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An Ethical Stakeholder Approach to Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Foxconn’s 2010 Employee Suicide Crisis

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  • Kaibin Xu
  • Wenqing Li

Abstract

We have conducted a case study of Foxconn’s suicide crisis when 12 Foxconn employees committed suicide during the first 5 months of 2010. In this case study, we have examined Foxconn’s crisis communication strategies during the critical period and explored the failure in crisis communication in terms of the stakeholder approach. Our findings show that Foxconn adopted a mixed response strategy by trying to address the concerns of various stakeholders while refusing to take responsibility for the suicides. Foxconn’s failure in the crisis was due to its imbalanced stakeholder relations that failed to recognize employees as important stakeholders, resulting in the failure to provide the ethics of care and justice that was warranted. Our findings suggest that an ethical stakeholder approach can complement Benoit’s and Coombs’ crisis communication theories and strategies. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

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  • Kaibin Xu & Wenqing Li, 2013. "An Ethical Stakeholder Approach to Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Foxconn’s 2010 Employee Suicide Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 371-386, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:117:y:2013:i:2:p:371-386
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1522-0
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    2. Silviya Dimitrova, 2017. "Ethical Issues in Multinational Companies' Business," Izvestia Journal of the Union of Scientists - Varna. Economic Sciences Series, Union of Scientists - Varna, Economic Sciences Section, issue 1, pages 224-236, November.
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    4. Jiawen Chen & Tong Xiao & Feng Zhang, 2023. "Paradox of CSR distinctiveness: The tension between stakeholder legitimacy evaluation and stakeholder integration efficiency," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2906-2923, November.
    5. Ye Ye & Rosmini Omar & Binyao Ning & Hiram Ting, 2020. "Exploring the Interactions of Factory Workers in China: A Model Development Using the Grounded Theory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Woldt, Jason J. & Prasad, Sameer, 2022. "Crises in global supply chains: The role of impression management communications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    7. Bahtiar Mohamad & Adamu Abbas Adamu & Muslim Diekola Akanmu, 2022. "Structural Model for the Antecedents and Consequences of Internal Crisis Communication (ICC) in Malaysia Oil and Gas High Risk Industry," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    8. Rajat Kumar Behera & Pradip Kumar Bala & Nripendra P. Rana & Hatice Kizgin, 2022. "A Techno-Business Platform to Improve Customer Experience Following the Brand Crisis Recovery: A B2B Perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2027-2051, December.
    9. Samra, Yassir M. & Zhang, Haisu & Lynn, Gary S. & Reilly, Richard R., 2019. "Crisis management in new product development: A tale of two stories," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
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