Is old news no news? The impact of self-disclosure by organizations in crisis

This study examines the impact of self-disclosing incriminating information in the context of organizational crises. Study one indicates that when an organization self-discloses a crisis, participants devote less attention to subsequent negative publicity and any attention this information receives has less impact on the organizational post crisis reputation. An interaction between crisis timing strategy and crisis involvement in study two suggests that if an organization self-discloses a crisis, both participants' attention to negative publicity and the impact of this attention on post-crisis reputation are low, irrespective of crisis involvement. If an organization does not self disclose a crisis, however, crisis involvement affects consumers' attention to negative publicity but not the impact of this attention on the organizational post-crisis reputation. These findings offer an important indication that organizations in crisis should self-disclose potentially incriminating information. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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