Commentary—Space is Hard: Using Social Media for Selective Investigative Disclosure as a Multi-faceted Crisis Communication Strategy to Achieve Technical Transparency

2021 ◽  
pp. 232948842097860
Author(s):  
Eric D. Waters ◽  
Scott C. D’Urso
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory

In this commentary, we note that situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) provides useful guidelines for an organization to protect its reputation during a crisis. However, when a high reliability organization (HRO) faces a crisis, openness often supersedes reputation management as a priority as maintaining the public’s trust is paramount. Unfortunately, SCCT in its present form does not account for this distinction. With the present research, we seek to extend SCCT by offering additional crisis response options for HROs which further explicate the evolving role of social media in providing an effective crisis response. A content analysis of 18 tweets and eight website updates, released by a private spaceflight corporation, allows us to offer investigative disclosure as a new crisis response category and technical transparency as a new crisis response objective. We propose a nuanced view that situates investigative disclosure as an antecedent to corrective action.

scholarly journals Navigating Crisis: The Role of Communication in Organizational Crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sky Marsen
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Organizational Crisis ◽  
Management Communication ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
The Rich

This article introduces the special issue on crisis communication, whose aim is to bring together diverse approaches and methods of analysis in the field. The article overviews the field by discussing two main frameworks, dealing with postcrisis (reputation management) and precrisis (issue management) communication, respectively. The article then overviews some major theories of crisis communication and their different methodologies: image repair, situational crisis communication theory, rhetorical arena theory, narrative, and integrated crisis mapping. It ends with a description of some lessons learned that apply to all approaches and an overview of the contributions to the issue. By comparing and contrasting different perspectives on crisis communication, the article emphasizes the rich diversity that characterizes this branch of business communication.

scholarly journals Focusing on the “Public” in Public Relations: The Importance of Person-Centered Messages (PCMs) in Crisis Communication on Twitter

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 93-128
Author(s):  
Soo Kwang Oh ◽  
Kyung-Hyan Yoo ◽  
Jennifer Owlett
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory ◽  
The Public ◽  
Crisis Type ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study

Based on the theoretical frameworks of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and person-centered messages (PCMs), this interdisciplinary study conducted a 2 x 3 experiment to examine the role of PCMs in crisis management on social media. Our findings suggest that crisis type (victim, preventable) has an effect on people’s perceptions/reactions toward an organization and that PCM levels (low, medium, and high person-centered messages) in crisis communication on social media influence organizational reputation and participants’ intention to post negative feedback about the organization in crisis. We suggest that when organizations are responding to crisis online, they provide additional attention to the interpersonal dynamics of those interactions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Government's Crisis Communication Strategy Discourse to Defend Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Anton Surahmat ◽  
Susanne Dida ◽  
Feliza Zubair
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Communication ◽  
The Government

Crisis communication is one of the most important instruments in crisis management. Unfortunately, there is a lot of criticism about how the Indonesian government implemented its crisis communication strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic season. This study aims to uncover the government's crisis communication strategy from the perspective of Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis. Based on the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), researchers study the structure of discourse in texts consisting of macro, superstructure, and micro. There were 6 press releases from President Jokowi, Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto, and Spokesperson dr. Achmad Yurianto was collected using a purposive sampling method to describe the government's crisis communication strategy at the beginning of pre-crisis and crisis. The results show a significant dynamic crisis communication strategy on how the government implemented it in the pre-crisis and crisis phases. In the pre-crisis phase, they were statements from public officials especially in this case coming from President Jokowi and Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto. Both of these statements tend to lead to Deny and Diminish's strategy while still delivering messages in the form of Adjustments and Instructive Information so that the public remains alert and calm. However, in the crisis phase, government communication shifted towards Diminishes' statement, in the view of Justification that the crisis was actually not so terrible and bad. This is the biggest idea that emerged in the statement of President Jokowi and Spokesperson dr. Achmad Yurianto. Broadly speaking, this phase also provides a greater perspective on projections of government policy in the Covid-19 arrangement.

“Gatekeeper or Crisis Manager? Coverage of "Lahad Datu" Conflict”

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.21) ◽  
pp. 476
Author(s):  
Manimegalai Ambikapathy ◽  
Hasmah Zanuddin
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Problem Solution ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Security Personnel ◽  
Independent Variable

Lahad Datu conflict also known as “Sabah standoff” conflict, is unforgettable tragedies until killed about 10 of Malaysian security personnel and impacted economic, social and emotion of citizens especially at Lahad Datu, Sabah. The objective of this research is to examine the portrayal of solution from Malaysian Government for the “Lahad Datu Crisis” through newspaper framing in Malaysian mainstream newspapers namely Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily. The measurement for the crisis response will be measure through few independent variables such as category of “Lahad Datu” news; between problem, solution, people or neutral category. The following independent variable is through the slants of news; whether news is slanted in positive, negative or neutral slant. With the assistance of “Situational Crisis Communication Theory”, this research employed a systematic quantitative content analysis to gather the data. Finding revealed that, category of solution appeared most in Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily and news in positive slants were covered in all the selected dailies. In providing responses for the crisis, Justification and Concern crisis response portrayed most, however, through Kruskal Wallis test, data found that The Star and Utusan Malaysia portrayed most of the Justification and Concern responses compare to Sin Chew daily and Nanban daily.  

scholarly journals Model of Crisis Communication Management in the Perspective of Situational Crisis Communication Theory at the Transportation Ministry

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-242
Author(s):  
Ari Sulistyanto ◽  
Usmar Usmar ◽  
Hermiyetti Hermiyetti
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Standard Operating Procedure ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Situational Crisis Communication Theory ◽  
Government Organizations

Rapid disaster response is necessary since it involves various stakeholders in disaster. However, rapid response is difficult to implement due to structural constraints and organizational hierarchy.  This research aims to reveal structural constraints to crisis communication management in the internal organization of the Transportation Ministry. Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) approaches offer a framework to understand management in general in responding to crisis situation.  This research uses a qualitative method with case study approaches. The results of this research show that in the pre-crisis phase the organization serves as media for sections at the Transportation Ministry to interact in monitoring potential crisis.  In the crisis and post-crisis response phases, the establishment of an Ad Hoc Crisis Communication Team (TKK) has changed the organization from being under stringent hierarchic structure to being more flexible and responsive in crisis response. This research gives contributions to more dynamic crisis communication management, recommends the formulation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in crisis communication management, starting from pre-crisis, crisis to post-crisis response phases, and gives guidance to government and non-government organizations in crisis communication management.

scholarly journals When is silence golden? The use of strategic silence in crisis communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phuong D. Le ◽  
Hui Xun Teo ◽  
Augustine Pang ◽  
Yuling Li ◽  
Cai-Qin Goh
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Communication ◽  
English Language ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Organizational Image ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Image Repair Theory ◽  
Future Events

Purpose Scholars have discouraged using silence in crises as it magnifies the information vacuum (see Pang, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to argue for its viability and explore the type of silence that can be used. Design/methodology/approach Eight international cases were analyzed to examine how silence was adopted, sustained and broken. Findings The findings uncovered three intention-based typologies of strategic silence: delaying, avoiding and hiding silences. Among such, avoiding/hiding silence intensified crises and adversely affected post-silence organizational image when forcefully broken, while delaying silence helped preserve/restore image with primary stakeholders if successfully sustained and broken as planned. Research limitations/implications First, these findings may lack generalizability due to the limited number of cases studied. Second, local sentiments may not be fully represented in the English-language news examined as they may be written for a different audience. Finally, a number of cases studied were still ongoing at the time of writing, so the overall effectiveness of the strategy employed might be compromised as future events unfold. Practical implications A stage-based practical guide to adopting delaying silence is proposed as a supporting strategy before the execution of crisis response strategies. Originality/value This is one of the few studies to examine the role of silence in crisis communication as silence is not recognized as a type of response in dominant crisis theories – be it the situational crisis communication theory or the image repair theory (An and Cheng, 2010; Benoit, 2015; Benoit and Pang, 2008; Xu and Li, 2013).

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