Building Reputational Bridges Over Crises Situations

This chapter examines the impact of cultural attributes (Hofstede 2001, 2009) on crisis communication through a study of four companies across two cultures (Eastern and Western) and two sectors (Automobile and FMCG) embroiled in a preventable crisis (Coombs 2007). The authors analyzed secondary data comprising newspaper reports to determine the type and sequence of crisis communication strategies for image repair using the Situation Crisis Communication Theory (Coombs 2007). The findings indicate that crisis communication varies across cultures. While companies of Eastern origin or operations, more specifically Indian, during and post-crisis, attempt to remedy and subvert the impact using strategies such as scapegoat and justification, companies originating or operating in the West, more specifically the USA, resort to strategies of defense and attack through a variety of responses such as denial, scapegoat, justification, compensation, and apology. The authors analyze these choices in the context of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions and argue that cultural differences impact the choice of strategies used for image repair.