A Study Of Pragmatic Strategies For Corporate Apologies

In an era in which information transmits at an exceedingly fast speed,it is hard for corporations to keep their faults secret.If they are not able to handle the crisis effectively,the image will be damaged.The possibility of losing customers’ trust stimulates them to apologize through pragmatic strategies.This paper aims to explore pragmatic strategies for corporate apologies within the framework of the Modified Repair Work through mainly qualitative research method based on the data drawn from Sina Weibo.It mainly addresses three questions.First,what pragmatic strategies are used in making corporate apologies? Second,how are these apologies realized in doing Repair Work through pragmatic strategies? Third,what factors possibly influence the choice of pragmatic strategies for corporate apologies?The findings are given as follows:First,six major pragmatic strategies used by corporations for making apologies are found.They are respectively:(1)Apologizing explicitly with Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices,(2)Offering redress,either by offering repair or providing afterservice,(3)Explaining the reasons by describing external causes,admitting selfdeficiency and blurring causes,(4)Showing attitudes,including thanks for attention,promising future better service and indicating longstanding efforts corporations have made,(5)Connecting with customers spiritually through requesting for forgiveness and support,expressing remorse and repressing concern for customers,and(6)Acknowledging responsibility by admitting having brought trouble and accepting criticism.Second,since there are different degrees of offences,corporations apologize with different pragmatic strategies.Corporations choose different ways as pragmatic strategies to apologize from two perspectives.From the corporation’s perspective,corporations,in more offensive incidents,tend to use blurring causes,requesting for forgiveness and support and indicating longstanding efforts.In less offensive incidents,they are prone to employ the ways of describing external causes.From the customer’s perspective,in more offensive incidents,corporations employ the ways of admitting self-deficiency,expressing remorse,expressing concern for customers and acknowledging responsibility.In less offensive incidents,they tend to use offering redress,thanks for attention and promising future better service.Moreover,the present study finds that corporations elaborate the pragmatic strategies when they apologize for incidents of more offence,and majority of pragmatic strategies for corporate apologies are from the customer’s perspective.Third,three major factors influencing the choice of pragmatic strategies are presented,namely,controllability of the causes,types of the offences and time of apologizing.Corporations tend to be serious about the incidents caused by controllable causes because customers believe that they could have avoided misconducts.To incidents resulting in substantial harm,customers are so sensitive that they require the corporations to apologize by taking the standpoint of customers.They are more tolerant of incidents resulting in mental harm.However,if the offence is too severe,it is still hard for corporations to choose pragmatic strategies for apologizing.When corporations can predict the misconducts,they make apologies before what happens.If they apologize after the harm,it costs them more efforts to remedy the image.The study is of theoretical values and practical values.Theoretically,this study attempts to offer supplements to the studies on pragmatic strategies for corporate apologies.Practically,this study can help corporations choose right ways to apologize in dealing with the relationship between customers and corporations.