Crisis Communication and Reputation Management Frameworks Following Major Organizational Corruption Scandals: A Case Study of The Pakistan Weightlifting Federation A Study in the Pakistani Sports Governance Context

Authors

  • Muhammad Abdul Jabar Adnan* Department of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore
  • Muhammad Rashed Department of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore
  • Ahmad Raza Department of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore
  • Mehmet Dalkılıç Karamanoglu Mehmetbey Üniversitesi, Spor Bilimleri Fakültesi, Karaman, Türkiye
  • Muhammad Tahir Latif Higher Education Department, Government of the Punjab, Lahore
  • Hafiza Mustabshara Irfan Department of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore

Abstract

Between 2021 and 2026, the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWLF) became the subject of one of the most severe governance crises in Pakistani sport: A multi-year investigation by the International Testing Agency (ITA), acting on behalf of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), uncovered systemic doping, the alleged use of "fake clubs" to entrench federation control, and the administration of prohibited substances to minor athletes between 2014 and 2016. The crisis culminated in the Pakistan Sports Board's (PSB) 2021 suspension of the federation, a wave of Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sanctions between 2023 and 2026, and, ultimately, lifetime bans for the federation's former president and national coach. This article develops and applies a crisis communication and reputation management framework - integrating Coombs' Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and Benoit's Image Repair Theory to analyze how the PWLF, the PSB and affiliated stakeholders communicated (or failed to communicate) through this crisis, and what this reveals about reputation-recovery pathways available to Pakistani sports federations facing corruption scandals. A documentary case analysis of real, dated events is combined with an illustrative stakeholder-perception dataset (n = 350) that demonstrates how trust, perceived response effectiveness and reputation-recovery predictors can be measured empirically. The illustrative analysis shows that prolonged institutional silence and denial were associated with the steepest trust decline, while documented corrective action and transparent, consistent communication - once finally adopted by the PSB - were rated as the most effective response strategies. The article concludes with a practical crisis communication and reputation management framework tailored to Pakistani national sports federations.

Keywords: Crisis Communication; Reputation Management; Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT); Image Repair Theory; Pakistan Weightlifting Federation; Sports Governance Pakistan; Corruption Scandal; Stakeholder Trust

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21699900

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Published

2026-03-22

How to Cite

Muhammad Abdul Jabar Adnan*, Muhammad Rashed, Ahmad Raza, Mehmet Dalkılıç, Muhammad Tahir Latif, & Hafiza Mustabshara Irfan. (2026). Crisis Communication and Reputation Management Frameworks Following Major Organizational Corruption Scandals: A Case Study of The Pakistan Weightlifting Federation A Study in the Pakistani Sports Governance Context. `, 5(01), 4720–4733. Retrieved from https://www.assajournal.com/index.php/36/article/view/2029

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 01 (2026): Advance Social Science Archive Journal

Section

Articles

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