Does severity matter?: An investigation of crisis severity from defensive attribution theory perspective

• Published in: Public relations review Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 610 - 618
• Main Authors: Zhou, Ziyuan, Ki, Eyun-Jung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Silver Spring Elsevier Inc 01.11.2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Attribution; Business communications; Corporate image; Crises; Crisis responsibility; Crisis severity; Factorial experiments; Intentionality; Organizational reputation; Public relations; Reputations; SCCT; Crisis severity; Crisis responsibility; Organizational reputation; SCCT

•Crisis severity is a relatively neglected variable in the SCCT model. Based on Defensive Attribution Theory (DAT), this study reinvestigated the influence of crisis severity on crisis responsibility across different crisis types.•This study designed a 2 (crisis severity: high vs. low) by 3 (crisis...