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Unlikely allies: credibility transfer during a corporate crisis
Author(s) -
Heinze Justin,
Uhlmann Eric Luis,
Diermeier Daniel
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12227
Subject(s) - credibility , priming (agriculture) , social psychology , psychology , outcome (game theory) , public relations , political science , economics , law , microeconomics , botany , germination , biology
A company that faces a crisis can reestablish trust with stakeholders by announcing an independent investigation by a third party. Announcing an independent investigation, without knowing its outcome, significantly restored attitudes toward the company while an internal investigation was ineffective. Liberals responded most positively to a company that invited an independent investigation by a consumer advocacy group (Study 1). Experimentally activating liberal values using an implicit priming procedure likewise enhanced credibility transfer from a consumer advocacy group's investigation to a company in crisis (Study 2).