Stakeholder-Formed Organizations and Crisis Communication: Analyzing Discourse of Renewal with a Non-Offending Organization

Abstract

Scholars have examined the ways organizations practice post-crisis communication strategies, including deny, diminish, and rebuild. The current study explores the extent to which a stakeholder-formed organization utilizes post-crisis discourse of renewal to rebuild, recover, and renew the Catholic Church after allegations of sexual abuse of minors publicly surfaced in the United States. Open-ended semi-structured interviews with founders and executive committee members of Leadership Roundtable revealed stakeholders practiced discourse of renewal to help the Catholic Church, an offending organization, recover from a crisis. This study also assessed the extent to which God and religion motivated stakeholders’ responses. Results suggest religion is a critical motivating factor in stakeholders’ responses to a crisis.

An Analysis of Police Department Crisis Communication via Social Media

“…A stakeholder is anyone that can be affected by the behavior or operation of an organization (Bryson, 2004) and is focused on overcoming the crisis rather than assigning blame (Ulmer et al, 2007). Commitment to stakeholders can vary depending upon the crisis and the organization; so, it can refer to the people affected by a crisis, but it can also include commitments to rebuild or to renewvalues of the organization (Morehouse, 2020; Ulmer & Sellnow, 2002; Ulmer et al, 2007). Commitment to stakeholders can involve a non-offending organization’s investment in a group of people.…”

“…A commitment to rebuild is usually associated with a physical structure (Seeger & Ulmer, 2002), however, Morehouse (2020) argued that this can be extended to programs, laws, and even trust. For example, in their analysis of post-crisis communication to rebuild the Catholic Church after sex abuse allegations involving minors, Morehouse (2020) argued that an organization can implement a commitment to rebuild by emphasizing their commitment to rebuilding trust between the organization and the community by supporting those who were victimized and building policies that protect those who are vulnerable. Finally, commitment to renewal can be defined as a commitment to well-established values, such as patriotism and determination after the 9/11 attacks (Ulmer & Sellnow, 2002; Ulmer et al, 2007).…”

Factionalism and schisms: Analyzing network structure and characteristics of online opinion leaders in an international religious crisis

“…Overlooking how other types of organizations-in particular religious organizations-practice crisis communication is problematic because it assumes various types of organizations practice crisis communication in similar ways, when previous research has detailed that government, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations differ significantly in their utilization and application of crisis communication from one another and their corporate counterparts (Lundgren & Fransson, 2023;Morehouse, 2020;Morehouse & Austin, 2022).…”

“…Few scholars have examined crises within religious organizations, with much of the focus on the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis (Barth, 2010; Boys, 2009; Maier, 2005; Maier & Crist, 2017; Morehouse, 2020), or preventable crises caused by prominent evangelical pastors (Morehouse & Austin, 2022; Morehouse & Lemon, 2023; Spaulding, 2018). For instance, Maier and Crist (2017) and Dixon (2004) examined the postcrisis response strategies of religious leaders within the Catholic Church following revelations that leaders within the Church sexually abused children for decades.…”

“…Research into other types of organizations, including nonprofit organizations (Ruddle et al, 2023), faith‐based organizations (Lundgren & Fransson, 2023; Perreault & Perreault, 2019), and government organizations (Awwad et al, 2023; Chen & Xu, 2023) is scarce. Overlooking how other types of organizations—in particular religious organizations—practice crisis communication is problematic because it assumes various types of organizations practice crisis communication in similar ways, when previous research has detailed that government, nonprofit, and faith‐based organizations differ significantly in their utilization and application of crisis communication from one another and their corporate counterparts (Lundgren & Fransson, 2023; Morehouse, 2020; Morehouse & Austin, 2022). Importantly, focusing scholarly inquiries on corporate or nonfaith‐based nonprofit organizations constrains theory building by omitting the nuances, purposes and forms of mass communication other types of organizations prioritize and practice (Kent & Taylor, 2016; Morehouse & Austin, 2022).…”