Explicating 'threat' in crisis communication: The effects of threat type and duration on public relations professionals' cognitive, affective and conative responses in crisis situations

This study proposed a theoretical model of threat appraisal to examine public relations professionals' perception of situational demands and required organizational resources when confronted by threats in crisis communication, with threat type and duration were proposed as two key dimensions of threats in crisis.;Following a preliminary study developing and testing the measurement of stance as degrees of accommodation along a continuum from pure advocacy to pure accommodation, a Web-based experiment was conducted. Using a 2 (external vs. internal threat type) x 2 (long-term vs. short-term threat duration) within-subjects design, 116 public relations professionals were exposed to four crisis situation scenarios. Research findings revealed the main effects of threat type on threat appraisal, emotional arousal and qualified-rhetoric-mixed accommodations, and the main effects of threat duration across all threat consequences. Interactions of these two threat dimensions revealed that external and long-term threat combination led to higher situational demands appraisal and more intensive emotional arousal. It was also found that high cognition and stronger affect were related to more accommodating stances.