 Exploring the effectiveness of creating regulatory fit in crisis communications: Can it change perceptions of media coverage during a crisis?Tamar Avnet and Daniel Laufer Business Horizons, 2015, vol. 58, issue 2, 149-156 Abstract: This article examines an important issue in crisis management: how to influence public perceptions of the news media's reporting of a crisis. Previous research has found that congruency between the regulatory orientation of a consumer and a product recall message—also known as the regulatory fit effect—increases compliance with a product recall request. Could the creation of a regulatory fit effect prior to reading a news article about a crisis also be beneficial to a company? Two separate experiments conducted in the United States and India involving crises in different industries (airline and tires) examined this issue, and found that contrary to previous research, reactions toward the company were more negative in terms of expectations for a product recall and future purchase intentions. The findings revealed that these negative consumer reactions occurred because regulatory fit enhanced people's vulnerability to harm after reading the article. These results suggest that a company should consider creating regulatory non-fit in order to influence the public's perceptions of a crisis. Keywords: Regulatory fit; Crisis communications; Crisis management; Product recall; Product harm crisis (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:58:y:2015:i:2:p:149-156 DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2014.10.004 Access Statistics for this article Business Horizons is currently edited by C. M. Dalton More articles in Business Horizons from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.