Timothy Coombs

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Full) at Texas A&M University

Purpose The focus of this paper is on developing a rationale for the use of transmedia storytelling in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. Transmedia storytelling involves telling stories across multiple platforms by multiple people that are still united by a central theme. The purpose of this paper is to develop a rationale for t...

Examples of crises involving multinationals can be found in the media around the world on a regular basis. Despite the importance of this topic, the state of the literature in the area of global crisis management has yet to be explored. Incorporating a commonly used three-stage approach describing crisis management as involving three phases - the p...

A variety of organizational crises can have an adverse effect on market reactions. Crisis communication, how the organizational responds publicly to the crisis, can serve to attenuate the negative market reactions. This chapter reviews the connections between crises and adverse market reactions and the various ways that crisis communication can be...

Purpose Graphic novels have a concept known as the origin story. The origin story is background information on how a hero or villain came into being. The purpose of this paper is to explore the origin story of corporate social responsibility at British American Tobacco (BAT). The CSR origin story is unpacked by examining corporate documents from BA...

In 2014, Dairy Khoury, a medium-sized family dairy located in Lebanon, was accused of using a health-threatening carcinogenic substance as a preservative in its products. The news created an immediate food safety concern and a product harm crisis, resulting in dramatic reputation loss and operational risks to Dairy Khoury. In this article, we analy...

Organizational research has long been interested in crises and crisis management. Whether focused on crisis antecedents, outcomes, or managing a crisis, research has revealed a number of important findings. However, research in this space remains fragmented, making it difficult for scholars to understand the literature’s core conclusions, recognize...

This article provides my reflections and comments on the meta-analysis of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) presented in this issue. The meta-analysis helps to crystallize strengths and weaknesses of SCCT and the research generated by the theory. No theory is perfect and every theory has limitations/boundaries. The meta-analysis helps...

Today almost everyone in the developed world spends time online and anyone involved in strategic communication must think digitally. The magnitude of change may be up for debate but the trend is unstoppable, dramatically reconfiguring business models, organisational structures and even the practice of democracy. Strategic Communication, Social Medi...

There is a strong bond between crisis communication and corporate reputation management. In general, crises damage corporate reputations while the corporate reputation can be an asset or a liability to crisis managers. This chapter uses situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) to examine the connection between crisis communication and corpora...

Written as a tool for both researchers and communication managers, the Handbook of Crisis Communication is a comprehensive examination of the latest research, methods, and critical issues in crisis communication. Includes in-depth analyses of well-known case studies in crisis communication, from terrorist attacks to Hurricane Katrina. Explores the...

Crisis communication is a rapidly expanding field with a bright future. In spite of its bright future there are still a number of critical factors that would benefit from research. One striking aspect of the field’s development is the lack of an international perspective on crisis communication. Some writers have criticized the crisis communication...

This article attempts to explore the pluralism paradigm which undergirds both the systems and rhetorical perspectives in public relations. The pluralism paradigm is explored in order to reveal how the pluralistic assumptions affect these two important theoretical approaches/perspectives to the study of organization-stakeholder relationships.More sp...

This article argues that public relations and public diplomacy seek similar objectives and use similar tools. However, the authors suggest, the exact ideas and concepts which can be transferred from one area to the other have yet to be fully delineated and tested.Dr. Signitzer is an associate professor of communication and head of the Public Relati...