Introduction: What Is a Reputational Crisis?

This chapter explains in practical terms how reputational crises are everywhere, how they impact our lives, and begins to unpack how reputational crises are most often dealt with. Through doing so, the underlying causes of reputational crises are brought to the forefront and understood as the driving forces of actors in most reputational crises; the obligations of corporate executives to look after shareholder interests, and the roles and motivations of interest groups. This chapter looks at why reputational crises will continue to occur as the motivations of company executives, news media, politicians, and interest groups, are intrinsic to reputational crises. The common strategy of using apologia and accounts is discussed and found to be incomplete solutions to the problems that cause reputational crises. This chapter signifies the problem of merely communicating reputational crises strategy, finding that communication alone can be counterintuitive to solving and preventing future crises. The causes of reputational crises and popular reputational crisis strategies are both derivative of stakeholder theory as posited by Freeman. These preliminary findings point to a need more in-depth revision of reputational crises, Freeman’s original (1984) stakeholder theory, and Freeman’s subsequent revisions of stakeholder theory, to find solutions to reputational crises.