EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS MANAGEMENT ON CUSTOMER TRUST AND CORPORATE REPUTATION: THE CASE OF STARBUCKS TURKIYE

Year 2024, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 94 - 111, 31.12.2024

Doğan Başaran

Abstract

Purpose- This study examines the impact of social media crisis management on corporate reputation, customer trust, and communication quality, focusing specifically on Starbucks Türkiye's responses to crises. The study aims to differentiate between proactive and reactive crisis management strategies and assess their effects on consumer perceptions during crises like the February 6 earthquake and the ongoing Palestine war.
Methodology- The research utilizes a sample of 348 participants who engaged in boycotting Starbucks Türkiye due to its crisis responses. Data collection was conducted via online surveys, with participants selected based on prior Starbucks consumption and boycott involvement. Data analysis employed SPSS 25 and SmartPLS 4 to evaluate the impact of proactive and reactive crisis management on customer trust, corporate reputation, and communication quality.
Findings- The findings indicate that proactive crisis management strategies, characterized by transparency, empathy, and prompt responses, positively impact corporate reputation and sustain customer trust. Conversely, reactive crisis management—often marked by delays and inconsistent messages—negatively affects trust and communication quality. Additionally, the study underscores that effective communication quality, especially during crises, significantly strengthens customer trust, fostering loyalty and enhancing long-term relationships, although it has a limited direct impact on corporate reputation.
Conclusion- The study concludes that proactive crisis management is essential for companies facing public scrutiny, particularly on social media. Starbucks Türkiye’s experience highlights the critical role of transparent, empathetic, and timely communication in managing reputational risks and maintaining customer trust. Organizations are encouraged to prioritize proactive crisis strategies that include clear, consistent messaging and active engagement with stakeholders to mitigate negative perceptions. Reactive approaches, while sometimes necessary, should focus on quick, authentic responses to minimize potential damage. The study suggests further research to explore additional factors that may mediate the link between communication quality and corporate reputation, especially in high-stakes digital environments.

Keywords

Social media crisis management, proactive social media crisis management, reactive social media crisis management, customer trust, corporate reputation

References

• Abratt, R., & Mingione, M. (2022). Demarcating the field of corporate brand management. In The Routledge companion to corporate branding. Routledge, ISBN: 9781003035749
• Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211.
• Akçay, E. (2023). Halkla ilişkiler ve stratejik sessizlik: Kurumsal niyetler üzerine nitel bir analiz. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 51, 258-272.
• Alsop, R. J. (2010). The 18 immutable laws of corporate reputation: Creating, protecting, and repairing your most valuable asset. Simon and Schuster, USA, ISBN: 0-7432-3670-X.
• Anderson, R. E., & Swaminathan, S. (2011). Customer satisfaction and loyalty in e-markets: A PLS path modeling approach. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 221-234.
• Ang, S. H., & Wight, A. M. (2009). Building intangible resources: The stickiness of reputation. Corporate Reputation Review, 12, 21-32.
• Arzberger, M. J. (2022). Corporate Reputation. In Handbuch Wirtschaftsethik. JB Metzler, Stuttgart, ISBN: 978-3-476-05806-5
• Aula, P. (2010). Social media, reputation risk and ambient publicity management. Strategy & leadership, 38(6), 43-49.
• Ba, S., & Pavlou, P. A. (2002). Evidence of the effect of trust building technology in electronic markets: Price premiums and buyer behavior. MIS quarterly, 26(3), 243-268.
• Babatunde, K. A. (2022). Public relations and social media for effective crisis communication management. Jurnal Bina Praja, 14(3), 543-553.
• Banyongen, S. (2023). In the Eye of the Storm: Social Media and Crisis Management. In Crisis Management-Principles, Roles and Application. IntechOpen.
• Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of management, 17(1), 99-120.
• Barnett, M. L., Jermier, J. M., & Lafferty, B. A. (2006). Corporate reputation: The definitional landscape. Corporate reputation review, 9, 26-38.
• Basaran, D., and Ventura, K. (2021). The Effect of Negative Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Brand Image: The Case of Netflix Turkey via sikayetvar. com, V. International Applied Social Sciences Congress 07-09 October, Kusadasi, 17-25.
• Becker, J. M., Cheah, J. H., Gholamzade, R., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2023). PLS-SEM’s most wanted guidance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(1), 321-346.
• Belanger, F., Hiller, J. S., & Smith, W. J. (2002). Trustworthiness in electronic commerce: the role of privacy, security, and site attributes. The journal of strategic Information Systems, 11(3-4), 245-270.
• Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological bulletin, 88(3), 588-606.
• Bryson, D., & Atwal, G. (2019). Brand hate: the case of Starbucks in France. British Food Journal, 121(1), 172-182.
• Ciekanowski, Z., Nowicka, J., Zurawski, S., Czech, A., & Zdunek, M. (2023). Crisis management and crisis situation in the organization. European Research Studies Journal, 26(4), 339-353.
• Chaudhuri, A., & Holbrook, M. B. (2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: the role of brand loyalty. Journal of marketing, 65(2), 81-93.
• Chun, R., Da Silva, R., Davies, G., & Roper, S. (2005). Corporate reputation and competitiveness. Routledge, UK, ISBN: 9780203218112.
• Claeys, A. S., & Cauberghe, V. (2014). What makes crisis response strategies work? The impact of crisis involvement and message framing. Journal of Business Research, 67(2), 182-189.
• Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage, USA, ISBN: 978-1412983105.
• Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate reputation review, 10(3), 163-176.
• Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2014). How publics react to crisis communication efforts: Comparing crisis response reactions across sub-arenas. Journal of Communication Management, 18(1), 40-57.
• Colleoni, E., Murtarelli, G., Romenti, S., & Dodini, F. (2024). Mitigating Reputational Damage in Corporate Crises: An Examination of Apology Strategies. In Advancements in Socialized and Digital Media Communications. IGI Global, ISBN: 9798369308554
• Desai, A. (2018). Corporate communication through social media: strategies for managing reputation. Vikalpa, 43(3), 171-174.
• Ding, L., Velicer, W. F., & Harlow, L. L. (1995). Effects of estimation methods, number of indicators per factor, and improper solutions on structural equation modeling fit indices. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2(2), 119-143.
• Doney, P. M., & Cannon, J. P. (1997). An examination of the nature of trust in buyer–seller relationships. Journal of marketing, 61(2), 35-51.
• Doorley, J., & Garcia, H. F. (2015). Reputation management: The key to successful public relations and corporate communication. Routledge, USA, ISBN: 9781315879987.
• Dowling, G. R. (2004). Corporate reputations: Should you compete on yours? California Management Review, 46(3), 19-36.
• Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. Administrative science quarterly, 39(2), 239-263.
• Fombrun, C., & Shanley, M. (1990). What's in a name? Reputation building and corporate strategy. Academy of management Journal, 33(2), 233-258.
• Fombrun, C. J., & Van Riel, C. B. (2004). Fame & fortune: How successful companies build winning reputations. FT press, USA, ISBN: 0-13-093737-1.
• Gasana, K. (2024). Crisis communication and reputation management in the age of fake news. Journal of Public Relations, 3(1), 28-39.
• Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., and Straub, W.D. (2003). Trust and tam in online shopping: An integrated model. MIS quarterly, 27(1), 51-90.
• Geisser, S. (1974). A predictive approach to the random effect model. Biometrika, 61(1), 101-107.
• Gillespie, N., & Dietz, G. (2009). Trust repair after an organization-level failure. Academy of management review, 34(1), 127-145.
• Gkouna, O., Tsekouropoulos, G., Theocharis, D., Hoxha, G., & Gounas, A. (2023). The impact of family business brand trust and crisis management practices on customer purchase intention during Covid-19. Journal of Family Business Management, 13(1), 87-100.
• Goldberg, A. I., Cohen, G., & Fiegenbaum, A. (2003). Reputation building: Small business strategies for successful venture development. Journal of Small Business Management, 41(2), 168-186.
• Gray, E. R., & Balmer, J. M. (1998). Managing corporate image and corporate reputation. Long range planning, 31(5), 695-702.
• Grönroos, C. (2015). Service management and marketing: customer management in service competition. John Wiley & Sons, UK, ISBN: 978-1-118-92144-9.
• Haavisto, V. E., & Linge, T. T. (2022). Internal crisis communication and Nordic leadership: the importance of transparent and participative communication in times of crisis. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 22(4-5), 331-356.
• Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing theory and Practice, 19(2), 139-152.
• Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European business review, 31(1), 2-24.
• Hall, R. (1993). A framework linking intangible resources and capabiliites to sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic management journal, 14(8), 607-618.
• Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sinkovics, R. R. (2009). The use of partial least squares path modeling in international marketing. In New challenges to international marketing. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds. ISBN: 978-1-84855-468-9.
• Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 43(1), 115-135.
• Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., & Schmitt, J. (2010). Brand awareness in business markets: when is it related to firm performance? International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27(3), 201-212.
• Hsieh, A. T., & Li, C. K. (2008). The moderating effect of brand image on public relations perception and customer loyalty. Marketing intelligence & planning, 26(1), 26-42.
• Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological methods, 3(4), 424-453.
• Hulland, J. (1999). Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: A review of four recent studies. Strategic management journal, 20(2), 195-204.
• Işık, M. E., & Tatlı, E. (2024). Kriz İletişiminde Sosyal Medya Yönetimi: United Aırlines Overbooking Kriz Analizi1. Uluslararası Hukuk ve Sosyal Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 5(2), 1-38.
• Jin, Y., Liu, B. F., & Austin, L. L. (2014). Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’ crisis responses. Communication research, 41(1), 74-94.
• Kalkman, J. P. (2023). Frontline crisis response: Operational dilemmas in emergency services, armed forces, and humanitarian organizations. Cambridge University Press, UK, ISBN: 978-1-00926219-4.
• Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
• Keh, H. T., & Xie, Y. (2009). Corporate reputation and customer behavioral intentions: The roles of trust, identification and commitment. Industrial marketing management, 38(7), 732-742.
• Kerse, Y. (2023). The Effect of Customer Empowerment on Corporate Reputation Perception. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 12(3), 2128-2141.
• Kharouf, H., J. Lund, D., & Sekhon, H. (2014). Building trust by signaling trustworthiness in service retail. Journal of Services Marketing, 28(5), 361-373.
• Kibui, N., Kiboi, A., & Mwangi, E. (2023). Intangible Resources and Organizational Performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Companies in Nairobi County, Kenya. European Journal of Business and Strategic Management, 8(2), 94-114.
• Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, 54(3), 241-251.
• Kim, Y. (2018). Enhancing employee communication behaviors for sensemaking and sensegiving in crisis situations: Strategic management approach for effective internal crisis communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(4), 451-475.
• Kim, D. J., Ferrin, D. L., & Rao, H. R. (2009). Trust and satisfaction, two stepping stones for successful e-commerce relationships: A longitudinal exploration. Information systems research, 20(2), 237-257.
• Kim, S., Avery, E. J., & Lariscy, R. W. (2011). Reputation repair at the expense of providing instructing and adjusting information following crises. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 5(3), 183-199.
• Laufer, D., & Coombs, W. T. (2006). How should a company respond to a product harm crisis? The role of corporate reputation and consumer-based cues. Business Horizons, 49(5), 379-385.
• Lee, J. W. (2022). Impacts of public relations on corporate reputation. Journal of Digital Marketing and Communication, 2(1), 30-36.
• Liu, B. F., Austin, L., & Jin, Y. (2011). How publics respond to crisis communication strategies: The interplay of information form and source. Public relations review, 37(4), 345-353.
• Macnamara, J., & Zerfass, A. (2012). Social media communication in organizations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy, and management. International journal of strategic communication, 6(4), 287-308.
• Mahon, J. F. (2002). Corporate reputation: Research agenda using strategy and stakeholder literature. Business & Society, 41(4), 415-445.
• Malhotra, N. K. (2016). Marketing Research: An Applied Prientation. Pearson, Global Ed.
• Marsen, S. (2020). Navigating crisis: The role of communication in organizational crisis. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(2), 163-175.
• Mayer, R. C. (1995). An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust. Academy of Management Review, 709-734.
• McCarthy, C. (2024). Effective communication in a crisis requires advance planning. Disability Compliance for Higher Education, 29(11), 6-7.
• McKnight, D. H., Choudhury, V., & Kacmar, C. (2002). Developing and validating trust measures for e-commerce: An integrative typology. Information systems research, 13(3), 334-359.
• Mitroff, I. I. (2000). Managing crises before they happen: What every executive and manager needs to know about crisis management. AMACOM/American Management Association.
• Mitroff, I. I., Shrivastava, P., & Udwadia, F. E. (1987). Effective crisis management. Academy of Management Perspectives, 1(4), 283-292.
• Morgan, R. M. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20-38.
• Naibaho, N. A., Manurung, O. T., Jelita, P. D., & Saragih, L. S. (2023). Analysis of Starbucks Marketing Strategy to Become a Luxury Brand. Indonesian Journal of Advanced Research, 2(12), 1595-1604.
• Newstead, T. P., & Riggio, R. E. (2024). Crisis Leadership in Higher Education. In The Palgrave Handbook of Crisis Leadership in Higher Education (pp. 19-27). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, ISBN: 978-3-031-54509-2.
• Nizamidou, C. (2023). Lessons in Crisis Leadership from 9/11: Delineating the constituents of Crisis Leadership and their utilization in the context of Covid-19. The Irish Journal of Management, 4(2), 120-139.
• Oe, H., & Deng, F. (2024). Starbucks' innovative approach: a pilot discussion about how to enhance customer experiences in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 18(2), 111-128.
• Oktay, S. (2024). Crisis Leadership in the Time of Covid: Effects of Personality Traits on Response Speed. International Studies Perspectives, ekae001, 1-22.
• Ott, L., & Theunissen, P. (2015). Reputations at risk: Engagement during social media crises. Public relations review, 41(1), 97-102.
• Paine, L. S. (2003). Value shift: Why companies must merge social and financial imperatives to achieve superior performance. McGraw-Hill, USA, ISBN: 0071427333.
• Pearson, C. M., & Clair, J. A. (1998). Reframing crisis management. Academy of management review, 23(1), 59-76.
• Pfeffer, J., Zorbach, T., & Carley, K. M. (2014). Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks. Journal of marketing communications, 20(1-2), 117-128.
• Pina, R., & Dias, Á. (2021). The influence of brand experiences on consumer-based brand equity. Journal of brand Management, 28(2), 99-115.
• Ramayah, T., Cheah, J., Chuah, F., Ting, H., & Memon, M. A. (2018). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Using Smartpls 3.0: An Updated Guide and Practical Guide to Statistical Analysis. Pearson, Malaysia.
• Rawlins, B. (2008). Give the emperor a mirror: Toward developing a stakeholder measurement of organizational transparency. Journal of public relations research, 21(1), 71-99.
• Razak, N. A., Marmaya, N. H., Othman, M. Z., Osman, I., Kassim, S., Maskuri, F. A., & Mat Tahir, N. K. (2023). Capabilities and Reputation Risks Towards Firm Performance. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 16(2), 1-11.
• Reichheld, F. F. (2000). E-Loyalty: Your secret weapon on the Web. Harvard Business Review/Harvard Business Review, 78(4), 105-113.
• Riddell, H. (2024). Investigating social media users’ preferences of content and sourcing during a crisis. Communication and the Public, 20570473241254175.
• Rim, H., & Ferguson, M. A. T. (2020). Proactive versus reactive CSR in a crisis: An impression management perspective. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(4), 545-568.
• Rizza, C. (2023). Social media contribution to the crisis management processes: towards a more accurate response integrating citizen-generated content and citizen-led activities. In Handbook of Computational Social Science for Policy (pp. 421-436). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• Salam, M. A., & Jahed, M. A. (2023). CSR orientation for competitive advantage in business-to-business markets of emerging economies: the mediating role of trust and corporate reputation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 38(11), 2277-2293.
• Schultz, F., Utz, S., & Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public relations review, 37(1), 20-27.
• Sirdeshmukh, D., Singh, J., & Sabol, B. (2002). Consumer trust, value, and loyalty in relational exchanges. Journal of marketing, 66(1), 15-37.
• Shrivastava, P. (1993). Crisis theory/practice: Towards a sustainable future. Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly, 7(1), 23-42.
• Shmueli, G., & Koppius, O. R. (2011). Predictive analytics in information systems research. MIS quarterly, 35(3), 553-572.
• Shmueli, G., Ray, S., Estrada, J. M. V., & Chatla, S. B. (2016). The elephant in the room: Predictive performance of PLS models. Journal of business Research, 69(10), 4552-4564.
• Shvelidze, L., Karavaieva, T., & Tomchakovska, Y. (2024). The Influence of Communicative Strategies in Social Media Discourse on the Development of Communication Conflicts. International Journal of Religion, 5(5), 368-378.
• Simon, B. (2011). Not going to Starbucks: Boycotts and the out-scouring of politics in the branded world. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(2), 145-167.
• Song, H., Ruan, W., & Park, Y. (2019). Effects of service quality, corporate image, and customer trust on the corporate reputation of airlines. Sustainability, 11(12), 3302.
• Starbucks Türkiye, (2023), Of course we were there, we are there, and we will continue to be there, retrieved from: https://twitter.com/StarbucksTR/status/1624050246824210433/photo/1 (Date of access: 22.07.2024).
• Starbucks Türkiye, (2024), Starbucks for the record, retrieved from: https://www.starbucks.com.tr/starbucks-haberler (Date of access: 22.07.2024).
• Stephens, K. K., & Malone, P. C. (2009). If the organizations won't give us information…: The use of multiple new media for crisis technical translation and dialogue. Journal of public relations research, 21(2), 229-239.
• Sun, W. (2023). Corporate crisis management from a strategic operations perspective: the importance and impact of information management. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management, 8(2), 1-12.
• Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2013). Using multivariate statistics. Pearson, USA, ISBN: 13: 978-0-13-479054-1.
• Triantafillidou, A. (2024) Social media crisis communication. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Corporate Communication, Edward Elgar Publishing, USA, ISBN: 978 1 80220 086 7
• Turban, D. B., & Cable, D. M. (2003). Firm reputation and applicant pool characteristics. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 24(6), 733-751.
• Urse, E., & Tasențe, T. (2022). The role of Social Media in the development of the communication strategy of public institutions. Ars Aequi, 12, 280-288.
• Veil, S. R., Buehner, T., & Palenchar, M. J. (2011). A work‐in‐process literature review: Incorporating social media in risk and crisis communication. Journal of contingencies and crisis management, 19(2), 110-122.
• Venkatakrishnan, J., Alagiriswamy, R., & Parayitam, S. (2023). Web design and trust as moderators in the relationship between e-service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The TQM Journal, 35(8), 2455-2484.
• Verhoef, P. C., Franses, P. H., & Hoekstra, J. C. (2002). The effect of relational constructs on customer referrals and number of services purchased from a multiservice provider: does age of relationship matter?. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 30, 202-216.
• Verhoef, P. C., Reinartz, W. J., & Krafft, M. (2010). Customer engagement as a new perspective in customer management. Journal of service research, 13(3), 247-252.
• Wah Yap, B., Ramayah, T., & Nushazelin Wan Shahidan, W. (2012). Satisfaction and trust on customer loyalty: a PLS approach. Business strategy series, 13(4), 154-167.
• Wang, H., & Xiong, L. (2022). Understanding the antecedents of mobile social media acceptance during the public health crisis maintenance stage. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 74, 1-16.
• Watkins, M. W. (2018). Exploratory factor analysis: A guide to best practice. Journal of black psychology, 44(3), 219-246.
• Weigand, K., Flanagan, T., Dye, K., & Jones, P. (2014). Collaborative foresight: Complementing long-horizon strategic planning. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 85, 134-152.
• Williams, M., Buttle, F., & Biggemann, S. (2012). Relating word-of-mouth to corporate reputation. Public Communication Review, 2(2), 3-16.
• Wong, K. K. K. (2013). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques using SmartPLS. Marketing bulletin, 24(1), 1-32.
• Zheng, Q. (2023). Restoring trust through transparency: Examining the effects of transparency strategies on police crisis communication in Mainland China. Public Relations Review, 49(2), 202-214.
• Zhou, Y. (2022). Effective Leadership for Knowledge Sharing by Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) during Crisis. In People Management-Highlighting Futures. IntechOpen, ISBN: 978-1-80355-044-2.