اکتشاف اثرات بصری قربانی بر درک و واکنش به بحران

How news media and organizations use visual images in reports of crisis events remains relatively unexplored in spite of possible effects on perceptions of crisis responsibility and reputation. This study assessed the impact of visual condition (no visual, neutral visual, and victim visual) in two product harm crisis scenarios. Results revealed minimal effects for victim visuals. Implications for future research on visual elements and crisis communication are presented.

The social scientific approach to crisis communication utilizes experiments to test relationships between variables believed to be important to the crisis communication process. By concentrating on perceptions of the situation, the social scientific approach develops an audience-centered focus. The social scientific approach is dominated by Contingency Theory (Jin, Pang, & Cameron, 2007) and Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) (Coombs & Holladay, 2002). In SCCT, for instance, a critical component of the crisis situation is how people perceive crisis responsibility—the degree to which people feel the organization is responsible for the crisis (e.g., Coombs & Holladay, 1996). We see a similar concern for audience perceptions in Contingency Theory research (Jin & Cameron, 2007). How people perceive crisis responsibility and other relevant crisis factors will limit which crisis response strategies can be used effectively. The social scientific crisis communication research is mapping the factors that shape audience perceptions. In turn, crisis managers can use this information to anticipate how stakeholders are likely to react and plan their crisis response accordingly. Most stakeholders experience a crisis as a mediated event (Deephouse, 2000). A small percentage of people are actual victims of a crisis. Stakeholders learn about the crisis from stories appearing in the traditional and online media, including news stories and blogs. Crisis news stories often include visual elements such as a photograph or diagram. It is possible that these visual cues could have an important effect on people how perceive the crisis, thus affecting the crisis response efforts of the organization. Unfortunately, we know little about how visuals of a crisis affect perceptions of a crisis. Understanding how visuals influence crisis perceptions would enhance our understanding of the factors that shape crisis situations and have implications for crisis communication ( Coombs & Holladay, 2009).

This study is part of the trend to utilize experimental designs to explore factors that shape perceptions of the crisis situation. The researched focused on the use of visuals that accompany news stories about crises. Based on the research from journalism, the belief was that the visuals using images of crisis victims would produce greater attributions of crisis responsibility and produce more negative effects from a crisis than neutral visuals or no visuals used with the story. The study used two different product harm crises. The case involving Menu Foods revealed no significant effect for crisis responsibility or any of the four related variables. The Taco John's case produced mixed results. The victim visual condition created the strongest attributions of crisis responsibility and those attributions were significantly stronger than those of the neutral visual condition. The mean score for the no visual condition fell in between the two visual conditions and did not differ significantly from either one. The pattern of differences between reputation scores was consistent with the attributions of crisis responsibility. The most favorable reputation score occurred for the neutral visual condition; it was significantly higher than either the negative visual or no visual conditions. As expected, greater attributions of crisis responsibility led to lower reputation scores. The negative word-of-mouth scores were inconsistent with earlier findings. The no visual condition had the highest negative word-of-mouth intentions and differed significantly from only the neutral visual condition. The victim visual condition was not significantly different from the neutral condition. Overall, the results suggest minimal effects for victim visuals in a crisis. This research demonstrates the critical importance of including a neutral condition when comparing two opposing conditions. Without the neutral condition, it would have been easy to conclude that the victim visual condition created a negative effect on crisis perceptions and reactions. Instead, the data suggest the neutral visuals seemed to create some potential bolstering effect. Because the victim visual and no visual conditions were similar, we can conclude the neutral visual condition is responsible for the differences in reputation and crisis responsibility scores. In contrast to the visuals supplied in media reports, organizations can select the visuals they use with their crisis messages. What visuals should organizations provide during a crisis? We have just begun to address this question. As organizations increasingly move to web-based information and other online media, they should consider the effects of visuals on perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, it is important to systematically investigate how visuals influence audience perceptions of the organization in crisis. This study suggests there is value in supplying neutral visuals. Additional research is warranted and future research should test for the potential bolstering effect of neutral visuals. The crisis situation is a mosaic composed of many different variables. Understanding what variables compose that mosaic is critical to anticipating more effectively how people will react to crises. In turn, understanding how people are likely to react to a crisis allows crisis managers to select more effective crisis response strategies for protecting stakeholders and the organization during a crisis. SCCT and Contingency Theory have begun to identify the variables that comprise the crisis situation mosaic. This study examined the potential impact of victim and neutral visuals used with crisis stories. The results showed victim visuals do not significantly affect perceptions and reactions to the crisis situation. This suggests crisis managers do not need to worry if the news media include victim visuals in their stories. It also suggests possible benefits from including neutral visuals with crisis information. The value of this study is that it adds another piece to the mosaic that is the crisis situation. With each additional piece, crisis managers gain insights into how people will react to crises and how those reactions should affect their crisis communication.