Unraveling the anchoring effect of crisis communication in cyberattack spillover crises

A spillover crisis arises when an external organization’s events create worry, ambiguity, or unfavorable perceptions for another organization. The study shows that organizational response strategies for spillover crises are influenced by an anchoring effect, where competitors’ level of accommodation in their crisis response serves as an anchor point. The difference between accommodative and advocative crisis responses becomes more pronounced when the anchor response has a lower level of accommodation. Additionally, stakeholders’ confidence in an organization’s ability to manage crises can predict its reputation during spillover crises. If an organization chooses to respond with advocacy, it may experience a decline in reputation compared to adopting a competitor's accommodative anchor response due to decreased stakeholder confidence. Conversely, using an accommodative response can result in a higher organizational reputation than following a competitor’s advocative anchor response since it boosts stakeholder confidence. The study highlights the importance of considering situational factors such as competitor responses in the contingency theory of accommodation. Additionally, this study provides evidence that a continuum of public response confidence could be another valuable tool for understanding how crises impact reputation.