Has Crisis Communication Been Studied Using an Interdisciplinary Approach? A 20-Year Content Analysis of Communication Journals

Abstract

This study examines whether the status of crisis communication research is interdisciplinary by paying special attention to different perspectives from varying theories, methods, and authors. One hundred seventy-five articles published in major communication journals from 1991 to 2011 were extracted as crisis communication articles. The results of a quantitative content analysis revealed that, among theories applied to crisis research, most were from communication and public relations disciplines, which included framing, image restoration, situational crisis communication, and excellence theory. Although outside disciplines that have studied crisis communication research included psychology, economics, mathematics, and sociology, those disciplines made up less than one-third of the articles. Regarding the methodological approach, each portion of articles using two or more methods (e.g., experiment and survey) and a triangulation approach (e.g., qualitative and quantitative) was less than 10%. However, the frequency of the triangulation, or mixed-method, approach has dramatically increased since 2006, which indicates that interdisciplinary crisis communication research is evolving into an interdisciplinary field. Another indication of this trend can be found in the variety of authors, institutions, and departments dedicated to crisis communication. Although crisis articles are published primarily by communication, journalism, and public relations departments, other diverse disciplines are also widely contributing to crisis communication research.