The impact of language abstraction on the effectiveness of information strategies during a product-harm crisis

Fannes and Claeys explore the important role language abstraction plays in the effectiveness of crisis information. The chapter is an important step that helps refine our understanding of how we “operationalize” crisis response strategies – construct the actual crisis response. The chapter uses a product-harm crisis and explores the nature of the product recall through an experiment. Fannes and Claeys compare concrete and abstract language use in the recall message. A product recall containing concrete language results in less reputational damage than a product recall containing abstract language. They argue the difference between concrete and abstract language use is due to an increase of message comprehensibility and source trustworthiness. Concrete language in a product recall results in more reputation repair than abstract language, irrespective of the type of crisis information. The study provides valuable advice for crisis managers seeking to maximize the reputational protection value of the crisis response.