TY - JOUR
T1 - Online faith-holder communities in crisis
T2 - proposing and testing a dual-challenge model
AU - Ren, Ruqin
AU - Yan, Bei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2024/11/15
Y1 - 2024/11/15
N2 - Purpose: Though current literature has started to recognize the significant role that online faith-holders play in the context of brand reputation crises, extant research lacks a theoretical framework to explain the process in which online faith-holders endure the harm in brand reputation while collectively rebuilding the reputation. We propose and test a dual-challenge model for a more systematic understanding of faith-holder communities in brand reputation crises. Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on collective-level communication activities, we quantitatively compared the volume, valence and variance of a faith-holder community’s communication (441,611 posts by 3,228 fans over 14 days) before and after a brand reputation crisis. Findings: Our longitudinal data demonstrated that the crisis was a significant threat to group sentiment and cohesion. Nevertheless, the community was highly resilient and adaptive. Their emotions quickly recovered, and they promptly restored group cohesion and coordinated crisis response efforts after the crisis. Originality/value: This study challenges the traditional assumption that online users are independent, static and reactive during brand crises. Instead, it conceptualizes online faith-holder community as a connected, proactive and dynamically adaptive group in crisis situations. This dual-challenge model highlights the importance of internally fostering collective resilience while externally coordinating crisis responses in a faith-holder community.
AB - Purpose: Though current literature has started to recognize the significant role that online faith-holders play in the context of brand reputation crises, extant research lacks a theoretical framework to explain the process in which online faith-holders endure the harm in brand reputation while collectively rebuilding the reputation. We propose and test a dual-challenge model for a more systematic understanding of faith-holder communities in brand reputation crises. Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on collective-level communication activities, we quantitatively compared the volume, valence and variance of a faith-holder community’s communication (441,611 posts by 3,228 fans over 14 days) before and after a brand reputation crisis. Findings: Our longitudinal data demonstrated that the crisis was a significant threat to group sentiment and cohesion. Nevertheless, the community was highly resilient and adaptive. Their emotions quickly recovered, and they promptly restored group cohesion and coordinated crisis response efforts after the crisis. Originality/value: This study challenges the traditional assumption that online users are independent, static and reactive during brand crises. Instead, it conceptualizes online faith-holder community as a connected, proactive and dynamically adaptive group in crisis situations. This dual-challenge model highlights the importance of internally fostering collective resilience while externally coordinating crisis responses in a faith-holder community.
KW - Crisis communication
KW - Crisis management
KW - Faith-holder
KW - Online community
KW - Social media
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85197414549&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/CCIJ-05-2023-0069
DO - 10.1108/CCIJ-05-2023-0069
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85197414549
SN - 1356-3289
VL - 29
SP - 988
EP - 1012
JO - Corporate Communications
JF - Corporate Communications
IS - 6
ER -