Come i CEOs rispondono alla crisi: un’analisi comparativa delle strategie retoriche durante la pandemia da Coronavirus

Titolo Rivista CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Autori/Curatori Domenico Sardanelli, Agostino Vollero, Alfonso Siano, Francesca Conte
Anno di pubblicazione 2020 Fascicolo 2020/1 Lingua Italiano
Numero pagine 19 P. 65-83 Dimensione file 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/cgrds1-2020oa10116
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

L’esplosione di una crisi aziendale esogena impone il consolidamento della fiducia di stakeholder sempre più scettici, delusi o insoddisfatti. Il lavoro analizza come le strategie retoriche dei CEO nei settori più colpiti dalla pandemia da Covid19 sono improvvisamente cambiate ad inizio del 2020. La diffusione mondiale del virus ha costretto le imprese di questi settori (trasporto aereo e ferroviario, servizi di ristorazione e di ricezione turistica) a incorrere in costi inaspettati e un rapido deterioramento dei profitti, così da aumentare le preoccupazioni degli stakeholder. Utilizzando le lettere dei CEO agli shareholders, contenute nei proxy statements del 2019 e del 2020, è stata realizzata una content analysis delle strategie retoriche adottate da queste imprese per fronteggiare la crisi globale derivata dalla pandemia. L’analisi mostra che le lettere agli azionisti che fanno riferimento diretto al virus tendono ad avere un indice di sentiment più basso e un indice di supportiveness più alto rispetto alle lettere nelle quali non viene menzionato il tema del virus. Lo studio offre spunti per i CEO su come comunicare un cambiamento inaspettato delle prospettive di crescita.;

Keywords:comunicazione dei CEO; crisi; coronavirus; strategie retoriche; sentiment; supportiveness

  1. Amernic J., Craig R. (2006). CEO-Speak: The Language of Corporate Leadership, McGill-Queen’s. Kingston: University Press.
  2. Ashcraft K.L., Kuhn T.R., Cooren F. (2009). 1 Constitutional Amendments: “Materializing” Organizational Communication. Academy of Management Annals, vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 1-64. DOI: 10.5465/19416520903047186
  3. Avolio B.J., Luthans F. (2006). The high impact leader: moments matter in accelerating authentic leadership development. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill.
  4. Barrett M.S. (2005). Spokespersons and message control: how the CDC lost credibility during the anthrax crisis. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 59-68. DOI: 10.1080/17459430500262190
  5. Bass B.M., Avolio B.J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  6. Boudt K., Thewissen J. (2019). Jockeying for position in CEO letters: Impression management and sentiment analytics, Review of Financial Management, vol. 48, n. 1, pp. 77-115. DOI: 10.1111/fima.12219
  7. Buchholz F., Jaeschke R., Lopatta K., Maas K. (2018). The use of optimistic tone by narcissistic CEOs. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 31, Issue 2. pp. 531-562. DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-11-2015-2292
  8. Brockner J., Hayes James E. (2008). Toward an understanding of when executives see crisis as opportunity, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 44, n. 1, pp. 94-115. DOI: 10.1177/0021886307313824
  9. Christensen L.T., Morsing M., Thyssen O. (2013). CSR as aspirational talk, Organization, vol. 20, n. 3, pp. 372-393. DOI: 10.1177/1350508413478310
  10. Clatworthy M.A., Jones M.J. (2003). Financial reporting of good news and bad news: Evidence from accounting narratives, Accounting and Business Research, vol. 33, n. 3, pp. 171–185. DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2003.9729645
  11. Conte F., Siano A., Vollero A. (2017). CEO communication: Engagement, longevity and founder centrality: An exploratory study in Italy, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 22, n. 3, pp. 273-291. DOI: 10.1108/CCIJ-10-2015-0062
  12. Coombs W.T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 10, n. 3, 163-176. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049
  13. Coombs W.T. (2011). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  14. Craig R., Amernic J. (2011). Detecting linguistic traces of destructive narcissism at-a-distance in a CEO’s letter to shareholders, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 101, n. 4, pp. 563-575. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-0738-8
  15. Diers A. (2007). Assembling a jigsaw puzzle: proposing the strategic model of organizational crisis communication. Proceeding of Annual Conference of International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
  16. Englehardt K.J., Sallot L.M., Springston J.K. (2004). Compassion without blame: testing the accident decision flow chart with the crash of Valujet Flight 592, Journal of Public Relations Research, vol. 16, n. 2, pp. 127-56. DOI: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1602_1
  17. Fairhurst G.T., Connaughton S.L. (2014). Leadership: a communicative perspective, Leadership, vol. 10, n. 1, pp. 7-35. DOI: 10.1177/1742715013509396
  18. Ferns B., Emelianova O., Sethi S.P. (2008). In His Own Words: The effectiveness of CEO as Spokesperson on CSR-Sustainability Issues – Analysis of Data from the Sethi CSR Monitor, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 11, n. 2, pp.116-129. DOI: 10.1057/crr.2008.11
  19. Gaines-Ross L. (2008). Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and Recovering Reputation. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
  20. Gamache D.L., McNamara G., Mannor M.J., Johnson R.E. (2015). Motivated to acquire? The impact of CEO regulatory focus on firm acquisitions, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 58, n. 4, pp. 1261-1282. DOI: 10.5465/amj.2013.0377
  21. Goodman M., Lucero M., Kwang A.T.T., Pang A. (2009). Crisis leadership: when should the CEO step up? Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 14, n. 3, pp. 234-248. DOI: 10.1108/13563280910980032
  22. Heider F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  23. Henry E. (2008). Are investors influenced by how earnings press releases are written?, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 45, n. 4, pp. 363-407. DOI: 10.1177/0021943608319388
  24. Hooghiemstra R. (2000). Corporate communication and impression management – New perspectives why companies engage in corporate social reporting, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 27, n. 1, pp. 55-68. DOI: 10.1023/A:1006400707757
  25. Huang X., Teoh S.H., Zhang Y. (2014), Tone management, Accounting Review, vol. 89, n. 3, pp. 1083-1113. DOI: 10.2308/accr-50684
  26. Karabenick S.A. (1977). Fear of success, achievement and affiliation dispositions, and the performance of men and women under individual and competitive conditions, Journal of Personality, vol. 45, n. 1, pp. 117-149. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1977.tb00596.x
  27. Kitchen P.J., Laurence A. (2003). Corporate reputation: An eight-country analysis, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 103-117. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540193
  28. Koestner R., McClelland D.C. (1992). The affiliation motive. In: Smith C.P., a cura di, Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis (pp. 205-210). New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
  29. Kuhn T. (2008). A communicative theory of the firm: Developing an alternative perspective on intra-organizational power and stakeholder relationships, Organization Studies, vol. 29, n. 8-9, pp. 1227-1254. DOI: 10.1177/0170840608094778
  30. Lin L., Abrahamsson M. (2015). Communicational challenges in disaster risk management: Risk information sharing and stakeholder collaboration through risk and vulnerability assessments in Sweden, Risk Management, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 165-178. DOI: 10.1057/rm.2015.11
  31. Marais M. (2012). CEO rhetorical strategies for corporate social responsibility (CSR), Society and Business Review, vol. 7, n. 3, pp. 223-243. DOI: 10.1108/17465681211271314
  32. Marynissen H., Lauder M. (2020). Stakeholder-Focused Communication Strategy During Crisis: A Case Study Based on the Brussels Terror Attacks, International Journal of Business Communication, vol. 57, n. 2, pp 176-193. DOI: 10.1177/2329488419882736
  33. Matsumoto D., Chen S. (2006). Favorable vs. unfavorable recommendations: The impact on analyst access to management provided information, Journal of Accounting Research, vol. 44, n. 4, pp. 657-689. DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2006.00217.x
  34. Meyers G.C., Holusha J. (1986). When it hits the fan: Managing the nine crises of business. Boston, MA: Haughton Mifflin.
  35. Ndofor H.A., Wesley C., Priem R.L. (2015). Providing CEOs with opportunities to cheat: The effects of complexity-based information asymmetries on financial reporting fraud, Journal of Management, vol. 41, n. 6, pp. 1774-1797. DOI: 10.1177/0149206312471395
  36. Patelli L., Pedrini M. (2014). Is the optimism in CEO’s letters to shareholders sincere? Impression management versus communicative action during the economic crisis, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 124, n. 1, pp. 19-34. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1855-3
  37. Pennebaker J.W., Booth R.J., Francis M.E. (2007). LIWC2007: Linguistic inquiry and word count. Austin, TX: liwc.net.
  38. Pennebaker J.W., Boyd R.L., Jordan K., Blackburn K. (2015). The Development and Psychometric Properties of LIWC2015. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin.
  39. Piciocchi P. (2018). Crisis Management e Crisis Communication. La rilevanza empirica della comunicazione nella gestione delle crisi d'impresa. Torino: Giappichelli.
  40. Prasad A., Mir R. (2002). Digging deep for meaning: A critical hermeneutic analysis of CEO letters to shareholders in the oil industry, The Journal of Business Communication, vol. 39, n. 1, pp. 92-116. DOI: 10.1177/002194360203900105
  41. Seeger M.W. (2006). Best practices is crisis communication: an expert panel process, Journal of Applied Communication Research, vol. 34, n. 3, pp. 232-244. DOI: 10.1080/00909880600769944
  42. Segars A.H., Kohut G.F. (2001). Strategic communication through the world wide web: an empirical model of effectiveness in the CEO’s letter to stakeholders, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 38, n. 4, pp.535-554. DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00248
  43. Siano A., Vollero A., Conte F., Amabile S. (2017). “More than words”: Expanding the taxonomy of greenwashing after the Volkswagen scandal, Journal of Business Research, vol. 71, pp. 27-37. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.11.002
  44. Turk J.V., Jin Y., Stewart S., Kim J., Hipple J.R. (2012). Examining the interplay of an organization’s prior reputation, CEO's visibility, and immediate response to a crisis, Public Relations Review, vol. 38, n. 4, pp. 574-583. DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.06.012
  45. Ulmer R.R. (2012). Increasing the impact of thought leadership in crisis communication, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 26, n. 4, pp. 523-542. DOI: 10.1177/0893318912461907
  46. Ulmer R.R., Sellnow T.L., Seeger M.W. (2007). Effective Crisis Communication: Moving from Crisis to Opportunity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  47. van der Jagt R. (2005). Senior Business Executives See Communication and Reputation as a Crucial Part of Their Leadership Role, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 8, n. 3, pp. 179-186. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540248
  48. Veenstra K.J. (2020). CEO implicit motives: their impact on firm performance, Behavioral Research in Accounting. DOI: 10.2308/bria-19-024
  49. Vignal Lambret C., Barki E. (2018). Social media crisis management: Aligning corporate response strategies with stakeholders’ emotions online, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 26, n. 2, pp. 295-305. DOI: 10.1111/1468-5973.12198
  50. Watson T. (2007). Reputation and ethical behaviour in a crisis: predicting survival, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 11, n. 4, pp. 371-384. DOI: 10.1108/13632540710843959
  51. Weick K.E., Sutcliffe K.M., Obstfeld D. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking, Organization Science, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 409-421. DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1050.0133
  52. Yan B., Aerts W., Thewissen J. (2019). The informativeness of impression management – financial analysts and rhetorical style of CEO letters, Pacific Accounting Review, vol. 31, n. 3, pp. 462-496. DOI: 10.1108/PAR-09-2017-0063
  53. Yucel I., McMillan A., Richard O.C. (2014). Does CEO transformational leadership influence top executive normative commitment?. Journal of Business Research, vol. 67, n. 6, pp. 1170-1177. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.005
  54. Zerfass A., Schwalbach J., Bentele G., Sherzada M. (2014). Corporate communications from the top and from the center: comparing experiences and expectations of CEOs and communicators, International Journal of Strategic Communication, vol. 8, n. 2, pp. 61-78. DOI: 10.1080/1553118X.2013.879146
  55. Zerfass A., Sherzada M. (2015). Corporate communications from the CEO’s perspective: how top executives conceptualize and value strategic communication, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 20, n. 3, pp. 291-309. DOI: 10.1108/CCIJ-04-2014-0020
  56. Zorn T. (2001). Talking Heads: The CEO as Spokesperson. In Kitchen P.J., Schultz D.E., Eds., Raising the Corporate Umbrella: Corporate Communications in the 21st Century. London: Palgrave. DOI: 10.1057/9780230554580_2

Domenico Sardanelli, Agostino Vollero, Alfonso Siano, Francesca Conte, Come i CEOs rispondono alla crisi: un’analisi comparativa delle strategie retoriche durante la pandemia da Coronavirus in "CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES" 1/2020, pp 65-83, DOI: 10.3280/cgrds1-2020oa10116