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To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00390.x Byline: Sabine A. Einwiller (a2), Michael A. Kamins (b) Abstract: Two studies were undertaken to examine the moderating effect of identification with a rumor target on rumor impact and refutation effectiveness. We show that identification and its opposite, disidentification, bias the way individuals react to a rumor. That is, as identification with the rumor target increased from disidentification to neutral to identification, belief in an aversive rumor declined. Furthermore, the effectiveness of a refutation was moderated by an individual's level of identification. People with a neutral identification level processed a refutation heuristically and were persuaded by it, whether it contained strong or weak arguments. Disidentifiers, who engaged in systematic processing, believed the rumor less only when the refutation contained strong arguments. Identifiers, processing heuristically, remained unbelieving in the rumor. Author Affiliation: (a)School of BusinessUniversity of Applied Sciences Northwestern SwitzerlandOlten, Switzerland (b)Harriman College of BusinessStony Brook University-SUNY Article note: (2) Sabine Einwiller, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business, Riggenbachstrasse 16, 4600 Olten, Switzerland. E-mail: sabine.einwiller@fhnw.ch

The authors studied the effects of recipients' prior attitudes on message scrutiny in minority and majority influence situations. Based on the objective consensus approach and on conversion theory, the authors derived the hypothesis that cognitive effort dedicated to the processing of minority and majority communications depends on recipients' prior attitudes. In Experiment 1, prior attitudes were experimentally induced, and in Experiment 2, prior attitudes were measured. Both studies found that majority messages were processed more extensively than minority messages when recipients held a moderate prior attitude. When recipients held an opposing prior attitude, however the minority message was processed more extensively than the majority message. These findings supported the authors' predictions and reconciled seemingly contradictory findings in the literature. Theoretical implications as well as avenues for future research are discussed.

This study examined the influence of majority opinion on attitudes in the absence of persuasive argumentation. Participants who were either high or low in accuracy motivation were presented with an opinion poll that conveyed consensus information and the sample size of the poll. According to the law of large numbers (LLN), large polls provide more reliable estimates of consensus than smaller polls. Results generally supported predictions. Less-motivated participants tended to be influenced by consensus regardless of poll size, whereas highly motivated participants based attitudes on this information only if the poll was reliably large. Thus, participants who were highly motivated seemed to appreciate the LLN when making their attitude judgments. Consistent with the heuristic-systematic model, process measures indicated that consensus influenced attitudes through both heuristic and biased systematic processing under high motivation, but it influenced attitudes only via heuristic processing when motivation was low., People are virtually bombarded with consensus information in their everyday lives. Perhaps the most common source is the news media, which routinely reports the results of opinion polls concerning political, [...]

This research explores how consumers react in a crisis situation that happens to a brand with which they disidentify. Consumer–brand disidentification (CBD) is a state of self‐categorization regarding the separation from and rejection of a brand. It predestines individuals to move away from and go against the misbehaving company because the failure of the object of disidentification provides a perfect opportunity for them to validate their identity. We argue that disidentification is closely related not only to a person's propensity to behave but also to feel in a specific way. Surveys data were collected in the United States and Germany to answer the research question regarding the role of emotions in the relationship between CBD and consumers' intention to demonstrate brand‐opposition behavior. Volkswagen, which experienced a crisis related to its manipulation of emission tests, served as the brand stimulus. The results show that CBD can stimulate hostile emotions and schadenfreude, which can function as mediators of the influence of disidentification on brand opposition (negative word‐of‐mouth, brand avoidance, punishing the brand). This research contributes to the growing body of research on the "dark side" of consumer‐brand relationships and its perils for brands. It also enhances understanding of the role of emotions in (dis)identification and social identity research and widens the scholarship on emotions in crises. Managerial implications include to thoroughly consider trade‐offs of creating a strong and unique brand that may give rise to disidentification; monitoring negative voices, especially online; and differentiating disidentified consumers from other types of opposing stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people perceive events that conflict with their expectations they can easily express their agitation and concerns online and likely find others who share their opinion. When large quantities of messages containing negative word-of-mouth suddenly spread in social media we speak of an online firestorm. By covering the outcry, journalists elevate it onto a mainstream communication platform and support the process of scandalization. Content analysis was used to explore how journalists, working for German-language media, cover this phenomenon. Over a period of 16 months, 130 online firestorms were identified and analyzed. Based on a typology of online firestorms, we have found that the majority of cases address events of perceived discrimination and moral misconduct aiming at societal change. Vilification of the organization or person occurred to a much lesser extent. Thus, journalistic coverage of the phenomenon focuses on the rectification attempts of an aroused public. Image-repair responses of the firestorm objects are quoted by journalists in about half of the articles, thereby providing some balanced reporting about the online criticism. This study provides an initial insight into how online firestorms are used as a topic of news coverage by journalists and explores journalists’ contribution to attempts of online scandalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This research aims to investigate how critical media coverage of an organisation affects its employees. The authors expect the effects to be similar to the way media coverage about an individual would affect this person, termed "reciprocal effects". Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on a framework for the analysis of reciprocal effects of mass media by Kepplinger and qualitative interviews among employees of 14 different organisations undergoing a crisis, the authors develop an employee-model of reciprocal effects for the context of organisational crises. Findings – This qualitative research shows that employees are affected by media coverage on a critical issue about their employer. Mass media are an important source of information for employees in critical situations. The data indicate interpersonal conversations with colleagues are also important for obtaining information and coping with the situation. Employees show emotional reactions, such as helplessness or shame, and a tendency to defend their employer. The better employees feel informed by their organisation's internal communication, the better they know how to cope with the situation. The data indicate that the effects vary with the employees' level of organisational identification. Practical implications – The findings imply that open and constant internal communication with employees during a crisis fosters reactions that stabilise the organisation in critical situations. Originality/value – The study presented here is the first systematic analysis of the impact of media coverage of an organisation on its employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes to which extent economic broadcasting coverage differs between the three main language regions - the German-, French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to the obligations of Public Service, one main function which should be fulfilled by public broadcasting is the integration of the different language regions. Therefore, we conducted a content analysis of economic news in main public and private TV and radio news broadcasts in the three language regions. We evaluated the quantity of economic news, but also the relevance of the covered events and comprehensibility of the economic news. Findings indicate that in all three language regions, about 20 percent of the news broadcasts are economic news. Topics concerning the meso level, companies and industries, are by far most often covered in all three languages. This provides the possibility of interpersonal conversation about these subjects and thus helps integration. Nevertheless, events which happen on a regional level in the other language regions are covered very infrequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]