Exploring Corporate Crisis Communication after COVID-19: The Role of Enterprise Risk Management in (Re)Building Trust

Chiara Mio (), Marco Fasan (), Carlo Marcon () and Silvia Panfilo ()
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Chiara Mio: Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Marco Fasan: Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Carlo Marcon: Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Silvia Panfilo: Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice

No 5, Working Papers from Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

Abstract: This study aims at investigating whether Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) sophistication shaped different COVID-19 crisis communication strategies. We assess the level of ERM sophistication of the FTSE-MIB Italian listed companies, and we study the pattern of risk communication strategies building on Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). We find that companies with a low level of ERM sophistication generally adopt a crisis communication strategy based on a “denying/diminish” approach. In contrast, companies with higher ERM sophistication adopt a “diminish/rebuild” strategy. Our results extend previous literature on crisis communication by looking at the unique case of the COVID-19, a non-company-specific crisis that hit all firms. Results show company crisis communication strategies depend on prior risk management characteristics. Thus companies willing to protect their reputation and (re)build public trust because of a crisis should invest not only in risk communication but also in their risk management process.

Keywords: COVID-19; Enterprise Risk Management; Situational Crisis Communication Theory; Risk communication; Crisis communication strategies; Corporate reputation. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G3 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-dem and nep-rmg
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