Empathy as a main ingredient of impactful crisis communication: The perspectives of crisis communication practitioners

•PR practitioners deem organizational empathy a key principle in crisis communication.•They value organizational empathy mainly for its reputation-restoring potential.•PR practitioners agree that empathy should be shown throughout the crisis response.•They believe that organizational empathy may, in turn, trigger stakeholder empathy. Sixteen in-depth interviews with Belgian crisis communication practitioners were conducted to get their perspectives on the role of empathy in crisis communication. While demonstrating empathy toward crisis-affected stakeholders is considered an essential best practice, the role of empathy in responding to crises has only received limited attention in research. The aims of this study were to examine how practitioners interpret the concept of empathy in crisis communication; to what extent they value the expression of empathy in crisis responses and for what reasons; and what exactly constitutes an empathetic crisis response according to them. In addition, instances in which stakeholders may in turn experience empathy for organizations in crisis were examined. As such, the aspiration behind this study was to provide insights that can initiate further theorization and research on the role of empathy in the context of organizational crisis communication.