Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate why and how public health agencies employed social media during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to foster public engagement and dialogic accounting.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed the official Facebook pages of the leading public agencies for health crisis in Italy, United Kingdom and New Zealand and they collected data on the number of posts, popularity, commitment and followers before and during the outbreak. The authors also performed a content analysis to identify the topics covered by the posts.FindingsEmpirical results suggest that social media has been extensively used as a public engagement tool in all three countries under analysis but – because of legitimacy threats and resource scarcity – it has also been used as a dialogic accounting tool only in New Zealand. Findings suggest that fake news developed more extensively in contexts where the public body did not foster dialogic accounting.Practical implicationsPublic agencies may be interested in knowing the pros and cons of using social media as a public engagement and dialogic accounting tool. They may also leverage on dialogic accounting to limit fake news.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to look at the nature and role of social media as an accountability tool during public health crises. In many contexts, COVID-19 forced for the first time public health agencies to heavily engage with the public and to develop new skills, so this study paves the way for numerous future research ideas.
Highlights
The ongoing digitalisation process of everyday life has increased communication channels and new opportunities for user participation to construct a shared discourse based on dialogic communication and a culture of participation (Jenkins, 2006).Social media (SM) plays an essential role as an instrument of dialogic communication (Bonson and Ratkai, 2013)
To evaluate the different public engagement levels, we used the popularity and commitment scores, which adjust for the number of followers and the number of posts
High and extensively increased public engagement levels are reported for all pages
Summary
The ongoing digitalisation process of everyday life has increased communication channels and new opportunities for user participation to construct a shared discourse based on dialogic communication and a culture of participation (Jenkins, 2006).Social media (SM) plays an essential role as an instrument of dialogic communication (Bonson and Ratkai, 2013). In public organisations, appropriate SM use may contribute to public engagement, which involves encouraging citizens participation in public decisions (Rowe and Frewer, 2005; Manetti et al, 2017). 2.1 Public engagement during health emergencies: the potential role of social media Public engagement broadly refers to the practice of involving the citizens in public decisions and life, and is a persistent objective of public sector organisations (Rowe and Frewer, 2005). Public engagement can positively impact public governance, in terms of increased accountability and better-informed decision-making, strengthening societal cohesion, sense of community and trust in public administration (Manetti et al, 2017). Public engagement requires specific initiatives, ranging from one-way information flows conveyed from public organisations to citizens, to two-way communication processes and knowledge exchanges (Agostino and Arnaboldi, 2016)
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