ABSTRACT
The need for an additional dimension to theory through the exploration of existing theory relevant to public relations crisis communication has been established. Exploring significant communication theories, public relations crisis theory and stakeholder theory pointed out that there is a lack of constructive discussion on the varying attributions of responsibility of publics and the ramifications of this for organisational crisis communication response. Effective crisis communication is the most important tool that an organisation experiencing a public relations crisis has at its disposal. Given that purpose of crisis communication is to move an organisation through crisis to a point where recovery can commence, its importance cannot be underestimated.
