scholarly journals Mitigating Reputational Risk Through Image Repair Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-40
Author(s):  
Ramesh Nair ◽  
Shairah Hana Sulaiman ◽  
Nor Azyyati Md Saad ◽  
Puspalata Suppiah ◽  
Maizura Lin

This article examines rhetorical strategies as well as the linguistic construction of those strategies in press releases put out by Cadbury Malaysia in response to accusations that it has failed to comply with halal certification standards. Drawing on image repair theory and the concept of the ideological square, six press releases were analysed to identify the rhetorical strategies as well as semantic structures that were used to repair the organization’s image and minimize reputational risk. The analysis reveals how the organization moved beyond denial to also employ the rhetorical strategies of attacking one’s accuser and bolstering. Despite early media reports naming government agencies as the accusers, the press releases put out by Cadbury Malaysia determined the source of accusations as unnamed individuals within the agencies, thereby avoiding confrontations with the relevant authorities. The analysis shows how language is used in press releases to construct the positive self and negative other as Cadbury Malaysia promoted a discourse of renewal to reassert its position within a highly lucrative halal market. This article provides novel insights into understanding how language works within rhetorical strategies of image repair.

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ramzy Hasibuan ◽  
Irwansyah Irwansyah

The use of Image Repair Theory for companies during crisis communication is an interesting study. It is also applied when several PT HM Sampoerna Tbk factory employees are known to have died due to suffering from COVID-19. This event affected the company's image, especially the negative sentiment on the quality of the products produced due to employees affected by COVID-19. This study analyzes the image repair strategy used by PT HM Sampoerna Tbk through press releases published on the company's official website. The research objective is to analyze message options for organizations to use in times of crisis. The study uses a qualitative content analysis method by analyzing text written in press releases, then putting it into categories that have been determined in the image repair strategy. The results showed PT HM Sampoerna Tbk's inconsistency in using the Reducing Offensiveness strategy, which is often used in types of accident and/or challenge crises, including product damage situations. Excessive use of Reducing Offensiveness must be an organization's concern when conducting crisis communication, especially when the audience has a critical view of the organization. Reducing Offensiveness can be more optimally used by neutral third parties than the organization itself; however, the research results show that PT HM Sampoerna Tbk carries out all strategy delivery.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Ambisisi Ambituuni ◽  
Chibuzo Ejiogu ◽  
Amanze Ejiogu ◽  
Maktoba Omar

AbstractOrganizations involved in safety-critical operations often deal with operational tensions, especially when involved in safety-critical incidents that is likely to violate safety. In this paper, we set out to understand how the disclosures of safety-critical incidents take place in the face of reputational tension. Based on the case of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), we draw on image repair theory and information manipulation theory and adopt discourse analysis as a method of analyzing safety-critical incident press releases and reports from the NNPC. We found NNPC deploying image repair as part of incident disclosures to deflect attention, evade blame and avoid issuing apologies. This is supported by the violation of the conversational maxims. The paper provides a theoretical model for discursively assessing the practices of incident information disclosure by an organization in the face of reputational tension, and further assesses the risk communication implications of such practices.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Fadel Arandas ◽  
Loh Yoke Ling

The issue of deliberate forest fires that set illegally in Indonesia by plantation companies in their slash and-burn forests to clear lands for lucrative palm oil plantations and its caused transboundary haze became a hot issue for discussion. These fires have a negative influence on Indonesia and its neighbourhood countries, especially on their financial and human resources such as environment, economy, properties, and people. Using the right strategies in responding to any crisis determines the success of its management and coping with that crisis with minimal losses. This study aimed to examine the communication crisis response by Indonesia to this crisis by using image repair theory. Also, this study examined how image repair strategies were used by Indonesia. This study analysed the content of news stories from the website of the New Straits Times newspaper. The time frame of this study was from 2015 to 2019. A total of 87 news stories have pertained to Indonesian response, and 37 stories included image repair strategies. Among the strategies of image repair theory, corrective action strategy was the most dominant with 70%, followed by 10.8% for each shift the blame and attack accuser. The least used strategies were mortification and simple denial with 5.4% and 2.7% respectively.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasaai Masngut ◽  
Emma Mohamad

BACKGROUND Good leadership image in times of health emergency is paramount to ensure public’s confidence towards government’s ability to manage a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge for governments worldwide to manage and communicate about the pandemic effectively, while maintaining public trust. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to identify types of image repair strategies utilized by the Malaysian government in their communication about COVID-19. The study then analyzes public opinion towards these communication on social media. METHODS Content analysis was employed to analyze 120 media statements and 382 comments retrieved from Facebook page of two mainstream newspapers, Berita Harian and The Star. These samples were collected within a span of 6 weeks prior and during the implementation of Movement Control Order by the Malaysian Government. The media statements were analyzed according to Benoit’s Image Repair Theory to categorize strategies employed in government communication. Public opinion responses were measured using modified lexicon-based VADER sentiment analysis to categorize positive, negative and neutral statements. RESULTS The Malaysian government employed all 5 strategies of the Image Repair Theory in their communication in both newspapers. The strategy most utilized was the reduce offensiveness strategy (62.5%). This is followed by corrective action strategy (25.0%), evading responsibilities (8.3%), denial (3.3%) and mortification (0.8%). This study also found multiple sub-strategies in government media statements including denial, shifting blame, provocation, defeasibility, accident, good intention, bolstering, minimization, differentiation, transcendence, attacking accuser, resolve problem, prevent recurrence, admit wrongdoing and apologize. This study also found that 64.7% of public opinion were positive towards media statements made by the Malaysian government. This study also revealed a significant positive association between Image Repair Strategies utilized by the Malaysian government and public opinion. CONCLUSIONS Communication in the media may assist the government to foster positive support from the public. Suitable image repair strategies could garner positive public responses and help build trust in times of crisis.


Author(s):  
William L. Benoit

Image repair theory observes that threats to image (for individuals, groups, and organizations, such as companies or countries) are inevitable. Because reputation is important, criticisms usually provoke a response, defense, or image repair message(s). Each attack (each criticism) has two components, offensiveness and blame. Defenses can address either component (e.g., arguing that an act was offensive or rejecting blame for it). Five general strategies and 14 tactics exist for image repair. Perceptions are key in image repair: the audience’s perceived image of the target prompts criticism and attack; the audience’s perceptions of the message influence the effectiveness of a defense. Those who feel impelled to create image repair messages may face one or more audiences; the image concerns of various audiences may overlap or may be different. This means the defender must decide which audiences to address and develop image repair messages with this in mind. One must select one or more image repair strategies that the defender believes will be most effective with the target audience(s) and embed that strategy in one or more messages. Note that a defender should choose the most effective strategy or strategies; adding in more strategies does not necessary improve the defense. The defender must decide which medium or media should be used to get the message(s) to audience(s). Image repair theory was developed to help understand threats to reputation, face, or image. Such threats are commonplace in human interaction, including contexts such as interpersonal communication, public communication, and social media.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jordan McGee

High-profile sex scandals involving American politicians during the latter half of the 20th Century through to modern day have captured a significant amount of public and media attention. While such scandals have ended many political careers, there have been surprising instances of the rehabilitation and recovery of an offending politician's image and career, the success of which has proven difficult to predict. Research performed to date on the success of sex scandal image repair strategies have largely involved case studies, and particularly with respect to Benoit's Image Repair Theory, have been almost exclusively qualitative in nature; research into this topic has failed to comprehensively include an analysis of strategy effectiveness using public opinion polling, which is commonly employed in similar political science research. Consequently, conducting a polling-based quantitative assessment of image repair strategy effectiveness in the context of political sex scandals is appropriate. Specifically, using Benoit's Image Repair Theory framework as a foundation, a statistical analysis of emotional and cognitive responses to a politician and his sex scandal crisis response messaging with respect to each of the five image repair strategies as well as scenario context (e.g., moral versus criminal) is performed. Suggestions for the overall effectiveness of particular sex scandal response strategies is produced and discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-307
Author(s):  
Mohammed Fadel Arandas ◽  
◽  
Loh Yoke Ling ◽  

The issue of deliberate forest fires that set illegally in Indonesia by plantation companies in their slash-and-burn forests to clear lands for lucrative palm oil plantations and its caused transboundary haze became a hot issue for discussion. These fires have a negative influence on Indonesia and its neighbourhood countries, especially on their financial and human resources such as environment, economy, properties, and people. Using the right strategies in responding to any crisis determines the success of its management and coping with that crisis with minimal losses. This study aimed to examine the communication crisis response by Indonesia to this crisis by using image repair theory. Also, this study examined how image repair strategies were used by Indonesia. This study analysed the content of news stories from the website of the New Straits Times newspaper. The time frame of this study was from 2015 to 2019. A total of 87 news stories have pertained to Indonesian response, and 37 stories included image repair strategies. Among the strategies of image repair theory, corrective action strategy was the most dominant with 70%, followed by 10.8% for each shift the blame and attack accuser. The least used strategies were mortification and simple denial with 5.4% and 2.7% respectively. Keywords: Indonesia, crisis communication, image repair, transboundary haze, deliberate fires.


2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 780-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan L. Frederick ◽  
Lauren M. Burch ◽  
Jimmy Sanderson ◽  
Marion E. Hambrick

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erastus Karanja

Purpose There are two main industry-sanctioned enterprise risk management (ERM) models, that is, COSO 2004 and ISO 31000:2009, that firms refer to when implementing ERM programs. Taken together, the two ERM models specify that firms should implement ERM programs to meet a strategic need, improve operations and reporting or to comply with government regulations or industry best practices. In addition, the focus of ERM implementation should be either the subsidiary, business unit, division, firm/entity or global level. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms are aligning their ERM implementations with these tenets: strategy, operations, reporting, compliance and the level of implementation. Design/methodology/approach The proxy for ERM implementation is the hiring of a Chief Risk Officer (CRO). The research data come from a sample of 122 US firms that issued a press release following the hiring of a CRO between 2010 and 2014. The press releases were retrieved and aggregated through content analysis in LexisNexis Academic. Findings The results reveal that many ERM implementations are occurring at the firm/entity level, and with the exception of reporting, firms consider ERM to be a strategic firm resource capable of improving business operations and compliance initiatives. Originality/value There is a dearth of research studies specifically investigating whether ERM programs adopted by firms are aligned with the specification of COSO 2004 and ISO 31000:2009 frameworks. The apparent lack of a clear understanding of the alignment between the firm ERM programs and the industry’s ERM frameworks may limit the development and implementation of ERM and the eventual realization of the benefits associated with a successful ERM implementation.


Unity Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Gaurav Bhattarai

Border disputes between China and India in June 2020 almost lead South Asian countries to take a side. But, Nepal, situated between India and China, has always expressed a stern belief in neutrality and non-alignment. Even though New Delhi doubted Nepal’s neutrality and non-alignment citing China’s growing footprints in Nepal, Kathmandu reckoned such suspicion as the result of a new map row between two countries connected by open borders. While Nepal’s repeated calls to diplomatically resolve India-Nepal border problems remained unheeded by New Delhi, it provided room for the ruling communist party in Nepal to reap geopolitical benefits out of the Sino-Indian dispute. But, interestingly, such geopolitical benefits are usually targeted in tempering Indian influence in Nepal, by getting closer with China. Apprehending the same, this study aims to assess the geopolitical implication of Sino-Indian conflict on the survival strategy of Nepal. To fulfill the same objectives, the Chinese perception of Nepal-India relations, and Indian perception of Sino-Nepal ties have been critically assessed in this study. This study is methodologically based on the information collected from the secondary sources. In order to critically evaluate the geopolitical expression of Sino-Indian conflict in Nepal, this study reviews India’s perception of Nepal-China relations, and China’s perception of Nepal-India relations. Also, the reports and the press releases of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, historical facts, treaties, government reports and decisions have been studied and analyzed. Media sources are also reviewed to understand the diverse narratives produced on the geopolitical reflection of Sino-Indian conflict. The themes that emerged from the reviews are thematically analyzed and interpreted, to discover that cultivating relations with one country at the expense of the other may be counterproductive to Nepal’s survival strategies.


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