Stakeholder expectations and engagement have shifted with the rise of social media, allowing stakeholders to directly challenge corporate behavior through online activism. This presents new challenges for issues and crisis management. Stakeholder-generated engagement can trigger challenges through messaging, personnel actions, or policies seen as irresponsible. Corporations must assess threats and form strategic responses that are evaluated by stakeholders. Issues and crisis management fields must adapt practices like monitoring and mitigation to address challenges from stakeholder engagement online.

1. The Emergence of Stakeholder
Generated Engagement:
Challenges of Issues and Crisis
Management
W. Timothy Coombs
Nicholson School of Communication
University of Central Florida/Lund
University Helsingborg Campus

3. Stakeholder
Expectations
Stakeholder
(Social)
Media
Stakeholder
Generated
Engagement

4. Methods to Challenge
Corporate Behavior
• Government polices
• Activists pioneered in
1970s
Issues
Management
• Corporate decisions
• Shift in last decade
Private
Politics

5. Stakeholder Generated Engagement
Challenge
Assessment
& Response
Evaluation

6. Challenge
• Challenge: corporate acting irresponsibly
• Triggers
– Messaging
– Personnel
– Practices and Policies

7. Messaging: Groupon Super Bowl Ad
• “The Tibetan people are in trouble,” says actor
Timothy Hutton in a voiceover. “Their very
culture is in jeopardy.”
• “But they still whip up an amazing fish curry!”
says Hutton, now sitting comfortably in a
restaurant.
• Pitch: Members of Groupon saved a life-changing
$15 on dinner at Himalayan restaurant in
Chicago! Yes, 15 whole dollars! Hurray!

8. Personnel
• Eich (CEO Mozilla) gave $1,000 to the campaign
supporting California’s Proposition 8, an amendment to
the state constitution banning same-sex marriages
• “Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different
standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We
know why people are hurt and angry, and they are
right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.”
• “We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act.”
• “We’re sorry. We must do better.”
• “Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as
CEO.”

9. Practices and Policies
• July of 2011 with goal of preventing human
suffering from the water pollution created by
certain practices in the garment industry.
• First step petition apparel industry
• Online actions
• In-person actions
• Goal: pledge to have suppliers stop using
certain chemicals

10. Key

11. Threat
Level
Traction
Exposure
Urgency
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., and Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory
of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principles of
who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22:
853–86.

12. Traction
Legitimacy
Heat
Internet Principles

13. Exposure
Audience size
• Growing?
Networking
• Increasing?
Crossover
• Traditional
media
interest

14. Urgency
Origins
• Spontaneous
• Organized
Challenger
or Issue Catalyst
(H. Vibbert)
• Reputation
• Track record
Advocacy skill
• Channel design
• In-person actions

15. Corporate Response
Response
Choice
Strategy
Cost-
Benefit

16. Response Options
Refuse Repress Refute
Recognition
/Reception
Revise Reform
Bowers, J. W., Ochs, D. J., Jensen, R. J., & Schulz, D. P. (2009).
The rhetoric of agitation and control. Waveland Press.

17. Evaluation by Stakeholders

18. Review
Social Media
Stakeholder
Generated
Engagement
Challenges

19. Implications for Issues Management
and Crisis Management
• Monitoring
– Who
– What
– Where
• Mitigation
– Public relations
• Closer relationship for fields

20. Questions