Politicians and Scandals that Damage the Party Brand

Bibliographic Data

ID6301316
AuthorsNanna Lauritz Schönhage (0000-0001-7785-0829, University of Konstanz), Benny Geys (0000-0003-4524-1820, BI Norwegian Business School, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume48
Issue2
Pages305-331
Publication date2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLegislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/lsq.12377
OpenAlexW4213453537
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited64

Scandals can cause serious damage to political parties’ brand name and reputation, which may taint all members of the party—even those not implicated in the scandal. In this article, we therefore explore how (uninvolved) politicians are likely to react to the eruption of such events. Building on a survey among UK local councilors (N = 2133), we first document the prevalence of distinct response strategies (such as distancing oneself from the scandal‐hit party or redirecting attention to similar events in other parties). Then, building on a between‐subject survey‐experimental design, we assess the moderating roles of partisanship and scandal type. We show that a scandal in one’s own party reduces the probability of distancing oneself from the scandal‐hit party (particularly among men). We also find that scandal type matters: pointing out similar scandals in other parties is less likely for sex scandals compared to financial scandals (particularly among women

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