Deny Your Fault, but Do It Nicely: The Effects of Crisis Response Strategy and Tone of Voice on Corporate Reputation and Customer Attitude.

Abstract

The internet is riddled with stories of corporate crises across all industries that are often not handled professionally and appropriately. Considering the impact of crisis response strategies on how the public perceives a company, the current study attempts to provide further knowledge for companies to react properly to a crisis to save their reputation. In a 2x2 between-subject factorial experiment, the influence of two response strategies (denial vs. rebuild) and two tones of voice (human vs. corporate) were examined on company reputation and customer attitude. A total of 136 Dutch participants were randomly assigned to a crisis response strategy of a company as shown on their website and answered questions. The findings indicated that apology outweighed denial in both company reputation and customer attitude regardless of the tone of voice which was in line with the literature.