Institutional Crisis | Peer-Reviewed Research

When Scandal Strikes, Which Rituals Survive?

In the wake of scandal, organizations face a critical question: who will stay committed and who will leave? The answer depends largely on what type of institutional events people attend — and how far the scandal spreads.

Based on research by Anastasiya Zavyalova and Bryan K. Stroube (London Business School)

Key findings:

Community-wide events initially prove more resilient than personal celebrations.
Widespread scandal changes everything. When misconduct spreads across multiple branches, even the most committed members begin abandoning core activities.
Older, larger institutions lose fewer people, suggesting that established communities have greater resilience to scandal.

When scandal hits a company, members can respond in vastly different ways: Some employees will quit and some customers will walk away; but others will stay engaged and defend their loyalty.

The question is: What separates those who stay from those who leave? And how do different circumstances — like the scale of the crisis or how far it spreads — shape those choices?

Drawing on detailed records in the wake of the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal, researchers Anastasiya Zavyalova (Rice Business) and Bryan K. Stroube (London Business School) analyzed two decades of member engagement data to understand how different types of rituals can help organizations weather a scandal.

Two Types of Organizational Rites

In their study, published in Organization Science, Zavyalova and Stroube identify two fundamental categories of member-engagement events: “rites of integration” and “rites of passage.”

Rites of integration are the regular, recurring events that build community identity — monthly town halls, company-wide off-sites or, in the context of this study, weekly worship services. These events attract an organization’s most committed members — lifelong members, parish-council regulars, office culture boosters, volunteers who stay late to lock up — and continuously reinforce shared values and belonging.

Rites of passage, on the other hand, mark individual milestones — retirement and promotion celebrations, for instance; or, in the religious world, weddings, baptisms and funerals. Because they mark a single person’s transition, rather than organizational identity, they attract a wider circle of engagement, including members who rarely attend rites of integration.

The research demonstrates that regular, low-stakes community events create psychological and social infrastructure that can withstand crisis — at least initially.

Context: Archdiocese of Philadelphia

The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia provided an ideal research setting for Zavyalova and Stroube because of its unusually detailed attendance records, as well as the scandal’s well-documented timeline. In 2002, when The Boston Globe exposed widespread abuse in the Catholic Church, investigations spread nationwide, including to Philadelphia where registered Catholics represented nearly 30% of the metro area’s population.

The researchers analyzed parish-level data from 1990-2010, tracking attendance at Sunday Mass (rites of integration) alongside participation in weddings, baptisms and funerals (rites of passage). This comprehensive dataset, spanning the scandal’s emergence and aftermath, revealed how different types of community engagement respond to organizational crisis.

To isolate the scandal’s effects, the study controlled for demographics, economic conditions and seasonal variations that might independently affect church attendance. The researchers also compared parishes with accused priests to those without direct involvement, creating natural control groups within the same archdiocese.

How Scandal Reshapes Community Participation

The data revealed two distinct patterns of response. Overall, rites of passage suffered more than rites of integration. That is, rates of baptisms, weddings and funerals declined more than Sunday Mass attendance, especially in parishes with accused priests.

This pattern reflects the different psychological investments these events represent. Core members who attend weekly services have the organization woven into their identity, making immediate withdrawal difficult despite moral concerns. Meanwhile, families planning weddings or baptisms — events that can be relocated — quickly sought alternatives when misconduct emerged on a local level.

However, if the scandal spread to neighboring parishes, this pattern reversed dramatically. Sunday Mass attendance began declining more steeply than milestone events. Once the scandal became system-wide rather than isolated, even the most devoted members started questioning their organizational ties.

“When scandals crop up at nearby branches, the issue feels more severe to core members,” explains Zavyalova. “Once several neighboring branches of the organization are implicated, ignoring or excusing the misconduct becomes nearly impossible.”

Most likely, Zavyalova explains, parishioners attending weekly Mass identified more highly with their parish and felt connected to the community than members who only held a wedding or baptism. “Members who feel deeply connected to the organization have it woven into their identities, so walking away is much harder.”

Another interesting thing happened as the scandal spread: core members pulled back even more sharply than the peripheral members who, perhaps seeing every parish as equally tainted, continued holding their personal ceremonies.

Were there any exceptions to this pattern? Yes. At older and larger parishes, Sunday Mass attendance was more resilient — perhaps because the psychological and identity-related associations of core members were strongest within these communities.

The Broader Implications for Business

These findings offer crucial insights for any organization building resilience to scandal. The research demonstrates that regular, low-stakes community events create psychological and social infrastructure that can withstand crisis — at least initially.

Of course, Sunday Mass carries more spiritual, historical and social weight than any office holiday party or lunch-and-learn. Nevertheless, the study shows that rituals designed to build community — whether sacred or secular — follow similar engagement patterns when scandal strikes.

Organizations should invest in consistent rites of integration long before trouble emerges. Weekly all-hands meetings, cross-departmental volunteer projects, regular social gatherings, alumni reunions and informal traditions build the shared identity that helps communities weather scandal’s first impact. These events also provide natural platforms for leadership communication and collective problem-solving when crisis strikes.

However, the research also reveals the limits of community loyalty. As misconduct spreads across an organization, even the most committed members will eventually withdraw from core activities. This suggests that preventing scandal spread — through rapid response, transparent investigation and decision action — is more critical than simply building strong community bonds.

The paper also highlights how organizational characteristics influence scandal resilience. Larger, more established organizations have natural advantages in crisis management, possibly due to greater resources, more diverse member bases or stronger institutional traditions. Newer or smaller organizations, like startups, may need to invest more deliberately in community-building activities to achieve the same level of resilience.

Catholic Church, while unique in its spiritual and historical dimensions, reveals universal patterns in how communities respond to scandal. By understanding these dynamics, leaders can build more resilient organizations and respond more effectively when it strikes.

Written by Katie Gilbert

Stroube and Zavyalova, “The Relative Effects of a Scandal on Member Engagement in Rites of Integration and Rites of Passage: Evidence from a Child Abuse Scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.” Organization Science 36.1 (2025): 213-39.
https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.16682.