| In recent years, the frequency, scope and variety of organizational crises have increased dramatically. Crises occur in the form of product sabotage, hostile takeover attempts, sudden decline in demand for products, and major technological disasters. The increase in the number of such events is a menace to consumers and business managers. Recent studies have attempted to understand how and why crises occur, and how organizations can successfully overcome them. This dissertation focuses on one type of crisis--that caused by product harm.; The study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model, which provides a framework for examining and understanding the interaction of fundamental components of a product-harm crisis situation. The crisis itself, the environment, the organization and the consumers, are seen as the broad categories of variables that can describe a product-harm crisis. The central component of the model is the consumer attitudes component which all other components influence.; The study integrates two perspectives on crisis management: the Organizational Crisis Management, and the Consumer Behavior perspectives. However, a greater importance is assigned to the rather neglected aspect of consumer behavior (reactions) to product-harm crises.; The levels of the factors in the study were manipulated through the use of hypothetical scenarios. Sixteen such scenarios were developed, eight for each of the two products utilized. In total, 384 subjects participated in the study.; Consumer attitudes toward the troubled organization, its communications, and the defective product were measured before and after the crisis.; Some of the study's more general results include: (a) consumers will in general perceive a more well-known company as more successful in handling the crisis than a less well-known company; (b) consumers' change of attitude toward the troubled organization will be affected by both pre- and post-crisis characteristics and actions of the firm; and, (c) product-harm crisis management will be more successful if the troubled organization: responds to the crisis fast, before a government agency imposes actions against it, and communicates favorable social responsibility information about itself and its actions.; Important managerial implications are discussed and a Crisis Management System developed. |
