Author(s): Neelu and Varun Sharma
The present research studies the two disparate kinds of crisis facing modern organizations– Crisis involving Celebrities vs. Crisis involving non-Celebrities on social media sites. While each episode of crisis has the potential to damage the reputation of any organization, certain crisis types could have higher severity. In such scenarios, the organization needs to be better prepared to address its stakeholders. In this background, the present study attempts to approach the issue of celebrity and non-celebrity induced crises. Using the sentiment analysis tools, the present work highlights the stark difference between the spread of negative sentiments in these two cases. The study reports that celebrity-induced crisis could spread on social media within hours of the occurrence of the episode and could cause severe reputation damage to the organization. Based on the findings of the present study, it is recommended that organization should dedicate resources to finding real time sentiment for the brand/company The present work also makes recommendations for practitioners to differently approach these two types of crises.