The effects of social media on brand attitude and WOM during a brand crisis: Evidences from the Barilla case

Brand crises endanger companies. Social media are a key platform where stakeholders elaborate and react to crises. This research explores whether social media audience and traditional mass media audience react differently to a brand crisis in terms of their 1) attitude toward the brand and 2) word-of-mouth (WOM). As to the brand attitude, we argue that stakeholders mainly exposed to the brand crisis via social media have a more negative reaction towards the brand compared to those who are principally exposed via mass media. As to the behaviour, we posit that social media exposure intensifies WOM. By analysing the Barilla crisis, the findings suggest that the social media act as ‘multipliers’ of the reaction of stakeholders to a brand crisis.