An Assessment of the Crisis Response Strategies Employed By Silverstone Airline in Managing Its Corporate Reputation

Abstract

This study sought to assess the crisis response strategies employed by Silverstone Airline in managing its corporate reputation during their crises of October-November 2019. The management of reputation aspect runs parallel to the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) framework that guided this study. SCCT provides an empirically tested model for selecting the most appropriate crisis response strategies for crisis situations experienced in order to protect organizations’ reputations. The study’s objectives were to examine the crisis clusters under which the Silverstone Airline crises fell, analyze the crisis response strategies used by the airline, and assess how the airline managed its corporate reputation during the crises. To obtain the study’s sample from the identified target population, the study applied non-probability purposive and census techniques to pick all the five (5) crisis-related communication. Silverstone Airline disseminated and all the 509 feedback messages generated by the airline’s crisis-related communication. The study utilized primary qualitative data that was coded and thematically analyzed. It analysed the crisis situations and the effect of crisis intensifiers on their progression and eventual clustering. The major finding of the study was that Silverstone Airline failed in clearly understanding and clustering its crisis situations, yet this is the first and most critical aspect in managing reputations. The findings, therefore, indicate that Silverstone Airline mismatched the response strategies with the crisis clusters in a majority of its crisis cases. The study recommends that the airline dedicates officers who are well trained in dealing with crisis communication in real-time to handle its social media pages. This would help the airline take control of the crisis at the earliest stage