Examining multiplicity and dynamics of publics’ crisis narratives with large-scale Twitter data

The new reality of networked publics on social media calls for crisis communication practitioners and researchers to understand the narratives generated by publics on social media during organizational crises. As social media publics possess diverse, unique characteristics and communicative needs during a crisis, they form interpretative communities and co-create various symbolic interpretations of the crisis. Extending the public-centric and narrative perspective to the context of social media crises, we examined what crisis narratives were constructed by social media publics (i.e., multiplicity) and how these narratives changed by crisis stages (i.e., dynamics). Using topic modelling based on large-scale Twitter data of the Chipotle E. coli crisis (N?=?40,610), we identified ten narratives subsumed under two themes (i.e., sharing-based and conversation-based) based on publics’ social constructions of their perceived risks and crisis experience. On the one hand, sharing-based narratives, heavily impacted by publics’ shared media coverage, reflected media crisis narratives and salient risk perceptions aligning with the news agenda. On the other hand, conversation-based narratives, fueled by publics’ opinion expression and emotional venting, demonstrated publics’ interpretations of their experience with the organization in the crisis with less salient but more diversified risk perceptions. Crisis managers are recommended to produce and deliver compelling narratives resonating with different groups of social media publics during crises.     

The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internal CSR communication in predicting employee engagement: Perspectives from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

This study examined relationships among employees’ perception of CSR, three models of internal CSR communication and employee engagement. The findings, based on 516 valid survey responses from employees across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates, revealed that internal communication of CSR, both one-way and two-way symmetrical, predicted employee perceptions of CSR, with two-way asymmetrical communication being a negative predictor; perceptions of CSR predicted employee engagement; social and sustainable dimensions of CSR most strongly predicted social and affective dimensions of employee engagement; and both two-way symmetrical communication of CSR and employee perceptions of CSR strongly predicted employee engagement. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Deaf access to justice in Northern Ireland: rethinking ‘Reasonable Adjustment’ in the Disability Discrimination Act

Abstract

This article provides findings of a qualitative study exploring the interactions of eight Deaf participants and one hearing ally with the justice system in Northern Ireland, where the Disability Discrimination Act requires solicitors to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in order to provide effective access to Deaf clients. Three thematic categories emerged: (a) barriers to accessing justice, (b) work Deaf people do for access, and (c) the need to educate solicitors about access. A central strain ran through these themes: the idea that ‘reasonable adjustment’ must reflect the value of sign language interpreters in facilitating effective communication access for all the parties.     

Culture and Crisis Communication: Nestle India's Maggi Noodles Case

Extant theoretical paradigms in the field of crisis communication are organization-centric and do not adequately recognize the role of culture. The purpose of this essay is to analyze a crisis faced by Nestle India using the framework of global public relations which defines culture broadly to include political, economic, media, societal, and activist cultures. Our analysis revealed that a multinational corporation with over a century of presence in the country struggled to align itself to the complexities of the cultures of the host country. In the case of Nestle India, whereas environmental variables such as political economy and Westernization of urban India boosted the growth of its instant noodles, the multinational also struggled to cope with the rise of media corporatization, activist pressure and the vagaries of regulatory enforcement not to speak of cultural nationalism. It is evident that Nestlé's crisis response was governed more by its traditional corporate culture than by an ability to keep pace with the changing demands of its environment, leading to the amplification of an issue into a crisis. The study concludes that multinationals that ignore culture will be forced to pay a heavy price both in terms of reputation and the bottom line.     

国内外中国研究生跨文化敏感度比较研究

本调查用Chen和Starosta的"跨文化敏感度量表"对100名国内外中国研究生的跨文化敏感度进行测评,旨在探索国内外中国研究生跨文化敏感度现状的差异。研究结果显示,留学国外的中国研究生跨文化敏感度总体水平高于在国内学习的研究生,留学国外的中国研究生比国内研究生更容易接受和认同不同的文化,更能从不同文化互动中获得享受。     

加强“多方沟通”,构建“以人为本”学生评教体系

本文指出学生评教应通过加强＂多方沟通＂,构建＂以人为本＂的学生评教体系,从而真正起到促进教师的专业发展和提高教学质量的作用。     

传播学视野下大学生村官推进农村马克思主义大众化的思考——基于山西省运城市的抽样调查

大学生村官是农村马克思主义的传播者。但是,通过调查发现,大学生村官在传播马克思主义过程中却遇到马克思主义理论素养不高、马克思主义理论信仰度不够、农村实践能力不足、传播意识淡薄、传播知识与传播技能欠缺等困境。为了进一步推进大学生村官在农村中传播马克思主义的效果,必须提高大学生村官的马克思主义理论素养,推动大学生村官的知与行的统一,加强他们对农村的认识,培养其传播意识以及提高传播技巧。     

手机传播机制与受众文化心理

手机传播充分进入了人们的日常生活,传播人人同时参与的事实基本实现。手机媒体文化传播显现出普适性、放射性的传播机制,人际传播动能极强,手机媒体传播机制具有“碎片化”传播的随机性与多样化特点．手机的使用最大限度地缓解了现代人的．心理危机,满足了人们多样化交流的欲望。从手机文化传播受众需求来看,使用与满足正是人们使用手机媒体、构筑手机文化的心理动机。     

智库的大众传播操作：由胡佛研究所引申

智库要实现影响舆论、进而影响公共政策的目的,首先必须通过各种大众传播工具对外宣传推广其研究人员和研究成果,使其得到公众的认可。世界著名智库胡佛研究所通过对现代大众传播技术的充分合理运用,进一步提高了其在美国及世界上的地位和影响力,其成功经验,值得我国智库学习借鉴。     

A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to identify and compare the crisis communication strategies (CCSs) that organizations used to respond to a congenetic melamine-tainted milk crisis in two Chinese societies (i.e., Mainland China and Taiwan), and (2) to explore the underlying political and media system reasons that led to the differences. Content analysis and discourse analysis of media coverage were used. The most significant finding is that Sanlu (a Mainland China-based organization) and KingCar (a Taiwan-based organization) demonstrated inverse pattern of the CCS adoption. Specifically, according to Coombs’ (1998) defense-accommodation continuum, Sanlu's CCSs moved from defensive to accommodative pole as time went by whereas, in contrast, KingCar started with accommodative strategies and moved towards the defensive pole gradually. Besides, the results showed that both organizations adopted denial, corrective action and apology strategies. However, on the Sanlu part, the most frequently used strategy was denial, while KingCar used justification most often. Moreover, this paper suggests that besides cultural dynamics, political and media systems also play a part in corporate selection of CCSs, and they are among the most important factors that should be taken into account to explain the differences in societies even with an identical traditional culture.