The missing link of stakeholder attitudes to understand crisis communication

Part 4 of the textbook shifts away from the organizational perspective to focus on what motivates stakeholders to act. Therefore, Chapter 10 explores culture, emotion, and persuasion in the context of crisis communication as the foundations of stakeholder attitudes. The central argument that this chapter makes is that organizations that fail to understand stakeholder attitudes that affect both the stakeholder and organization are less likely to be effective in issue mitigation or crisis response. The chapter argues that because crises are inherently emotional events for both stakeholders, understanding attitudes both in and outside of the crisis context will help organizations better respond and support stakeholder expectations.