Amazon.com's Orwellian nightmare: exploring apology in an online environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding of crisis communication application and theory by analyzing online reactions of discussion board participants to assess the effectiveness of an apology issued online.Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a content analysis of naturally‐occurring online reactions to an apology issued as a crisis response strategy. The Janis‐Fadner Coefficient of Imbalance was used to quantify the magnitude of negative and positive reactions to the apology.Findings – Most posts indicated acceptance of the apology and positive purchase intentions, thus confirming its effectiveness in managing the crisis as prescribed in Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Analysis of rejection reactions provided insights into additional actions crisis managers might take in this situation and how organisations might make their crisis communication more interactive in an online environment.Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by the focus on...

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