Toward an Ethical Model of Effective Crisis Communication

• Author: Young Kim
• Date: 01 March 2015
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12048

Toward an Ethical

Model of Effective

Crisis Communication

YOUNG KIM

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to develop and demonstrate a

new ethical model for crisis communication. This article

examined the crisis communication practices as well as

literature and found essential elements—what, how, and

when—for ethical and effective crisis communication.

Based on these three variables, a new three-part model,

the TTR Test, was proposed, utilizing three principles:

Transparency (what), Two-way symmetrical communica-

tion (how), and Right time (when). To investigate how the

test can be applied to the real world, this article exam-

ined BP’s crisis communication during the 2010 Gulf of

Mexico oil spill.

INTRODUCTION

In public relations practices, ethics has been regarded as a

critical issue (Ki et al. 2012). Public relations professionals

are aware of the importance of ethics and have created and

maintained a code of ethics to guide organizations toward

Young Kim is a Ph.D. Student, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State

University, Baton Rouge, LA. E-mail: ykim22@lsu.edu; enteryoung@gmail.com.

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ethical practices (Fisher 2005; Ki et al. 2012). Despite these

efforts, organizations frequently must deal with crises caused by

unethical public relations practices. Recent examples include

scandals in American financial organizations (e.g., Enron,

WorldCom), as well as crisis in foreign companies operating in

America (e.g., Toyota), which have showed the importance of

ethics in crisis communication (Gower 2006; Piotrowski and

Guyette 2010).

In the early 2000s, Enron and WorldCom faced similar crises as

a result of unethical financial practices; however, each company’s

crisis communication affected its reputation in quite different

ways. Ultimately, Enron’s reputation was damaged more than

WorldCom’s (Wright 2006). The Toyota recall crisis also demon-

strated the importance of ethics when dealing with a crisis

(Piotrowski and Guyette 2010). Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota

Motor Corporation, the world’s largest car maker, faced the most

challenging crisis in its history when allegations arose that

sudden unintended acceleration could bring about a fatal acci-

dent (Kell 2011; Liker 2011). As it turned out, there was no

evidence related to electronic problems in Toyota vehicles, yet the

unethical crisis communication used during the incident

damaged the company’s reputation in the eyes of the American

press and the public (Piotrowski and Guyette 2010).

Ethics is essential in crisis communication and must be taken

into consideration in all public relations practices. Research about

crisis communication ethics has been paid relatively little attention

compared with other areas of communication or public relations.

Surprisingly, not one study dealing with the ethics of crisis com-

munication appears in the totality of published studies from 1991

to 2009 (An and Cheng 2007; Avery et al. 2010; Gower 2006;

Seeger and Ulmer 2001). This gap between crisis communication

and the importance of ethics was the impetus for this study.

This article examines literature related to crisis communica-

tion, including theories, models, and strategies, and establishes

ethical principles in terms of what, how, and when essential

elements must be employed for effective and ethical crisis com-

munication. The resultant test of Transparency, Two-way com-

munication, and Right time (TTR) is then applied to determine the

ethics of BP’s crisis communication during the 2010 oil spill

crisis.

58 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW