Toxic Workplace Culture and Crisis Management Communication: an Analysis of BrewDog's Crisis

Crisis communication is an essential element of public relations for any organisation or business. It plays a crucial role in successfully managing a crisis and lessening the damage that may result from a dangerous situation such as a crisis that threatens the organisation’s life. Crises happen and always bring considerable challenges and dangers which are mainly related to stakeholders' attribution of crisis responsibility. This thesis analyses the crisis which the Scottish brewery, namely BrewDog, had to face in 2021 when allegations of toxic workplace culture were made by former staff. The analysis is based on the main theories of the crisis management communication field, such as Attribution Theory, 3-Step Model, Situational Crisis Communication Theory, and Image Restoration Theory, as well as on linguistic parameters.