Stealing thunder: Analysis of the effects of proactive disclosure of crisis information

Abstract

An organization has several options when releasing information about a crisis. These options include the use of various types of explanations and justifications for the crisis as well as the timing of information release. An experiment investigated a self-disclosure strategy called “stealing thunder.” When an organization steals thunder, it breaks the news about its own crisis before the crisis is discovered by the media or other interested parties. Stealing thunder in a crisis situation, as opposed to allowing the information to be first disclosed by another party, was found to result in higher credibility ratings. A path analysis also linked stealing thunder and previous involvement with the organization and product to perceptions of the crisis as less severe and to higher levels of intent to purchase the product involved in the crisis.