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Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) prescribes crisis response strategies for organizations facing crisis. A meta-analysis of SCCT suggests using the prescribed responses has, at most, a small effect on reputation, while a few studies have shown that the base crisis responses (instructing information and adjusting information) may have a larger effect on reputation. This experiment compares the effects of SCCT's prescribed responses, instructing information, and adjusting information on reputation in an experiment with 989 participants recruited from mTurk. It finds that instructing information has a very large effect on reputation, while adjusting information has a small but significant effect on reputation. In this sample, SCCT's prescribed response strategies have no significant effect on reputation. The experiment proposes the revised model of reputation repair (REMREP) as a tool for understanding how crisis influences reputation. The model incorporates virtuousness and offensiveness, which demonstrates the importance of organizational virtuousness in handling a crisis. Implications for theory and practitioners are discussed. • An experiment tests the effects of instructing information, adjusting information, and SCCT's prescribed responses on reputation. • Instructing information has a very large effect on reputation. • Adjusting information has a small effect on reputation. • Offensiveness and virtuousness can replace attributed responsibility in the model of reputation repair. • The revised model of reputation repair explains the effects of virtuousness and offensiveness on reputation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The objectives of instructing information and adjusting information are explicated. • Measures of the degree to which crisis response messages meet the explicated objectives are developed. • The measures predict over 50 % of reputation in an initial test. • Practitioners can use these scales to assess their crisis response messages and prepare for future crises. • Scholars can use these scales to refine and develop theory regarding crisis communication. Substantial research exists to study reputation management messages but far less research exists to consider instructing information and adjusting information during and after a crisis. This research seeks to build tools that assist in the study of base crisis responses. Using a literature review, 18 interviews with people with expertise in public relations, and an experiment with 286 participants recruited from mTurk, this research builds scales that assess the quality of instructing information and adjusting information given during a crisis. The resulting scales are found to be reliable and predict significant change in post-crisis reputation in an initial test. Potential uses of these scales for crisis communication scholars and public relations practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]