The Impact of Crisis Magnitude in the Context of Corporate Ability and Corporate Social Responsibility Crises: The Roles of Expectancy Violations and Emotions

This study investigates how the effects of crisis magnitude on individuals’ expectancy violations (EV) and emotions vary depending on the crisis type, specifically highlighting corporate ability (CA) crises versus corporate social responsibility (CSR) crises. We conducted a 2 (crisis magnitude: high vs. low) × 2 (crisis type: CA vs. CSR) randomised experiment with 269 participants in Hong Kong and mainland China. The results showed that in the case of CSR crises, crises with greater magnitude triggered stronger anger, disappointment, and regret than crises with lower magnitude through negative EV; however, such effects were not found in CA crises. In turn, these three emotions exerted different effects on attitudes and behavioural intentions. These findings offer insights into the underlying mechanisms of individuals’ cognitive and emotional responses to different crises and are expected to help crisis communicators develop effective strategies suitable for different types of crises.