Internal crisis communication and employee engagement: A closer look at multinational companies

Sammanfattning: Internal crisis communication has remarkably been neglected both in research and in practice, even if there are studies that claim that internal stakeholders have a pivotal role during a crisis. This study aims to understand how multinationals use internal crisis communication and in what way they engage with their employees before, during, and after a crisis. Using the contingency theory of accommodation along with the high-reliability theory, the analysis showed that multinationals have the resources needed to develop internal crisis communication plans. How-ever, they seem to be preoccupied with fear. Furthermore, culture, both organiza-tional and national culture seem to have clear implications in the way internal cri-sis communication is practiced.