How publics react to situational and renewing organizational responses across crises: Examining SCCT and DOR in social-mediated crises

The prevalence of social media among networked publics calls for more research regarding how organizations can conduct effective crisis communication on social networking sites. Based on the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and the discourse of renewal (DOR) theory, this study examined how social media publics’ sentiments were affected by situational and renewing organizational responses in various clusters of crises. Twitter data of six crises representing three crisis clusters varying in the responsibility attribution (i.e., ambiguous, accidental, and preventable) were collected. We conducted a content analysis on organizations’ official tweets during crises (N = 59) and sentiment analysis on publics’ replies on Twitter (N = 4,340). The results showed that publics’ positive sentiments toward organizations were affected by organizational crisis responses that included instructing information, sympathy, systemic organizational learning, and effective organizational rhetoric. We recommend that crisis managers express sympathy toward publics as well as organizational learning that prevents a crisis from happening again.     

Developing a multi-level organization-public dialogic communication framework to assess social media-mediated disaster communication and engagement outcomes

Dialogic communication has long been viewed as vital for effective organization-public relations. Yet, it is under-theorized whether and how organizations’ disaster communication messages may embody dialogic communication principles, and how various dialogic features are associated with different public engagement outcomes on social media. Extending the Organization-Public Dialogic Communication (OPDC) framework to the context of social media-mediated disaster communication, we propose a multi-level framework to assess the dialogic capacity of Facebook messages sent by disaster management organizations during a natural disaster. Three levels of dialogic communication characteristics (i.e., message structure-level, topic-level, and linguistic level) are examined using content analysis and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Results identified media richness, correcting, and confirming topics as three consistent predictors of public engagement of all types. Meanwhile, there exhibit greater variations regarding how other topical features and linguistic characteristics are related to public’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement during a disaster.     

Narrative persuasion,identification, attitudes,and trustworthiness in crisis communication

The purpose of this study is to test the effects of narratives in crisis communication. This research assesses how organizations benefit from using stories in their media responses, relative to sharing nonnarrative information. The theory of crisis response narratives (Heath, 2004) holds that ethical narratives are effective because they enhance trustworthiness, attitudes toward the spokesperson, and identification with the spokesperson. Normative crisis communication theory exhorts disclosing truthful information rather than spinning. In an online experiment, participants (N = 365) watched a news interview in which a scandalized company’s spokesperson responded to a journalist’s questions with (a) ethical narratives, (b) unethical (spin) narratives, or (c) nonnarrative information. Multiple mediator modeling assessed identification with the spokesperson, attitudes toward the spokesperson, and perceived trustworthiness of the spokesperson. Results indicate ethical narratives are more effective than unethical narratives. However, nonnarrative information most effectively enhances trustworthiness and bolsters identification.     

Explicating trust and its relation to dialogue at a time of divided societies

Values, beliefs, opinions and attitudes on issues (such as religion, LGBTQ, immigration, etc.), and the proliferation of social media platforms have made society not only more diverse but also more divided. Competing and conflicting views and attitudes result in more schisms and disengagement. In addition, conflicts and disagreements on various issues also have resulted in a lack of trust and a reluctance of organizations and publics to engage in meaningful communication. As a result, developing trusting relationships by facilitating dialogues is significant. Trust has been an important construct in past research on organization-public relationships. However, the concept of trust has rarely been discussed in-depth in public relations literature. This special section of Public Relations Review, entitled Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, examines whether the current definitions of trust and its dimensions in the public relations literature are adequate in an organization-public dialogic communication setting.     

Moving forward the dialogic theory of public relations: Concepts,methods and applications of organization-public dialogue

Advanced information and communication technologies and social media (Web 2.0) have significantly shaped every aspect of contemporary society since Kent and Taylor’s (1998) proposal of dialogic principles, which later evolved into dialogic theory of public relations. It is now time to move the theory forward. The special section aims to advance the dialogic theory of public relations by reviewing the scholarship in organization-public dialogue to pinpoint critical issues for its development and introducing studies that take the dialogue approach to examine a range of public relations practices in China. In this introduction, we first identify critical issues to be addressed for the development of the dialogic theory of public relations and then introduce the articles included in the section. We conclude by proposing research directions for the theoretical and practical development of the dialogic approach to public relations.     

大学理工科学生口语交际和沟通能力探析

对3所大专院校,共计250名理工科学生的口语交际与沟通能力进行了问卷调查。本文以调查为基础,对他们的口语交际与沟通能力的现状做了较为细致的分析,提出了有针对性的建议与方法,旨在为高校更好地培养人才提供科学的参考与依据。     

可预测性灾害中网民情感传播特征研究

以台风“山竹”为例,基于微博数据,综合运用社会网络分析、文本情感分析等方法,分析网民情感传播网络的结构特征、传播层次及路径,探究关键节点的情感影响力和传播路径上的情感变化,并总结出网民情感传播特征。研究结果表明：可预测性灾害中灾前阶段的网民情感传播最为活跃,变化也更为复杂;网民情感传播路径较长,情感倾向会受到多个传播节点直接和间接的综合影响;网民情感传播路径上转发量较大的关键节点对网民情感的影响力更为显著。     

自媒体环境下隐私信息的公开化及其治理

自媒体环境下隐私信息具有公开化的趋势,表现为隐私信息传播的去边缘化,隐私所有人成为主导者,隐私公开成常态。阴私、身份、财富和观念是公开化的主要隐私类型。传播隐私信息对抗伦理道德可以轻易引起社会关注和自媒体把关权弱化,传播自由度增大是隐私信息公开化的主要原因。隐私信息公开化过度放大了娱乐信息,导致严肃信息失语;强调了传播的自主性,忽略了对"他"者的影响。促进自媒体的发展和媒介生态的净化,需要媒介监管者对信息进行分级,自媒体经营者履行"把关权"职责并适当地引导用户,自媒体用户提高自身媒介素养。     

“人肉搜索”的法理思考

"人肉搜索"作为一种网络新兴事物与现象,根据其对象和涉及事件类型的不同,可分为公众人物涉公事件型、非公众人物涉公事件型、公众人物涉私事件型和非公众人物涉私事件型四种类型.从法律角度而言,四类"人肉搜索"对个人隐私的侵入程度,呈依次递增趋势.同时,"人肉搜索"事件中涉及的网络信息发布者、网络信息传播者、网站三方,各主体责任也有所不同.