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Wells Fargo Bank’s Fake Account Crisis And The Impact Image Restoration Strategies Had On The Company’s Stock Value

Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Purpose – This thesis project examined Wells Fargo Bank’s fake account crisis to determine if the image restoration communication strategies adopted by the company victimized its shareholders due to a strategy’s impact on the company’s stock price. Methodology – The methodological approach for this thesis project was a qualitative case-study analysis performed on news articles published from December 2013 through December 2022 that specifically referenced Wells Fargo Bank and its fake account crisis to identify the type of image restoration communication strategy used by the company. Findings – The analysis of news articles published between December 2, 2013, through December 30, 2022, featuring Wells Fargo Bank’s fake account crisis found sixty-eight days of articles published that aligned to an image restoration communication strategy deployed by Wells Fargo. A thorough review of the strategies confirmed the company’s overwhelming preference to utilize the Corrective Action and Mortification strategies as one or both of these strategies were present in 85% of the articles analyzed for this study. Practical Implications – Results of this study suggest banks immersed in a crisis should define the image restoration communication strategy early and remain committed to that strategy. In addition, this study validates that unethical practices and corruption within a financial institution can be detrimental to the company’s brand and negatively impactful to its shareholders. Originality – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this thesis project is the first to examine Wells Fargo Bank’s fake account crisis and the impact the company’s image restoration communication strategies had on shareholders. This study explored the drivers that can lead to 4 employees engaging in occupational fraud and how the United States government has enacted laws to help protect bank customers from such acts of misconduct. This research further adds to the current literature on image restoration communication strategies by suggesting banks engaged in crises related to unethical business practices should consider adoption of the Corrective Action and Mortification strategies to minimize the negative fiscal impact on shareholders.
DOI: 10.17615/1y39-xt62
Author: Huffman, Brian
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6963160763
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