Should the shady steal thunder? The effects of crisis communication timing, pre-crisis reputation valence, and crisis type on post-crisis organizational trust and purchase intention

A scenario-based 2 (communication timing: stealing thunder vs. thunder) × 2 (pre-crisis reputation valence: positive vs. negative) × 2 (crisis type: product-harm vs. moral-harm) between-subjects experiment was implemented with 273 Dutch participants to address the question of whether or not the positive effects of stealing thunder depend on pre-crisis reputation valence and crisis type. Statistical analyses reveal that stealing thunder by an organization with a positive pre-crisis reputation results in higher post-crisis trust and purchase intention levels than stealing thunder by an organization with a negative pre-crisis reputation. Moreover, crisis type interacts with crisis communication timing in influencing post-crisis trust and purchase intention, as stealing thunder works better than thunder during a product-harm crisis.