Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
4-2022
Abstract
Crises present organizations with the “rhetorical exigency” to enact control. Silence is not an option. This study, as the first empirical examination of Le et al’s (2019) seminal study on silence in crisis communication, examines, first, if silence can be strategically used as a bona fide strategy; second, under what circumstances should silence be broken; and third, when silence is broken, how it affects (a) organizational reputation, (b) societal risk perception, and (c) the publics’ crisis information sharing intention. An online experiment was conducted using a nationally representative sample in the United States. Participants were recruited in 2019 via a Qualtrics panel. The stimuli used in this study consisted of two components: (1) an explanation about a fictitious company; and (2) two types of silence breaking (forced vs. planned) embedded in each stimulus accordingly after the same crisis incident. Four hypothesis were conceptualized. They were all supported. Collectively, they showed that the effect of silence-breaking type on crisis information sharing intention was mediated by societal risk perception, which is conditioned by participants’ level of perceived organizational reputation. Silence, or failure to fill the information vacuum, has not been an option to consider thus far as it suggests the organization is “not in control.” However, this study suggests the types of silence organizations can adopt and the modes the organizational silence can be broken. It provides a new lens for organizations to engage in business communication.
Keywords
corporate communication, quantitative, risk communication, communication in multinational corporations, leadership
Discipline
Business and Corporate Communications
Research Areas
Corporate Communication
Publication
International Journal of Business Communication
Volume
59
Issue
2
First Page
219
Last Page
241
ISSN
2329-4892
Identifier
10.1177/23294884211046357
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Citation
PANG, A.; JIN, Yan; SEO, Youngji; CHOI, Sung In; TEO, Hui-Xun; LE, Phuong D.; and REBER, Bryan.
Breaking the sound of silence: Explication in the use of strategic silence in crisis communication. (2022). International Journal of Business Communication. 59, (2), 219-241.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6907
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884211046357