Handbook of Crisis Communication

W. Timothy Coombs is Professor at the Nicholson School of Communication at University of Central Florida, USA. He is the author of Code Red in the Boardroom (2006), and Today's Public Relations (2006). Sherry J. Holladay is Professor at the Nicholson School of Communication at University of Central Florida, USA. She is the author of numerous articles related to corporate communication.Together, they have co-authored It’s Not Just PR (2007), PR Strategy and Application (2010) and Managing Corporate Social Responsibility: A Communication Approach (2011). All titles are published by Wiley-Blackwell.

"The inherent fascination of an unfolding crisis combined with an engaging style make the handbook, although occasionally dense, a thoroughly engaging read and an essential resource for anyone interested in the field of crisis communication. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Students, upper-division undergraduate and up; researchers; faculty; professionals." (Choice, 1 July 2012)

• Notes on Contributors ix Preface xxviiAcknowledgments xxixIntroduction 1Robert L. HeathPart I Crisis and Allied Fields 151 Parameters for Crisis Communication 17W. Timothy Coombs2 Crisis Communication and Its Allied Fields 54W. Timothy Coombs3 Crisis Communication Research in Public Relations Journals: Tracking Research Trends Over Thirty Years 65Seon-Kyoung An and I-Huei ChengPart II Methodological Variety 91Case Studies4 Organizational Networks in Disaster Response: An Examination of the US Government Network’s Efforts in Hurricane Katrina 93Gabriel L. Adkins5 Regaining Altitude: A Case Analysis of the JetBlue Airways Valentine’s Day 2007 Crisis 115Gregory G. EfthimiouTextual Analysis6 The Press as Agent of Cultural Repair: A Textual Analysis of News Coverage of the Virginia Tech Shootings 141Mohamad H. Elmasry and Vidhi ChaudhriContent Analysis7 Are They Practicing What We Are Preaching? An Investigation of Crisis Communication Strategies in the Media Coverage of Chemical Accidents 159Sherry J. HolladayExperimental8 Examining the Effects of Mutability and Framing on Perceptions of Human Error and Technical Error Crises: Implications for Situational Crisis Communication Theory 181W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay9 How Do Past Crises Affect Publics’ Perceptions of Current Events? An Experiment Testing Corporate Reputation During an Adverse Event 205J. Drew Elliot10 Crisis Response Effectiveness: Methodological Considerations for Advancement in Empirical Investigation into Response Impact 221Tomasz A. Fediuk, Kristin M. Pace, and Isabel C. BoteroPart III The Practice 24311 “We tell people. It’s up to them to be prepared.” Public Relations Practices of Local Emergency Managers 245Robert Littlefield, Katherine Rowan, Shari R. Veil, Lorraine Kisselburgh, Kimberly Beauchamp, Kathleen Vidoloff, Marie L. Dick, Theresa Russell-Loretz, Induk Kim, Angelica Ruvarac, Quian Wang, Hyunyi Cho, Toni Siriko Hoang, Bonita Neff, Teri Toles-Patkin, Rod Troester, Shama Hyder, Steven Venette, and Timothy L. Sellnow12 Thirty Common Basic Elements of Crisis Management Plans: Guidelines for Handling the Acute Stage of “Hard” Emergencies at the Tactical Level 261Alexander G. NikolaevPart IV Specific Applications 283Organizational Contexts13 Oil Industry Crisis Communication 285Michelle Maresh and David E. Williams14 Educational Crisis Management Practices Tentatively Embrace the New Media 301Barbara S. Gainey15 FEMA and the Rhetoric of Redemption: New Directions in Crisis Communication Models for Government Agencies 319Elizabeth Johnson Avery and Ruthann W. LariscyCrisis Communication and Race16 Effective Public Relations in Racially Charged Crises: Not Black or White 335Brooke Fisher Liu17 Public Relations and Reputation Management in a Crisis Situation: How Denny’s Restaurants Reinvigorated the Firm’s Corporate Identity 359Ali M. Kanso, Steven R. Levitt, and Richard Alan NelsonPart V Technology and Crisis Communication 37918 New Media for Crisis Communication: Opportunities for Technical Translation, Dialogue, and Stakeholder Responses 381Keri K. Stephens and Patty Malone19 Organizational and Media Use of Technology During Fraud Crises 396Christopher Caldiero, Maureen Taylor, and Lia Ungureanu20 Organizational Use of New Communication Technology in Product Recall Crises 410Maureen TaylorPart VI Global Crisis Communication 42321 Crisis Communication, Complexity, and the Cartoon Affair: A Case Study 425Finn Frandsen and Winni Johansen22 Crisis Communication and Terrorist Attacks: Framing a Response to the 2004 Madrid Bombings and 2005 London Bombings 449María José Canel and Karen Sanders23 Negotiating Global Citizenship: Mattel’s 2007 Recall Crisis 467Patricia A. Curtin24 Celebrating Expulsions? Crisis Communication in the Swedish Migration Board 489Orla VigsøPart VII Theory Development 50925 Crisis Communicators in Change: From Plans to Improvisations 511Jesper Falkheimer and Mats Heide26 Contingency Theory of Strategic Conflict Management: Directions for the Practice of Crisis Communication from a Decade of Theory Development, Discovery, and Dialogue 527Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, and Glen T. Cameron27 Crisis-Adaptive Public Information: A Model for Reliability in Chaos 550Suzanne Horsley28 Communicating Before a Crisis: An Exploration of Bolstering, CSR, and Inoculation Practices 568Shelley Wigley and Michael Pfau29 Who Suffers? The Effect of Injured Party on Attributions of  Crisis Responsibility 591Sun-A Park and María E. Len-Ríos30 The Dialectics of Organizational Crisis Management 607Charles Conrad, Jane Stuart Baker, Chris Cudahy, and Jennifer Willyard31 Exploring Crisis from a Receiver Perspective: Understanding Stakeholder Reactions During Crisis Events 635Tomasz A. Fediuk, W. Timothy Coombs, and Isabel C. Botero32 Credibility Seeking through an Interorganizational Alliance: Instigating the Fen-Phen Confrontation Crisis 657Timothy L. Sellnow, Shari R. Veil, and Renae A. StreifelPart VIII Future Research Directions 67533 Future Directions of Crisis Communication Research: Emotions in Crisis – The Next Frontier 677Yan Jin and Augustine Pang34 Complexity and Crises: A New Paradigm 683Dawn R. Gilpin and Priscilla Murphy35 Considering the Future of Crisis Communication Research: Understanding the Opportunities Inherent to Crisis Events through the Discourse of Renewal 691Robert R. Ulmer, Timothy L. Sellnow, and Matthew W. Seeger36 Toward a Holistic Organizational Approach to Understanding Crisis 698Maureen Taylor37 What is a Public Relations “Crisis”? Refocusing Crisis Research 705Michael L. Kent38 Crisis and Learning 713Larsåke Larsson39 Pursuing Evidence-Based Crisis Communication 719W. Timothy CoombsAfterword 726Name Index 728Subject Index 732