Organizational wrongdoing tends to elicit intense emotional reactions among audiences, posing a challenge for organizations to effectively manage complex emotional dynamics. As a focal reference point for audiences to make sense of wrongdoing, organizational reputation likely shapes these emotional dynamics. This paper aims to shed light on the emotional responses of audiences by theorizing how the nature of organizational wrongdoing combines with an organization’s endowed reputation(s) to lead to distinct discrete emotional responses. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory and key elements from theories of reputation, we theorize how audiences emotionally respond to organizational wrongdoing and how organizational reputation shapes their emotional responses in a two-stage approach. We argue that violations of expectations concerning an organization’s capability and character, coupled with fractured emotional connections between audiences and organizations, serve as core interpretative mechanisms affecting varied emotional responses. Our paper ultimately contributes to the literatures on organizational wrongdoing and reputation by unpacking the nuanced emotional responses elicited by wrongdoing, and by considering how reputation shapes these emotions by influencing the core cognitive appraisals that drive these emotional responses.

ggrace2@ceibs.edu