Effects of apologies and crisis responsibility on corporate and spokesperson reputation

This study is aimed at the effects of making apologies in a crisis situation and attributed crisis responsibility on corporate- and spokesperson reputation. In a 2 × 2 scenario experiment (spokesperson making apologies versus no apologies; and accidental versus preventable crisis), 84 respondents judged corporate and spokesperson reputation. We found that the crisis has more impact on corporate reputation than on the spokesperson's reputation. This indicates that the crisis is seen as a collective responsibility of the organization, rather than the personal responsibility of the spokesperson.

► Anticipated trust and reputation were measured at the corporate, as well as the spokesperson level.
► Crisis response strategy (making apologies or not) did not significantly affect participant's responses to the crisis in terms of trust and reputation.
► The crisis had more impact on corporate reputation than on spokesperson's reputation.
► We propose that, by taking the social context of a crisis into consideration, stakeholders depersonalize the responsibility of an organizational crisis.