SCCT

Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)

• SCCT provides a set of empirically tested strategies for organizations facing reputational threats.

  • Originated by Coombs in 2007.

Influences of Social Media

• Traditional precrisis management was an internal function within organizations.

• Social media has allowed stakeholders to highlight allegations of misconduct, often before the organization is aware of the issue.

• This has led to the emergence of the paracrisis, where a crisis risk is publicly managed and can escalate to a full-blown crisis due to increased public awareness.

Types of Paracrises

• SCCT identifies three types of paracrises:

  1. Challenge Crisis

  2. Organizational Faux Pas

  3. Angry Customers

Focus on Challenge Crisis

• A challenge does not arise from a single traumatic event; rather, it develops as a reputational crisis due to perceived failure to meet responsibilities (Coombs & Holladay, 2015).

Stakeholder Salience

• The impact of a challenge crisis is influenced by stakeholder salience, which encompasses:

  • Urgency: Time pressure and commitment of stakeholders to prompt organizational change.

  • Legitimacy: The stakeholders' ability to convince others of the importance of their claims. This can be enhanced through:

    • Strategic messaging

    • Endorsements from influential stakeholders

    • Evidence-based and emotional appeals

  • Power: Defined as the ability of stakeholders to enforce change. "Definitive stakeholders" leverage social media to enhance their power (Coombs, 2017; Coombs & Holladay, 2015).

Strategic Responses to Challenge Crises

• Organizations can respond strategically in six ways:

  1. Refusal: Ignoring the challenge; suitable for illegitimate challenges.

  2. Refutation: Countering false challenges from non-salient stakeholders.

  3. Repression: Efforts to curtail the spread of the challenge; can lead to backlash if perceived as silencing.

  4. Recognition/Reception: Addressing the challengers and their claims without acting on their demands.

  5. Revision: Making minor changes without acknowledging the challengers as the impetus.

  6. Reform: Acknowledging the claims and collaborating with stakeholders to implement necessary changes (Coombs, 2017; Coombs & Holladay, 2015).