THE EFFECT OF CORPORATE APOLOGY RESPONSES ON PUBLIC ANGER IN CRISIS COMMUNICATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Year 2020, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 21 - 44, 28.03.2020

Salih Gürbüz

https://doi.org/10.19145/e-gifder.639219

Cited By: 4

Abstract

The most important aspect of crisis communication in crisis situations is the responses to crises. It is considered important that corporations assume responsibility for the event or situation that causes the crisis in crisis situations, how they express responsibility and the level of sympathy they show to the victims can turn the direction of the negative effects of the crisis to positive. Because, it is considered that the expressions used in crisis responses may have a positive or negative effect on public anger. Thus, the response language used in the management of the crisis can bring positive or negative results to the corporations. In this respect, it is important to analyze how effective the expressions are used in apology expressions in order to reduce public anger. The importance that distinguishes this study from other crisis studies is not only whether corporations use expressions containing responsibility and sympathy in their response to apology, but also to what extent sympathy and responsibility can relieve public anger. For this purpose, experimental research design was used to analyze the effect of crisis response types on anger, one of the public's emotional responses. Participants were randomly exposed to messages of response to the crisis, including 1) active responsibility and high sympathy (full apology); (2) active responsibility and low sympathy (registered apology); (3) passive responsibility and high sympathy (excused apology); and (4) passive responsibility and low sympathy (arrogant apology). As a result of the findings, it was evaluated that the effect of an apology with active responsibility was not different than an apology with passive responsibility in relieving anger. It was also evaluated that a high level of sympathy could not relieve the public's anger more than a response message containing a low level of sympathy.

Keywords

Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, Corporate Apology Responses, Apology Functions

KRİZ İLETİŞİMİNDE KURUMSAL ÖZÜR YANITLARININ KAMU ÖFKESİ ÜZERİNDE ETKİSİ: DENEYSEL BİR ÇALIŞMA

Abstract

Kriz durumlarında gerçekleştirilecek kriz iletişiminin en önemli yanını krizlere verilen yanıtlar oluşturmaktadır. Kurumların kriz durumlarında krize neden olan olayın ya da durumun sorumluluğunu üstlenmesi, sorumluluğu üstlendiğini nasıl ifade ettiği ve mağdurlara gösterdiği sempati düzeyi krizin getireceği olumsuzlukların yönünü olumluya çevirebilmesi açısından önemli görülmektedir. Çünkü kriz yanıtlarında kullanılan ifadelerin kamunun öfkesi üzerinde olumlu ya da olumsuz yönde etkisi olabileceği değerlendirilmektedir. Böylece krizin yönetiminde kullanılan yanıt dili kuruma olumlu ya da olumsuz sonuçlar getirebilecektir. Bu açıdan özür ifadelerinde kullanılan ifadelerin kamunun öfkesini azaltması hususunda ne kadar etkili olduğunu araştırmak önemlidir. Bu çalışmayı diğer kriz çalışmalarından ayrıştıran önem, kurumların özür yanıtlarında sadece sorumluluk kabulü ve sempati içeren ifadeleri kullanıp kullanmadığı değil, ayrıca hangi oranda sempatinin ve sorumluluğun kullanılarak kamunun öfkesinin rahatlatılıp rahatlatılamadığını araştırmaktır. Bu amaca yönelik, kriz yanıt türlerinin (kurumsal savunma) kamunun duygusal tepkilerinden birisi olan öfke üzerindeki etkisini incelemek için yarı deneysel araştırma tasarımı kullanılmıştır. Katılımcılar 1) aktif sorumluluk ve yüksek sempati (tam özür); (2) aktif sorumluluk ve düşük sempati (taahhütlü özür); (3) pasif sorumluluk ve yüksek sempati (mazeretli özür) ve (4) pasif sorumluluk ve düşük sempati (kibirli özür) söylemleri içeren krize yanıt mesajlarına rastgele maruz kalmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular sonucunda aktif sorumluluğu olan bir özür ifadesinin, pasif sorumluluğu olan bir özür ifadesine göre; yine, yüksek düzeyde bir sempati ifadesinin, düşük düzeyde bir sempati ifadesi içeren bir tepki mesajına göre kamunun öfkesini daha fazla rahatlatamadığı ortaya konulmuştur.

Keywords

Kriz yönetimi, kriz iletişimi, Kurumsal özür yanıtları, Özür fonksiyonları

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