Dealing with external stakeholders during the crisis: Managing the information vacuum

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

8-2013

Abstract

In a crisis, an information vacuum is immediately generated in the media (Coombs, 2012; Heath, 2006). Information vacuum (Kauffman, 2005, p. 266), also known as “information void” (Coombs, 2012, p. 141) or “reporting vacuum” (Heath, 2006, p. 247), is created by the crisis and as a result of the crisis: people want to know what happens when bad things happen. This insatiable thirst for information is driven not just by primary stakeholders – more critically, it is driven by media demand for “immediate information and answers during a crisis” (Marra, 2004, p. 311). It becomes a vicious cycle: the media are hot at the heels of the news, and stakeholders regard the media as their “primary” source of information (Coombs, 2012, p. 141), which in turn fuels the media to meet this demand. Little wonder that Garnett and Kouzmin (2007) described crises as “media events” (p. 175).Crisis scholars have alluded to the need to fill this vacuum. Otherwise, the vacuum would be consumed by less credible, accurate, and useful information to the detriment of the organization (Coombs, 2012). Marra (2004), citing a practitioner, captured it best: “In the absence of information, misinformation becomes news” (p. 312). Given the driving role that both the traditional and social media play in the vacuum, and the criticality of filling it, little is elaborated on how the vacuum works and how it affects the organization.

Discipline

Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Handbook of Research on Crisis Leadership in Organizations

Editor

A. J. DuBrin

First Page

209

Last Page

229

ISBN

9781781006399

Identifier

10.4337/9781781006405.00020

Publisher

Edward Elgar Publishing

City or Country

Northampton, MA

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781006405.00020

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