Hong Kong Consumers' Evaluation in an Airline Crash: A Path Model Analysis

An experimental study was conducted to investigate Hong Kong consumers' evaluation process in an airline crisis. Three hundred and eighty-five participants (123 men, 227 women, and 35 unidentified) participated in a 2 (causal attribution: internal and external) × 6 (crisis response: shifting the blame, minimization, no comment, compensation, corrective action, and apology) × 2 (crisis severity: severe and extremely severe) between-subject experimental design. Participants were measured on (a) perceived organizational responsibility for crisis, (b) impression toward the organization, (c) degree of trust in the organization, and (d) purchase intention. A path model depicting Hong Kong consumers' evaluation process in organizational crisis was derived. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.