Using a 2 × 2 experimental design, this study explores the emotions of sadness and anger, as well as the concept of schadenfreude (the feeling of pleasure one experiences when a person or organization suffers a misfortune or setback) in relationship to stakeholders' perceptions of corporate reputation in response to a crisis. While the stimulus materials were unsuccessful in creating significantly different emotions in the subjects, there was an indication that schadenfreude as a concept is present in crisis communication scenarios and that it may have a distinctly different effect on perceived reputation than its more negative counterparts of anger and sadness.
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Title
The Impact of Schadenfreude as an Emotional Frame in Crisis Communication on Stakeholder Perception of Corporate Reputation
Publication Details
The Southern communication journal, Vol.90(2), pp.115-126