Toward a Publics-Driven, Emotion-Based Approach in Crisis Communication: Testing the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model

Abstract

Extending current theories in crisis communication, the authors have developed a more systemic approach to understanding the role of emotions in crises and the strategies used to respond. The authors’ Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model is based on a public-based, emotion-driven perspective where different crises are mapped on two continua, the organization’s engagement in the crisis and primary public’s coping strategy. The initial test on the first of the four quadrants in the model suggests theoretical rigor in the model and found that publics involved in crises pertaining to reputational damage, technological breakdown, industrial matters, labor unrest, and regulation/legislation, are likely to feel anxious, angry, and sad. At the same time, they are likely to engage in conative coping and take active steps to restore some semblance of normalcy within their immediate environment. As counter-intuitive as this may appear, evidence shows that organizations embroiled in these crises need only to engage moderately, rather than intensely, in reaching out to the publics. This “strategic holding position” affords a situation where organizations are able to assume a qualified-rhetoric-mixed stance, utilizing a mixed bag of strategies ranging from defensive strategies like excuse and justification as well as accommodative strategies like ingratiation and corrective action to engage their publics. This study is the first of a series of studies to generate what Yin (2003) termed “analytic generalization” for the ICM model. The findings from this study, arguably, represent the imprints of an initial trail that may open up to a possibly new vista of research in crisis communication.