ABSTRACT
Because our face, image, or reputation is so important to us, when we believe it is threatened, we are motivated to take action to alleviate this concern. Image is important to individuals as well as organizations. Corporations may take both preventive and restorative approaches to cope with image problems. Heath and Nelson (1986) stressed the importance of managing issues before they become image threats. At times, however, corporations must directly respond to corporate crises (see, e.g., Dionisopoulos & Vibbert, 1988). Such crisis management is crucial for a company because, as Brody (1991) asserted, “early response to crises can limit the extent to which organizations are damaged. Prompt, open responses minimize damage potential” (p. 189). At times organizations must produce a message to respond to threats to their good name. And, of course, there are differences in the repair efforts developed by individuals and companies. For example, companies might favor different image repair options than individuals, or might employ strategies in different configurations. Corporations may bring different and greater resources to image repair efforts than individuals. Corporate attorneys may recommend that certain strategies be avoided to prevent or minimize risks of litigation. Despite differences in how image restoration strategies might be selected, combined, or employed, however, the basic image restoration options are the same for both individual and corporate image repair efforts.
