Situational Crisis Communication Theory

Situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) uses attributions of the organization’s responsibility for a crisis to prescribe the crisis response strategies that should maximize the protection of the organization’s reputation. SCCT argues that as stakeholders increasingly perceive the organization as responsible for the crisis, managers need to utilize crisis response strategies that show a greater concern for the crisis victims if the managers want to use communication to protect reputational assets. SCCT is evidence based, meaning that it relies on empirical research to validate its claims.

SCCT research relies heavily on experimental methods to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between crisis communication (the crisis response) and postcrisis reputation. This entry begins by reviewing the development of crisis communication as a research field to provide a context and a ...