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1. Introduction
Trust and confidence are dimensions in everyday investments which must not be underrated. Trust occurs in any transactions and seems to replace, at least partially, reliable knowledge, as well as the necessity for particular information. From this perspective, trust simplifies economical processes and operations, it motivates investments and it enhances social welfare. Presumably, many numerous transactions would not be made without trust. Consequently, it is to assume that social welfare would be enhanced consecutively if trust (or, as later to be discussed, confidence) was enhanced among consumers. The financial crisis in 2008 and the measurement by the German Government is an applicable example of rhetorical communication that accompanies regulation. Furthermore, it appears to be a strong indication that strategic communication is an effective tool to re-increase trust among consumers. While rhetoric and pragmatics, being of core interest of linguistic studies, should be considered as the main approach toward analyzing and discussing strategic communication (and trust communication hence) in this sense, they have been hardly respected in economical and business research so far. In this paper, we will discuss and differentiate specific types of trust first and give a brief overview of techniques and analyzing instruments we compile for management rhetoric. Later on, we will develop a conceptual frame and select appropriate tools of the compilation for a brief analysis of the measurements of the German Government in 2008. In the following discussion, we will prove those measurements on their effectiveness from a rhetorical and pragmatic point of view.
2. Crisis, trust and management rhetoric
A Crisis usually may have certain effects on trust and relationships. By or within a crisis, trust can suffer severe damage. Regarding economic interactions, this argumentation has a neural significance for any strategic managerial activities during a crisis. In the following chapter, we will, first, discuss the approach of organizational rhetoric and its research approaches, followed by an observation of trust and confidence as economic phenomena, as well as a certain object of research for marketing and management. In the end, we will present a selection of research tools to analyze governmental crisis rhetoric.
2.1 Management and crisis rhetoric
If we assume that a successfully managed demonstrative, as well as a supporting and thus strategically arranged, communication is...