Beyond culture: Advancing the understanding of political and technological contexts in crisis communication

Abstract

This study aims to theoretically advance the context-oriented tradition in crisis communication by highlighting the political and technological contexts for understanding organisational crises. Using China as a case, the study proposes a broader analytical framework that investigates the societal contexts’ impact on crisis communication from political and technological domains. The analytical framework includes, first, the examination of the authoritarian regime with a divided power structure as the political context in China. Assessing political ideology, political structure, and political history as political contexts allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of political contexts on crisis communication temporally and structurally; second, the investigation of internet users’ voices in a government-regulated commercial space as the technological context in China. Online participation and internet language thereby emerge as prominent parts of the technological contexts for understanding crisis communication in China. The implications and directions of research are also discussed.