Making unanticipated consequences more anticipatable: the interplay between messages, messengers and stakeholder identification in shaping perceptions of organisational reputation

Why does one and the same message about an organisation, communicated by different voices, sometimes lead to diverse responses from stakeholders? Why do well-intended initiatives aimed at building positive reputations often... [ view full abstract ]

Why does one and the same message about an organisation, communicated by different voices, sometimes lead to diverse responses from stakeholders? Why do well-intended initiatives aimed at building positive reputations often not achieve their desired outcomes? One possible answer is that organisations often assume that the content of a message is more important than the sender, i.e. the messenger, as well as that different stakeholders will receive and act upon messages in similar ways, and that reactions to messages are easily predictable. This research challenges this notion and presents a theoretical framework aimed at making unanticipated behavioural consequences of different messages more anticipatable. The framework draws upon three key elements – (a) a ‘message’ (i.e. the content of the message), (b) a ‘messenger’ (i.e. a person or a third-party organisation: a specific organisational representative, press offices, or a blogger that vary in terms of perceptions of trustworthiness by the audience), and (c) the recipient of the message (i.e. a stakeholder, his/her preferences, perceptions, and level of identification with the messenger). The research proposes a quantitative study in the format of a quasi-experiment to empirically examine the theoretical framework in the context of a public sector organisation and its stakeholders.