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Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 42, No. 4, 390-419 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0021943605279057
© 2005 Association for Business Communication

Communicating with stakeholders During a Crisis

Evaluating Message Strategies

Keri K. Stephens

Texas State University

Patty Callish Malone

California State University, Fullerton

Christine M. Bailey

University of Texas at Austin

This study explores message strategies that are used by organizations during crises that involve technical details. Using the literature, the authors develop an integrative coding scheme that builds on Coombs' crisis-message-strategy typology. In addition, the authors develop a parallel set of strategies called technical translation message strategies. Using content analysis, the authors analyzed 154 accounts representing 10 different technical crises. The findings suggest that different crisis-message strategies are used to communicate to different stakeholders. The findings also indicate that when technical details are discussed, organizations rarely go beyond an attempt to directly state the technical facts with little or no explanation provided to the stakeholders. The practical applications of these findings include using the developed coding scheme to evaluate past crisis-management efforts and to help proactively plan for the future.

Key Words: crisis communication • stakeholders • message strategies • crisis management • technology crises


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