Being left behind: disclosure strategies to manage the Juukan Gorge cave blast

Purpose - This study aims to investigate how disclosures through different communication media were used by the Australian mining company Rio Tinto to manage its reputation after the Juukan Gorge Cave Blast. Design/methodology/approach - Case study research was used with a focus on a single case, Rio Tinto and the Juukan Gorge incident. Data on sustainability disclosures were collected from Rio Tinto’s website, corporate reports and social media platforms (Facebook, X and LinkedIn) for the 2020 and 2021 periods. Gioia methodology was applied to analyse disclosure strategies and an extended Reputation Risk Management (RRM) framework was used as a conceptual lens. Findings - The findings reveal a slow and inappropriate initial response from the company resulting in negative reputational consequences for the company’s senior executives. Although the company’s initial response was to avoid responsibility and mitigate offensiveness, it gradually accepted full responsibility and adopted reparation strategies such as corrective action, mortification and stakeholder engagement to rebuild its reputation. The temporal analysis suggests that Rio Tinto was “left behind” as a result of its initial response, limiting the effectiveness of its subsequent RRM strategies. Research limitations/implications - The findings of this study contribute to an improved understanding of communication strategies for managing a reputation crisis. The extended RRM framework developed in this study provides a comprehensive list of various disclosure strategies that can be used in future studies that analyse disclosure post an environmental or social incident. Practical implications - The findings of the study provide insights into the effectiveness of different communication strategies when communicating to stakeholders with varied interests. This study highlights that the timing of the response is critical to restoring lost reputation and a slow response which emphasises financial stakeholders at the expense of the affected communities can be detrimental to RRM, no matter how well-intentioned subsequent strategies are. Social implications - This research focuses on a marginal stakeholder group, Indigenous people and communities. The findings offer insights to society into whether corporate strategies to manage a reputation crisis promote and support equity and inclusivity. Originality/value - This study focuses on a community-based stakeholder, Indigenous groups, a context that has unique cultural intricacies and requires a transition beyond a corporate perspective on RRM.