Shaping Attributions of Crisis Responsibility in the Case of an Accusation: The Role of Active and Passive Voice in Crisis Response Strategies

Abstract

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 reputation. When we consider the verb voice of the message, a crisis response that is constructed in the passive voice reduces responsibility perceptions more than the active voice, leading to less reputational damage. An interaction effect shows, however, that this result only holds true for a passive denial strategy and not for apologies. As such, when an organization needs to deny an accusation, it seems wise to construct the message in the passive voice in order to strengthen the denial and effectively protect the organizational reputation.

Representation of gender violence in appeal proceedings in Spain

“…Acts of GBV committed by men are often described in the passive or impersonal tense (examples 1-6). This is consistent with the findings of previous studies (Henley et al, 1995;Frazer & Miller, 2009;Skinner & Pludwin, 2013;Fannes & Claeys, 2023), indicating a generalised trivialisation of sexual assault narratives across contexts, as well as a certain degree of tolerance to sexual aggression, disregarding the dignity and equality of women. What is more, considering Coates and Wade (2007, p. 513), it appears that language in this corpus serves to conceal violence, obscure and diminish perpetrator responsibility, suppress victim resistance, and blame and pathologise victims, rather than expose violence, clarify perpetrator responsibility, illustrate and acknowledge victim resistance, and deny victim blaming and pathologising.…”

“…From the perspective of the qualitative analysis, the particular use of passive and active voices can be seen. Here are some examples where, in line with findings from the extensive previous literature (Henley et al, 1995;Frazer & Miller, 2009;Skinner & Pludwin, 2013;Fannes & Claeys, 2023), the passive voice is used to obscure the subject of the acts committed. The examples also show a number of cases in which the image of the women involved is exactly the opposite of the truth, with the women depicted as alleged victims and false complainants.…”

Social media and culture clash: Examining cultural influence on Facebook crisis communication in Botswana

“…Undoubtedly, crisis communication scholarship continues to grow. Through social media, crisis information is shared faster than ever, and can cause more harm to organisations that remain passive (Fannes & Claeys, 2023) as that reflects on their credibility and the ability to control and influence (Lin et al, 2016). As such, Rees (2020) concluded that reputation management must include proactive social media posts and organisations must address the speed and emotion of social media.…”

Strategies of Blaming on Social Media: An Experimental Study of Linguistic Framing and Retweetability

“…In media representations of violent political protests, the readers’ allocation of blame has been shown to be affected by whether journalists use regular transactive (“protesters attacked police officers”) or reciprocal (“protesters clashed with police officers”) form constructions in their reporting (Hart, 2018). In reporting of negative events, the use of active rather than passive voice makes an agent mentioned in the story more likely to be regarded as deserving blame for causing that event (Fannes & Claeys, 2022; Knobloch-Westerwick & Taylor, 2008). Previous research focusing specifically on the language of judgement and blame suggests that distinct strategies can be identified on the basis of how negative evaluation is expressed linguistically (Hansson et al, 2022).…”