Typology and dimensionality of litigation public relations strategies: The Hewlett-Packard board pretexting scandal case

This study examined the content of litigation public relations (LPR) strategies Hewlett-Packard used in its recent board pretexting scandal by analyzing the press releases and newspaper coverage. Seven types of LPR strategies were identified and mapped using multidimensional scaling (MDS) along two continuums representing Defense–Accommodation and Ambiguity–Specification message attributes. Threat type was found to influence the choice of LPR strategies, which in return, impacted on how the publics attributed the organizational responsibility in the crisis. The use of emotional message played an important role in the two new LPR strategies, Information Supply and Strategic Avoidance.