Situational Crisis Communication Research Articles

A content analysis for government’s and hotels’ response to COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt

Drawing on the Situational Crisis Communication theory (SCCT), this study recapitulates the initiatives, practices, and responses of the Egyptian government and chain-managed five-star hotels during the COVID-19 global health pandemic. Subjective and objective content analysis is employed in this study. Subjective content analysis is employed to examine newspapers, magazines, T.V channels, and official pages on Facebook to determine the initiatives and practices adopted by the Egyptian government. Objective content analysis is further used to determine the COVID-19 hospitality practices adopted by 22 chain-managed five-star hotels by examining their official websites. Thematic saturation was attained when observations and analyses exhibited no new themes. Findings indicated that the Egyptian government and chain-managed five-star hotels implemented a number of initiatives and practices focused on financial policies, health and hygiene, workforce and training, marketing, domestic tourism, booking flexibility, cancellation policies, community support, vacations, and contracts. This study contributes to crisis management research by being one of the first studies to explore governments and hotel operations practices and initiatives during the COVID-19 using Egypt as a case study. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications during and post the COVID-19.

New insights into crisis communication from an “inside” emic perspective during COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, requiring emergency management by health authorities and providers, it created flow-on crises and “crisis contagion” for organizations ranging from international airlines and tourism operators to local businesses, schools, and universities. In addition to the risks directly associated with the health emergency, many organizations were plunged into crisis because of severe restrictions to their operations and income losses. This analysis examines crisis communication in an organization faced with major financial losses, staff redundancies, and disruption. It analyses how these and necessary crisis responses were communicated to stakeholders, using situational crisis communication theory (SCCT), as its analytical framework. While noting alternative perspectives such as crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC) theory, SCCT is identified as the most widely applied theory of crisis communication, and thus warrants ongoing review in an era of media fragmentation, disinformation, and low public trust. Furthermore, this analysis provides a relatively rare “inside” (emic) perspective through ethnography and autoethnography conducted by a senior decision-maker in the organization studied, which expands traditional outside (etic) perspectives and offers new insights into crisis communication.

The Crisis Management and the Reputation of UAE Police: An Application Situational Crisis Communication Theory

The prime objective of the current study is to investigate the impact of a crisis on the organizational reputation. For this purpose, the study has employed the Coombs’ situational CC theory (SCCT). Using a case which involved the death of a witness during an interrogation by the government agency; this study analyzed the development of the crisis situation as it unfolded. Subsequently this study assesses the attribution of crisis responsibility three and a half years after the crisis erupted, in order to get a clear picture of its impact on an organization’s reputation. Through the lens of SCCT theory, the present study examines employees’ perceptions of the attribution of crisis responsibility and the relevant organization’s reputation in the context of a preventable crisis. This study attempts to enrich the existing body of knowledge by expanding and developing the SCCT theory in reducing reputational threats. In this study, employees’ positive perceptions may be due to the fact that they think the crisis as something that is manageable and can be controlled. Crisis responsibility as the predictor in the study indicates that even though the origin of the crisis is unknown and to date, the cause is still uncertain, public servants view circumstances, not UAE POLICE, as being responsible for the crises.

Crisis Management, and Charismatic Leadership Communication as Antecedents to the Organizational Reputation

The aim of this study is to measure employees’ perceptions of UAE police’s reputation. Even though these perceptions are formed in the public domain, this study focused on the public sector employees’ evaluation of the Commission’s reputation and credibility. This is solely because they work in it and will be directly affected by negative perceptions, as evident in most alternative media and blogs. Like many other organizations, employees and other internal stakeholders know the organization better than the outsiders, so measuring their perceptions is essential. This study attempts to reflect how UAE police, through its charismatic leadership communication and organizational credibility, earns the trust and confidence of its employees in times of crisis, which is further reflected in its reputation. The present study chooses the situational crisis communication theory to develop its theoretical framework. Originating in attribution theory, the SCCT has been widely used in crisis communication research to test the link between crisis situation and crisis response strategies. The study has employed the SEM-PLS is statistical technique for the analysis of the data. The findings of the study have provided support to the hypothesized results.

University Crises in Africa: A Situational Crisis Communication Theory Case Study of Daystar University, Kenya

While disruption of learning has become a common, almost a permanent feature, of universities in Africa, crisis response strategies in these organisations remain understudied. This article reports on a case study which focused on Daystar University (DU) in Kenya that was plunged into a crisis leading to its closure when students boycotted lectures to protest poor infrastructure and fee increment. The study used Coombs Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to analyse crisis response strategies utilised at DU. The study found that the reputational threat was severe and that the university identified with the victim cluster in its crisis response strategies to protect its positive reputational history. Specifically, the SCCT deny response strategies were applied in DU's initial communication utilising the corresponding scapegoat tactic. But later, deal response strategies were applied although ineffectively. Thus, the research recommends that in future, DU should broaden its crisis response strategies in order to effectively reach all constituencies and protect its reputational capital.

Letting the team down? Examining sport fans reactions to Aaron Smith’s ‘Toilet Tryst’ on social media

ABSTRACT Recent scholarly attention in the field of sports crisis communication has focused on audience reception and participation in crisis communication messages in digital and social media. While studies find that fans launch their own defence of their favourite stars, a comparative analysis of fan enacted crisis communication across multiple social media networks is lacking. This study extends Situational Crisis Communication Theory in the context of athlete reputational crises (ARCs) and examines the use of crisis communication messages in the sporting arena through a study of New Zealand’s All Black Aaron Smith’s 2016 ‘Toilet Tryst’. It builds on previous findings by comparatively analysing 1) the crisis communication messages voiced by Smith and All Blacks management; 2) associated elite opinion in media coverage; and 3) comparative analysis of communication strategies used by fans across a range of social media networks. While Smith and All Blacks employed traditional strategies of apology, we found that fans on social media often defended Smith and the All Blacks, and used newer strategies of expression of disappointment and humour to diminish and curtail reputational impact. However, while there was a little variation in crisis response strategies between the social media networks, there was more within the sub-rhetorical spaces within a social media platform. Implications for and future research in sport fans social media crisis communication strategies are discussed.

Unearthing the Facets of Crisis History in Crisis Communication: A Conceptual Framework and Introduction of the Crisis History Salience Scale

Coombs’s Situational Crisis Communication Theory suggests performance history, composed of relationship history and crisis history, intensify crisis responsibility attribution. Relationship history is organizations’ actual and perceived rapport with publics, while crisis history is an organization’s previous crises. Extant literature has only examined crisis history one-dimensionally. This study proposes the Crisis History Framework that provides insight into influential factors that can make crises more or less salient to individuals. Furthermore, the study introduces the Crisis History Salience Scale that can help crisis communications scholars conduct empirical research examining crisis history’s multiple facets. Moreover, the study offers suggestions for how crisis history considerations can inform proactive crisis management, key messaging, and strategy development during crises.

Practicing transparency in a crisis: Examining the combined effects of crisis type, response, and message transparency on organizational perceptions

Public relations practitioners allocate a vast number of resources to constructing and building strategic messaging for targeted stakeholders. Two important factors within this message construction deal with organizational crisis responses and message transparency. The present study sought to combine concepts from Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and message transparency to investigate what combined impact these two fields in public relations research have on perceptions of an organization. By utilizing a 3 (crisis type) X 3 (crisis response) X 2 (message transparency) experimental design, this study (n = 898) found that victim crisis types, rebuild strategies, and high transparency messages resulted in more positive perceptions of the organization. A three-way interaction was also found, namely that use of highly transparent messages contributed to greater perceived organizational credibility when a rebuilding or denial strategy was used in response to a preventable crisis and when a diminishing strategy was used in response to a victim or accidental crisis. Practical and theoretical implications are also discussed.

The Use of Crisis Communication Strategies in Emergency Management

AbstractAs emergency management evolved to encompass a focus on supporting safe growth and development for communities, the role and responsibilities of government became increasingly complex with aspects of emergency management becoming quintessential. Issues with communication uncovered the need to understand how managers collect, disseminate, and adapt critical information through understanding crisis type and local community needs. This paper examines the use of crisis communication strategies in emergency management practice and how these strategies have been impacted by Situational Crisis Communication Theory. This theory’s prescriptive approach connects leaders’ response to strategies emphasizing adaptation to local community needs and crisis type. Utilizing structural equation modeling and qualitative analysis, results from a nationwide survey of county, and county-equivalent, emergency managers in the United States is included. The survey focused on the relationship between crisis communication strategies, local community needs, crisis type, and perceived resilience. The paper concludes with a discussion of the significant indicators impacting use of crisis communication strategies by emergency managers along with critical importance of adaptation to local community needs and crisis type. In addition, the paper unveils practical recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers in the field of emergency management and its counterparts.

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

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.

A Research on the Role of Crisis Response Strategies on Corporate Reputation within the Frame of Situational Crisis Communication Theory

In this study, the role of crisis response strategy, which is among the basic assumptions of situational crisis communication theory, is analysed in terms of the level of responsibility attributed to the corporation and the perception of corporate reputation. The research was conducted through a scenario with 325 participating students. Firstly, the corporate reputation perception of the participating students regarding Uşak University was measured. After the crisis based on the scenario, it was assumed that Uşak University issued 2 separate press releases to the public. In the first press release, “acceptance, apology and compensation” strategies were used, while in the second, “blaming someone else, scapegoating, and not accepting responsibility” strategies were used. Students read the first release. They agreed on 12 statements of the scale which includes 13 statements in total. It was seen that average attendance level increased. In this context, it was determined that the university accepted the responsibility for the crisis. Its implementing various rebuild actions and apologizing contributed to the corporate reputation in a positive sense. It was found that the university’s blaming the food company, not accepting responsibility for the crisis, making the release late, not using any rebuild and compensatory elements caused the decline of reputation perception of the institution. Similarly, using statements containing elements of “compensating and rebuilding activities” in the first press release revealed the fact that the institution was noticed much more quickly in public than other components.

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

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.

Apologies combined with other crisis response strategies: Do the fulfillment of individuals' needs to be heard and the timing of response message affect apology appropriateness?

Combining different crisis response strategies of situational crisis communication theory, two studies examined the components of an appropriate crisis response strategy that includes an apology. Regarding the content of crisis responses, apologies that are combined with compensation were perceived to be more appropriate than those with scapegoating. In terms of the context of crisis responses, the two studies examined the timing of announcing the responses. In study 1, the appropriateness of an apology that was coupled with compensation decreased over time, while the appropriateness of the responses, in general, fluctuated over time in study 2. To further comprehend the mechanisms behind the appropriateness of the crisis responses, this research utilizes how well the organization responded to individuals’ dispositional needs to be heard. How well a response fulfilled the stakeholders’ needs to be heard explained 66 % of the variance of its appropriateness; the more the response was perceived to fulfill their desires to be heard, the more appropriate it was.

A webometric network analysis of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) characteristics and machine learning approach to consumer comments during a crisis

This study explores the effectiveness of crisis response strategies for public response and perception in the context of social media by examining a case about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 product recall crisis. First, the study investigated the response strategies Samsung used on Facebook through the lens of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Next, we applied a webometric network analysis and exponential random graph models (ERGM) to analyze the relationship between the crisis response strategies and the dynamics of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) behaviors. Then, we performed topic modeling and semantic network analysis to examine the public perceptions of and responses to Samsung’s crisis communication strategies based on public comments. Samsung used silence, information, and rectification strategies. More participants and comments were generated and stronger ties were found in the eWOM networks for matched responses than for silence. Public responses and perceptions toward the silence and the late adoption of an information strategy were primarily negative and resulted in complaints about poor customer service, whereas positive responses –expressing brand royalty and forgiveness– increased via the rectification strategy. Methodological triangulation in this study offers evidence-based lessons on how to systemically monitor stakeholders’ reactions and manage consumer complaints in order to repair a corporation’s damaged reputation after a crisis.

Using artificial intelligence to detect crisis related to events: Decision making in B2B by artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be an important foundation of competitive advantage in the market for firms. As such, firms use AI to achieve deep market engagement when the firm's data are employed to make informed decisions. This study examines the role of computer-mediated AI agents in detecting crises related to events in a firm. A crisis threatens organizational performance; therefore, a data-driven strategy will result in an efficient and timely reflection, which increases the success of crisis management. The study extends the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and Attribution theory frameworks built on big data and machine learning capabilities for early detection of crises in the market. This research proposes a structural model composed of a statistical and sentimental big data analytics approach. The findings of our empirical research suggest that knowledge extracted from day-to-day data communications such as email communications of a firm can lead to the sensing of critical events related to business activities. To test our model, we use a publicly available dataset containing 517,401 items belonging to 150 users, mostly senior managers of Enron during 1999 through the 2001 crisis. The findings suggest that the model is plausible in the early detection of Enron's critical events, which can support decision making in the market.

ANALISIS KOMUNIKASI KRISIS GUBERNUR JAWA TENGAH GANJAR PRANOWO MENGHADAPI PANDEMI COVID-19

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo's communication with the public in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis faced by the public came under the media spotlight. That is because Ganjar Pranowo issued a program to prevent the spread of Covid-19 which is different from other regions. If other regions such as DKI Jakarta, West Java and East Java choose Large-Scale Social Restrictions, Central Java launches Jogo Tonggo. This research focuses on the problem of how the crisis communication is carried out by the Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic faced by the community. So the aim is to find out how the communication made by Ganjar Pranowo in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis experienced by people in Central Java. Researchers used descriptive qualitative research methods with constructivist paradigms. While the analysis used to study the research problem is discourse analysis and is supported by the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) Theory. The researcher has three research informants including senior journalist who is also the Chairman of Central Java Indonesian Journalists Association Amir Machmud as the main informant, Chairman of RW X Rejosari Urban Semarang City Widyanto Tri Handoko informant supporting one and social media activist Arty Yuniarto as supporting informant two. The results of the study showed that crisis communication conducted by Ganjar Pranowo was very intensive both face-to-face and through online media. The high intensity of communication shows the high concern and closeness of Ganjar Pranowo to the community. The results of the discourse analysis in this study stated that the communication made by the Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis had political motives for imaging towards the 2024 Presidential Election. This research concludes that crisis communication conducted by Ganjar Pranowo had a positive impact on Ganjar Pranowo's reputation as Governor of Central Java.

Narratives as Viable Crisis Response Strategies: Attribution of Crisis Responsibility, Organizational Attitudes, Reputation, and Storytelling

ABSTRACT This article expands situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) to narrative persuasion. In a randomized experiment featuring a news interview of a scandalized company, an organization’s spokesperson responds to a journalist’s questions through (a) on-topic narratives, (b) off-topic (spinning) narratives, or (c) nonnarrative information. Consistent with SCCT, on-topic narratives and nonnarrative information reduce the public’s blame toward the organization, enhancing attitudes toward the organization, and ultimately bolstering the company’s image. However, the public ascribes more responsibility to the organization for causing the crisis when the spokesperson subverts questions through narrative spinning.

The Crisis Management and the Reputation of UAE Police: An Application Situational Crisis Communication Theory

The Crisis Management and the Reputation of UAE Police: An Application Situational Crisis Communication Theory

A Corpus-Based Study of Corporate Image Restoration via Public Apology

As one of the most effective measures for corporations to manage crises, public apology has received extensive attention from both practitioners and researchers. This paper attempts to conduct a corpus-based and interdisciplinary study on English public apologies issued by foreign corporations, and to explore how the corporations repair their images via public apology under the tentative theoretical framework adapted from Benoit’s image restoration discourse theory (IRDT) and Coombs & Holladay’s situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Results show that three salient linguistic features are identified in corporate apology corpus: (a) highly frequent use of modal verbs “will” and “can”; (b) highly frequent use of personal pronouns “we” and “you”; (c) highly frequent use of demonstrative pronouns “this” and “that”. It is found that five pragmatic strategies (strategy of expressing apology, strategy of intensifying affection, strategy of mitigating responsibility, bolstering strategy, and rebuilding strategy) are most frequently employed to express mortification to the victims, to reduce the offensiveness of acts and to minimize or to evade responsibility. Furthermore, it is also found that corporate image is restored by means of weakening the negative impression and re-building a responsible and benevolent image. These findings would not only shed light on the corporate image restoration studies, but also offer implications for the practitioners in the business world.

The parallel power in organizations’ defense: Exploring faith-holders and their crisis communication

Publics can be active participants of discussions around organizational crises. Through digital media, they can provide information about a crisis, criticize crisis participants or defend the organization experiencing the crisis (Coombs & Holladay, 2014). Limited research exists on the active role of publics in defending the organization. A handful of studies have looked at crisis communication of active organization supporters, including faith-holders (Luoma-aho, 2015); however there is a limited amount of public relations scholarship about the nature of faith-holders, their communication under crisis circumstances, and whether they in fact attempt to help organizations in times of crisis. By using a combination of content analysis and rhetorical analysis, this paper examined the crisis communication strategies offered by the organization’s faith-holders in the comments to the crisis-related articles published on the websites of media outlets. Through a case study of Tesla Motors’ crisis, the paper determined that faith-holders are a powerful force in defending the organization during the crisis, using both traditional reputation repair strategies identified by Coombs (2015) as well as new strategies identified by the study. Faith-holders were not a monolithic group and differed in terms of what aspects of the organization they had faith. Their communication was not restricted by legal and ethical demands. The results provide insights into understanding of faith-holders’ communication during crises, and also highlight the need for reconsidering the situational crisis communication theory in respect to organizations' faith-holders.