TESTING THE RELEVANCE OF PRE-CRISES PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR OIL AND GAS COMPANIES INTERNAL POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Douglas Wilbur
University of Missouri Columbia

ABSTRACT

Crises caused by industrial accidents in the energy industry can result in severe
consequences ranging from loss of market share to the imposition of costly regulations. Energy
companies can mitigate these negative consequences through the aggressive use of public
relations as a matter of policy. This study attempts to demonstrate the intrinsic value of public
relations and prevent public relations research to an energy company’s internal policies and
examines how a specific energy crisis can be mitigated. The study also examines the effectiveness
of an accommodation public relations strategy in the context of hydraulic fracturing accidents in
the contentious energy industry. Finally, it serves as a test to assess the fit of the contingency
theory of conflict management as an intellectual tool that assists the oil and gas industry in
managing its conflicts.
The findings show that an accommodative stance mitigated the effects of the crisis, but
only under certain conditions. More interestingly, exposure to news articles and press releases
appears to have caused an increase in the participants perceived level of knowledge about
hydraulic fracturing and perceptions of crisis severity. These findings have important theoretical
implications for contingency theory and post-crisis messaging strategy.

Keywords: Crisis management, hydraulic fracturing accidents, the contingency theory of conflict management,
mixed design factorial experiment, crisis response