The Heritage Heuristic: Strategic Benefits of Organizational Heritage Communication in Managing Negative Publicity

Successfully managing negative publicity is challenging, which is why organizations require effective communication strategies to mitigate adverse outcomes. Previous research indicates that one such strategy is emphasizing a long history tied to the issue. Building on the heuristics literature, this paper innovatively examines whether perceptions of an organization’s overall history, not just its issue-specific past, can provide protection against negative publicity, as history-related perceptions may trigger automatic, meaningful judgments about the organization. In a preregistered experiment (N = 600, representative Dutch sample), we measured participants’ organizational heritage perceptions, which refers to stakeholders’ shared understanding of an organization’s historical roots, legacy, and enduring values, of a fictional brand with varying years of establishment. Half of them next read a negative publicity article about the brand accusing it of unethical behavior. We found that heritage perceptions (longevity, continuity, tradition, adaptability) reduced negative brand-related emotions and cognitions, and that perceived authenticity appeared to function as a mediator. Our findings suggest that emphasizing organizational heritage could be an important tool for organizations when responding to negative publicity. This paper thereby establishes the ‘heritage heuristic’ as one that deserves more scholarly attention in strategic communication research in the future.