Browsing by Author "Werth, Heike"
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- ItemStakeholder perceptions of organisational response to crisis : a case study(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Werth, Heike; Human, Gert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.ENGLISH SUMMARY : On Tuesday, 30 January 2018, Viceroy Research released a report on Capitec Bank, making allegations about Capitec Bank participating in predatory finance activities and accusing them on twitter as being the metaphorical “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. The report stated that Viceroy deemed it only a matter of time before the business activities of Capitec Bank would start falling apart. Viceroy speculated that the unravelling of this bank could possibly lead to bankruptcy, and compared the position of Capitec Bank to the problems African Bank faced before it collapsed in 2014. This study starts by determining the suitability of this crisis for an exploratory study and case study design that may yield scientifically useful insights. A qualitative approach to the study was applied due to the complexity and ongoing nature of the crisis episode under investigation. The selected qualitative approach provides the flexibility to deal with the case and to gain a deep understanding of stakeholder perceptions. The study assesses and reviews existing stakeholder literature. It also delves deeper into the background of stakeholder management theory, and reviews the Freeman vs Friedman debate by questioning the importance of all stakeholders against prioritising only an organisation’s shareholders. Different strategies of communicating with various stakeholders are explored, and the importance of setting up and maintaining stakeholder relationships is emphasised. The findings in existing literature on crisis communication strategies are discussed. This provides definitions for reputation and crisis, and scrutinises crisis communication specifically. The importance of Coombs’s work, generally considered seminal in the field of crisis communication, comes to light. Coombs’s Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) is introduced, seeing as this theory provides important background to the coding schemes and framework that are applied for the thematic findings and reported on in the findings. A non-probability sampling method, namely purposive sampling, was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders of Capitec Bank. Data saturation was achieved after 14 semi-structured interviews (SSIs) with purposively selected stakeholders of Capitec Bank. ATLAS.ti was used as content-analysis qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) to assist in the analysis of data gathered through the SSIs. The research findings are discussed thematically according to the coding scheme based on Coombs’s SCCT. Thus, the study also offers valuable practical information by supplying the reader with guidelines drawn from empirical and theoretical findings to address stakeholders’ expectations during and after a crisis such as the Viceroy report. These guidelines may assist other organisations to enhance their own ability to deal with a corporate crisis. It is important that the reader understands that this study did not aim to find a single, set way of addressing stakeholders during and after a crisis, but rather explored how one organisation addressed this problem. However, based on the empirical evidence arising from this study, certain actions can be taken by an organisation to improve stakeholder engagement during and after a crisis. These measures include planning properly for potential crises by including crisis communication planning in an organisation’s strategic planning, involving executives in a crisis response team, building strong media relationships, monitoring media and social media throughout, acting transparently and consistently, and never underestimating the threat that any crisis poses.