Bolstering Heroism in Crisis Communications: How Communicating Employees' Performance can Improve Consumers' Responses
研究在外部危机（如天气或网络攻击）后，企业通过在道歉信息中赞扬员工英雄行为来提升消费者口碑、购买意愿和捐赠行为，效果受风险显著性和工作环境等条件影响。
ABSTRACT Existing marketing research has examined heroism as a component of consumer narratives or as a trait attributed to specific brands. However, little is known about the strategic use of heroism references within marketing communications. Drawing on theories of heroization from social psychology, this study develops a moderated mediation model to investigate the effects of attributing heroism to employees in crisis communications. The research proposes that, following external crises such as weather‐related disruptions or cyberattacks, organizations can enhance the effectiveness of their recovery messages by crediting the restoration of normal operations to the heroic actions of their employees. Integrating statements that elevate employee heroism into an apologetic response increases the message's persuasiveness. Across five experiments, communications highlighting heroism improved consumer reactions, including positive word of mouth, purchase intentions and donation behavior. These effects are driven by the elicitation of admiration toward employees. The impact of heroism is subject to boundary conditions: because heroism presupposes adversity, such accounts are more persuasive when risk is salient, and they are weakened when contextual cues—such as high job demands or evidence of strong employer reputation—appear to normalize exceptional employee performance. This study advances marketing research by demonstrating how strategic ascriptions of heroism can strengthen the persuasiveness of marketing communications.