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Did BP Atone for its Transgressions? Expanding Theory on ‘Ethical Apology’ in Crisis Communication
Author(s) -
DiersLawson Audra,
Pang Augustine
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of contingencies and crisis management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.007
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5973
pISSN - 0966-0879
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5973.12110
Subject(s) - crisis communication , perception , crisis response , oil spill , social psychology , content (measure theory) , psychology , public relations , sociology , political science , geography , mathematical analysis , environmental protection , mathematics , neuroscience
Ethical communication during crisis response is often assessed by external perceptions of the organization's intentions, rather than an assessment of the organization's communicative behaviors. This can easily lead researchers to draw editorial conclusions about an organization's ethics in crisis response rather than accurately describing its communicative behaviors. The case of BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico provides a prime example for the importance of accurately assessing the ethical content of an organization's crisis response because the ethics of BP's response have been discussed in news and academic sources; yet little direct examination of the ethical content in BP's response has occurred. The findings have implications for communication ethics, social media engagement, and crisis communication more generally.