society in its resistance to state and corporate domination. Based on Indonesia's experience, this paper describes how the Internet provides means for popular resistance to the dominant paradigm.     

Online Media Relations as an Information Subsidy: Quality of Fortune 500 Companies' Websites and Relationships to Media Salience

This study probes relationships among corporate financial resources, web-based corporate media relations, and media attention to corporations to determine whether online media relations functions as an effective information subsidy in the agenda-building process. It compares the quality of online press rooms of Fortune 500 companies with the number of news articles about those same companies published by five major news outlets in the United States. A causal model was supported predicting that resource-rich companies have better-operating online newsrooms with more diverse informational and interactive components, which in turn generate more news stories about the companies. This result suggests that the effectiveness of corporate Web activities depends on financial and professional resources and contradicts earlier expectations that the dominance of resource-rich organizations in communication would be undermined by the Internet.     

The good,the bad,and the ugly: Financial markets and the demise of Canada's Southam newspapers

Abstract

The impact of financial markets on media management practices is apparent in Canada, where public trading in newspaper company shares has contributed significantly to concentrated press ownership. Fluctuations in newspaper share values have often shaped firm strategies as a result. This paper presents the Southam newspaper chain as a case study of the impact of financial markets on newspaper management practices. Historical analysis is used to show how Canada's oldest and largest newspaper chain, which was known for its commitment to quality journalism and for allowing its local publishers editorial independence, made a fateful decision when it went “public”; with a share issue in 1945. The increasingly widespread ownership of its stock led to Southam's gradual takeover in 1996 by Hollinger Inc., which cut costs and reduced staff chain‐wide. Sale of the Southam newspapers in 2000 to CanWest Global Communications has seen editorial control centralized at company headquarters and partisan support shown for the ruling federal Liberal party, contrary to Southam's founding principles. As a result, the Canadian Senate began hearings into the media in 2003, bringing the possibility of government regulation to reverse the impact of financial markets on the management of media firms there.     

图书馆声誉管理的基本概念及内容

声誉管理对图书馆来说还是一个全新的概念,有必要了解声誉及声誉管理的内涵,认清声誉管理对图书馆的重要性。笔者简述了图书馆声誉和声誉管理的概念及特点,认为树立正确的声誉观和声誉管理观才能形成正确的行为模式,并探讨了图书馆声誉管理5项基本内容:建立声誉管理组织机构、沟通管理、图书馆声誉评价与调查、建立危机反应机制和培养以声誉为导向的图书馆文化。     

基于声誉理论的开放科学数据质量提升激励机制研究

[目的/意义] 针对科学数据开放中的数据质量问题,设计开放科学数据质量提升激励机制,以促进科研人员开放高质量科学数据并积极参与科学数据开放共享活动。[方法/过程] 借鉴声誉理论构建博弈模型,提出科学数据质量提升激励机制,利用百度文库对激励机制进行验证。[结果/结论] 基于声誉理论建立科学数据质量提升激励机制需满足4个条件,即博弈是多次重复的、良好的声誉可为科研人员带来利益、科学数据主管机构能及时发现开放低质量科学数据的行为并予以惩罚、完备的声誉传播渠道,并提出相应措施。     

How Much Should a Corporation Communicate About Corporate Social Responsibility? Reputation and Amount of Information Effects on Stakeholders’ CSR-Induced Attributions

This study investigates how much corporations should communicate about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to stakeholders. It is important to know how much a corporation should communicate about its CSR, because over-communicating CSR may cause stakeholders to question the motivations (CSR-induced intrinsic and extrinsic attributions) of the corporation’s CSR engagement. Through an experiment (N = 372), the effects of corporate reputation and the amount communicated about CSR on CSR-induced attributions are investigated. Findings show that neither the amount of CSR communication nor corporate reputation influences stakeholders’ CSR-induced attributions. The findings of this study suggest that corporations may choose to spend less time and money trying to communicate about their CSR engagement, because it does not influence stakeholders’ CSR-induced attributions.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL IN CRISIS JOURNALISM

The mass media are expected to play a key role in providing relevant and accurate information during a crisis. While numerous studies have explored how well the media perform in providing information during crises, less attention has been given to journalism's ritual aspects, such as those related to remembering, celebrating, mourning and sharing among members of a community. In the culturalist tradition, journalism is as much about ritual and meaning-making as it is about providing information. One of the most important ways of performing this ritual function is through live, on-the-spot journalism—a form of journalism that has becoming increasingly commonplace due to technological developments, and at the very least, it is connected with crisis news coverage. Based on interviews with broadcast media journalists about their decision-making strategies and motives during two crises (11 September 2001 and the Anna Lindh murder in 2003), we link crisis communication with journalism's ritual and symbolic functions. We argue that key journalistic strategies such as immediacy and competition are motivated just as much by rituals related to affirming community and journalistic organisational needs as by informational motivations. We conclude by suggesting that in times of crisis, the roles of psychologist, comforter and co-mourner should be considered journalistic role conceptions especially in a live, 24-hour news culture.     

Business reputation potential

The technologies for image, reputation, corporate semantics and analytics in the management of firms and companies are evaluated; intellectual analytical technologies for the reproduction and accumulation of reputation capital are examined.