Employees as heroes: Rebuilding customer relationships through post-crisis communications
(A2025-124170)

AUTHORS

ILARIA BAGHI, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia; Paolo ANTONETTI, EDHEC Business School

ABSTRACT

After large-scale service disruptions, organizations communicate with customers as part of their crisis recovery. Resuming service delivery often requires employees to conduct an impressive recovery performance to restore normal operating conditions. We shows that, in such circumstances, organizations can benefit from attributing the recovery to employees’ heroism. In four experiments, messages bolstering employees’ heroism have better effects on customers’ responses than communications bolstering employees’ effort or talent. Heroism’s positive effect is explained by the account’s ability to elicit feelings of admiration toward employees. The impact of heroism depends on several boundary conditions. As a hero must face adversity, accounts of heroism are stronger when evidence of the risks employees incur is provided. Furthermore, contextual evidence can discount heroism. Perceived high job demands or good employer reputation tend to reduce the impact of accounts of heroism.