Citation

Wester M. J. Conting. Crisis Manage. 2009; 17(2): 118-125.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-5973.2009.00569.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article focuses on how different events that cause a crisis are perceived by communication officers. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the attribution of whatever has caused a crisis affects how the crisis is perceived and how this in turn affects communication efforts. Previous research indicates that people will respond differently to risks depending on the cause of the risk, even though the consequence is the same. If individuals react to a crisis differently depending on what caused it, is that also true for crisis professionals and if so, does this influence the planning and execution of crisis communication? This article presents the results from an empirical investigation of crisis communicators in Sweden. The results reveal that there are differences within this group of professionals when they are presented with crises due to different causes. The possible implications this might have for crisis communication are discussed.