Abstract:
Crisis in Nigerian higher Institutions is inevitable. So long as Universities are in existence, they are not immune to crises. Therefore, Universities must ensure they communicate to stakeholders after a crisis hits. These responses are called crisis response strategies which are basically what crisis managers do or say after a crisis. This study was done due to limited literature on cultism crisis communication in Nigeria and influences of crisis response strategies on stakeholder’s perceptions towards an organisation’s reputation from the perspective of stakeholder’s involvement especially in Africa. It examined a cult incident that occurred in a University in Nigeria at Miracle Junction. Four major questions were posed in this study, to ascertain what crisis response strategies were used by the University in handling the crisis, how the response strategies affected stakeholders perceptions of the university’s reputation, who was to be blamed for the crisis and lastly, whether stakeholders were involved in the implementation of theses crisis response strategies. The findings of the study revealed that the University did not provide on-going instructing and adjusting information for their various stakeholders to ensure that they get protected and cope psychologically, rather, they employed denial and diminish strategies to help protect their reputation. This lack of communication led to negative perceptions of the University’s reputation by students who are the core stakeholders in a university. This lack of communication can pose a threat to the University if not checked. Findings also revealed that majority (42%) staff, (21.4%) management and (35.7%) student of respondents believed that the university was not to be blamed for the crisis considering the nature of the crisis type; this finding however, supported the assumptions of the Situational Crisis Communication Theory that stakeholders attribute responsibility to an organisation based on the crisis type, history and prior relational relationship. Also, there was a mixed response from students and management of the University with regards to stakeholder’s involvement, the management claimed they involved stakeholders while the students claimed they were not involved. Therefore, for any organization to survive and protect its reputation communication must be key and this should be done in all crisis phases. Communication and stakeholder involvement during crisis from organizations breed awareness and feedback to ensure the organization’s harmony.
