Crisis Management Dilemmas: Differences in Attitudes towards Reactive Crisis Communication Strategies among Future Business Professionals in Croatia

For a corporation, a crisis is a circumstance in which it cannot function properly, which affects the organizational ability to function, prevents the achievement of goals, as well as the very survival of the organization. In this paper we analyze the process of crisis communication, characteristics of known reactive crisis communications strategies and examine if there are differences in attitudes towards reactive communication strategies among future business professional. In order to so, we use two samples of undergraduate seniors at the University of Zagreb: business school students and public relations students. Namely, in the future, business students will assume management positions in organizations of different types, while their colleagues studying public relations will be in a position to lead the communication of these organizations, with both groups mutually cooperating. To test the differences in tendencies towards certain reactive strategies we used a survey methodology where students were presented with hypothetical situations. By conduction a comparative analysis of their responses and tendencies to use specific strategies, our research results show that there are significant differences between the two groups. Students of public relations have a greater tendency to use active strategies compared to their counterparts studying business economics, who in turn display greater caution and passivity in their approaches. Based of our findings it can be concluded that both groups require further training and acquisition of practical experience to be able, at the highest level, to face, handle and successfully resolve crisis communication situations that were presented to them during the research.