Shaping attributions of crisis responsibility in the case of an accusation : the role of active and passive voice in crisis response strategies Ghent University KU Leuven
This study examines how both the content (i.e., denial vs. apology) and the verb voice (i.e., active voice vs. passive voice) of a crisis response affect the public's perception of crisis responsibility and, subsequently, the reputation of an organization accused of wrongdoing. The results of two experiments first show that an apology results in higher responsibility attributions than denial, which, in turn, adversely affects an organization's ...