This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Arpan, L. M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

When in Rome? The Effects of Spokesperson Ethnicity on Audience Evaluation of Crisis Communication

Florida State University

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of using organi zational spokespersons of ethnic backgrounds similar to or different from possible stakeholders of a multinational organization. The inves tigation used a fictitious crisis in the United States and varied the home country of the organization involved in the crisis (United States, Mexico, and Japan), as well as whether the organization used a spokesperson from its home country. Although the participant groups did not generally prefer similar spokespersons, path analyses found that the degree to which each participant identified with his or her own ethnic group affected spokesperson similarity ratings, which, in turn, predicted spokesperson credibility ratings. Additionally, the extent to which participants accepted the crisis response given by the organization was predicted by spokesperson credibility ratings. Impli cations for multinational organizations experiencing a crisis in host, or foreign, countries are discussed.

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 39, No. 3, 314-339 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/002194360203900302


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. E. Hale, R. E. Dulek, and D. P. Hale Crisis Response Communication Challenges: Building Theory From Qualitative Data Journal of Business Communication, April 1, 2005; 42(2): 112 - 134. [Abstract] [PDF]