Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

1-2019

Abstract

Purpose: Scholars have discouraged using silence in crises as it magnifies the information vacuum (see Pang, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to argue for its viability and explore the type of silence that can be used. Design/methodology/approach: Eight international cases were analyzed to examine how silence was adopted, sustained and broken. Findings: The findings uncovered three intention-based typologies of strategic silence: delaying, avoiding and hiding silences. Among such, avoiding/hiding silence intensified crises and adversely affected post-silence organizational image when forcefully broken, while delaying silence helped preserve/restore image with primary stakeholders if successfully sustained and broken as planned. Research limitations/implications: First, these findings may lack generalizability due to the limited number of cases studied. Second, local sentiments may not be fully represented in the English-language news examined as they may be written for a different audience. Finally, a number of cases studied were still ongoing at the time of writing, so the overall effectiveness of the strategy employed might be compromised as future events unfold. Practical implications: A stage-based practical guide to adopting delaying silence is proposed as a supporting strategy before the execution of crisis response strategies. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies to examine the role of silence in crisis communication as silence is not recognized as a type of response in dominant crisis theories – be it the situational crisis communication theory or the image repair theory (An and Cheng, 2010; Benoit, 2015; Benoit and Pang, 2008; Xu and Li, 2013).

Keywords

Media, Leadership, Corporate communications, Crisis, Crisis management

Discipline

Business and Corporate Communications

Research Areas

Corporate Communication

Publication

Corporate Communications: An International Journal

Volume

24

Issue

1

First Page

162

Last Page

178

ISSN

1356-3289

Identifier

10.1108/CCIJ-10-2018-0108

Publisher

Emerald

Comments

Presented at Conference on Corporate Communication 2018, May 29 – June 1, New York

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-10-2018-0108

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