Abstract

This study provides empirical support for the positive power of a CEO's reputation as a strategic resource during and after a corporate crisis. Specifically, it demonstrates that a CEO's favorable reputation relieves many stakeholders' negative perceptions in a postcrisis situation. In addition, this study tests whether a particular type of CEO reputation will be more effective than another in dealing with different types of threats that a crisis poses to corporate reputation. This study introduces a resource-based approach to crisis that provides a wide, comprehensive set of strategies based on a variety of an organization's competitive resources.