Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image

Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image
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Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image
Crisis communication strategies profoundly impact organizational productivity and public, corporate image. Every organization has a corporate social responsibility of proactively communicating when encountering a crisis (Rim & Ferguson, 2020). Proactive communication strategies involve making a statement publicly about the crisis immediately it occurs. Organizations can communicate with the public through a press release, mainstream media, or posting crisis-related information through social media for people to see. On the other hand, reactive communication refers to a situation where organizations hold information and avoid publishing it unless it receives specific inquiries regarding the crisis encountered. Over the past decade, many several organizations have received criticism from the media and general populace for using reactive strategies to manage their crises, while others have received a positive response for utilizing proactive approaches.
When organizations are faced with crises, they tend to worry about their corporate image and attempt to hide their misfortune from the public eye. However, some organizations have been at the forefront of communicating their crises to the public to establish trust and fulfill their corporate social responsibility. According to Beldad et al. (2018), failure to effectively communicate and handle an organizational crisis can be accompanied by detrimental to its credibility, legitimacy, and corporate image. The organization's ability to proactively respond to its crises is what sets it from other firms and gives it a competitive advantage. Another important factor in proactive crisis management strategies is the timing of the crisis-related communication which may help the organization to the situation in control and mitigate the negative impacts of the crisis. Proactive strategies involve communicating the crisis before the information reaches the public. The technique is also known as the "stealing thunder" approach that focuses on rhetoric apology to the public. Organizations that utilize that proactively communicate their problems have a positive corporate image and enhanced public relations.
Effective communication strategically allows the sharing of crisis information internally with the employees and externally with stakeholders outside the organization, particularly the customers and the general public. Previous studies reveal that internal crisis communication eliminates ambiguity and reduces uncertainty among employees (Kim, 2018). Internal communication also motivates employees to participate in the collective mitigation of the crisis actively and forge meaningful relationships with the public. In addition, the employees see proactive communication as a means of promoting integrity and expressing corporate social responsibility. It also helps organizations to control how the narrative is framed and the amount of information shared by the media enabling them to restore their reputation after facing major crises.
Previous research shows that the successful management of a company primarily depends on how it acts and communicates after a crisis (Beldad et al., 2017). When things are not right in an organization, it has two major courses of action. It can fully admit and communicate that the company is facing a crisis with potentially harmful results or wait for an outside party to expose its weaknesses. Reactive (thunder) communication occurs when organizations admit to crises after being exposed by external parties. Organizations that react to accusations made by key stakeholders or the media usually lose control of how the narrative about the crises they are facing is framed (Beldad et al., 2018).
In most cases, organizational crises are usually a violation of societal expectations and moral standards. Reacting to media accusations may be perceived by the media ...