Digital Commons Network^™

Effective Communication Strategy During Crisis: A Case Of The 2010 Toyota Recall Crisis, Masud Mensah

Masters Theses

Crisis communication is an integral part of public relations and organizational management at large involving the timely and strategic sharing of information during a crisis or emergency. Its primary purpose is to ensure that organizations effectively manage and minimize the negative impact of the crisis on their operations and stakeholders, which invariably helps to maintain trust, credibility and restore their reputation. Based on an interpretivist standpoint, the study utilizes qualitative approaches and takes the form of a case study. It offers a comprehensive account of the crisis, including key occurrences, media representation, and public responses, showcasing its international impact via …

Are The Housing Staff Alright? A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination Of The Experiences Of On-Campus Student Housing Professionals Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan J. Chibanga

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

College and university housing professionals served a role they were generally underprepared for as long-term crisis managers during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted and shifted higher education operating structures on a grand scale, and housing staff were asked to continue operating on-campus housing facilities throughout the ever-changing response to COVID-19. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of housing professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the collective experiences of 21 participants three major threads emerged: comfort in the unknown, a need for connection and community, and relentless resilience. Each of these …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of New Mexico Charter Leaders Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nadine T. Torres

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus has impacted the educational landscape in unbelievable ways. The changes to the learning environment in schools required leaders to obtain and exercise different competencies. New Mexico charter leaders are leading in the new normal of public education. With the additional roles, requirements, and expectations brought on by the pandemic, leaders cannot return to their prior leadership practices. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand and give voice to the lived experiences of NM charter leaders working through the COVID-19 pandemic. The narrative of the participants highlighted four major themes: …

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

Trials To Triumphs: A Conceptual Integration Of Resilience And Leadership, Siri Kazilionis

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis is a conceptual integration of the psychological construct of resilience and leadership. It emphasizes how leaders develop and utilize resilience to navigate adversity effectively. This thesis defines psychological resilience as a capacity built through life experiences and measurable through various scales. The literature selected focuses on the resilient leader, distinguished by emotional competence, personal growth, and a significant organizational impact. It challenges conventional leadership perceptions by underscoring the importance of resilience, particularly in crises. The research introduces essential theoretical models, including the Adversity Leadership Praxis Trajectory (APT) and Förster and Duchek's Three-Part Model, to elucidate how resilience is …

The Meta-Leadership Inventory: Developing A Valid And Reliable Instrument For International School Leaders, Matthew D. Wilkens

Theses and Dissertations

International school leaders must be prepared to steer their schools through ongoing crises and changes, regardless of the factors creating the crises and the need for swift change. To achieve the best possible outcomes from these dynamic situations, international school leaders must strategically deploy skills and abilities delineated by the Meta-leadership framework developed by Marcus et al.(2015). This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable instrument that measures the Meta-leadership competencies of international school leaders: the Meta-leadership Inventory for International School Leaders (MLI-ISL). This instrument development study involved a three-phase design. An initial set of items based on a …

Enrollment Management Strategies As A Result Of Covid-19 At Rural Community Colleges, Robin Christine Daniel

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Higher education institutions world-wide were impacted by the unprecedented novel coronavirus (COVID-19) beginning in early 2020. COVID-19 caused a disruption in services to students and resulted in pivots of teaching, learning, and student support. Community colleges differ from four-year counterparts through varying student demographics, funding sources, mission and foci, and student intentions. Community college enrollment is affected by economic, employment, and social trends. Enrollment management practices changes as campus operations for student support changed to remote support. COVID-19 forced administrators at colleges to make quick decisions. This study examined the perceptions of academic administrators at rural community colleges regarding how …

Affective Risk Perceptions Toward Travel In A Covid Era: Policy And State Political Influences, Chloe Riley

Theses and Dissertations

This paper aims to analyze the influence of state political affiliation and policy on affective risk perceptions, in the context of COVID-19. The study of risk perceptions in the travel literature is important because it can help industry leaders predict tourist decision-making and ensure feelings of safety for travelers. The relevance of risk perceptions has become even more apparent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyzes three policies put into place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19: mask mandate, cancellation of public events, and school closures. Affective risk perceptions were measured by the Tourism Crisis Management Initiative’s …

Crisis Leadership Of Exemplary Superintendents Of Urban Elementary K–8 Districts During The Covid-19 Crisis Of 2020, Raymond Andry

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to identify and describe strategies exemplary superintendents of urban elementary K–8 school districts in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties used to lead in crisis using the five critical tasks of strategic crisis leadership (CTSCL; sense making, decision making and coordination, meaning making, accounting, and learning; Arjen Boin et al., 2017) during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. In addition, it was the purpose to understand and describe the experiences of exemplary leaders during a time of crisis.

Methodology: Through a qualitative multiple-case study, interviews were obtained to collect …

The Adaptation And Innovation Model Of Organizational Resilience, Daniel Desa

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The present study was designed to broaden the way researchers and practitioners of the organizational sciences conceptualize, measure, and ultimately work to improve the adaptability, innovativeness, and resilience of organizations. This involved identifying how to measure and delineate the relationships between the interlinked multilevel psychosocial constructs of organizational adaptability, innovativeness, and resilience and the individual and organizational level resources of personal resources, human capital, social capital, and job-related resources as components to a conceptual model of organizational effectiveness coined The Adaptation and Innovation Model of Organizational Resilience, or AIR model. A survey was developed and administered to operationalize worker perceptions …

Small Business Owners’ Approach To Business Continuity Management, Tarik Billingsley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

United States (U.S.) small business owners represent an estimated 25% of businesses that do not reopen following a major disaster. Small business owners must prepare because small businesses represent 99.9% of U.S. businesses and experience detrimental effects resulting from disaster-related events. Grounded in Paunescu and Argatu’s adapted business continuity framework, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies U.S. small business owners use to create disaster plans for business continuity. The participants were seven U.S. small business owners in the service sector. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews through in-person meetings, phone conversations, and documentation …

Impact Of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility Factors On The Employee’S Innovation Climate In The Medical Diagnostics Industry, Sofia M. Beglari

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between employee-driven corporate social responsibility (CSR) factors and employee innovation in U.S. medical diagnostic companies during the respiratory syndrome coronavirus (COVID) pandemic. This study examined what employee-driven CSR factors affect such motivation of employees toward innovation. The research population was employees who have worked in operation, quality control, research, technical, and management departments of medical diagnostics companies in the United States of America. The investigator used a survey questionnaire for this correlation design study. Employees’ responses were analyzed based on education level, gender, and job function using descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA-test. The theoretical framework …

Is Care In The Air?: A Crisis Ethics Case Study Of American Airlines’ Communication During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lily V. Hicks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This research proposes a qualitative case study of American Airlines’ communication during the first month of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Data from the airline’s press releases along with its tweets and a sample of organizational responses to those tweets are offered for proposed analysis using the lenses of Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the Applied Model of Care Considerations, and the body of crisis literature on audience coping and emotions during crises. This in-depth look at a unique communication phenomenon will be a fundamental step in examining how airline communication exhibits ethics or lack thereof and is related to people’s emotions …

Authentic Leadership In Crisis Scenarios: A Phenomenological Examination Of The Lived Experience Of Corporate Leaders During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Natasha Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The coronavirus pandemic unleashed a host of challenges worldwide including political instability, financial turmoil, and public health concerns in 2020. As a result, new constraints including remote work environments, shifting consumer demands, and supply chain disruptions created a complex landscape for businesses. Leaders within companies have been confronted with crisis scenarios. The purpose of the study was to understand the role of authentic leadership in helping corporate leaders navigate the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The central research question was: To what extent, if any, does authentic leadership enable leaders to navigate crises effectively? The research is focused on the intersection of …

Sociopolitical Crisis And The Rise Of A Social Justice Superintendent In Charlottesville, Sara Lourdes Epperly

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined one school superintendent’s handling of a sociopolitical crisis event over the course of its phased unfolding. A review of literature in the fields of both crisis management and social justice educational leadership supplied a conceptual lens for viewing the case. Key concepts from the crisis management literature included staged intervention, organizational learning, and transformative leadership. Key concepts from the literature of social justice educational leadership included criticality, inclusion, relationshipbuilding, and capacity-building. The study methodology involved the conduct of 17 interviews and collection of more than 100 related documents. Analysis of the data supported a series …

International Conflict, Political Leaders, And Accountability, William Thomas Christiansen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role that an individual leader’s background (e.g. what they did before gaining power) plays in public evaluations of their performance managing international conflicts. I propose a novel theory arguing domestic audience members (e.g. the citizens of a leader’s state paying attention to international conflicts) heuristically analyze the competence of a leader by examining their professional and educational background. Once audience members determine whether a leader is competent, they use these judgments to inform whether a given leader deserves blame or credit for the outcome of a given conflict. I find support for this theory by fielding …

Stream Clustering And Visualization Of Geotagged Text Data For Crisis Management, Nathaniel C. Crossman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, the advent of social media and microblogging services have inevitably changed our world. These services produce vast amounts of streaming data, and one of the most important ways of analyzing and discovering interesting trends in the streaming data is through clustering. In clustering streaming data, it is desirable to perform a single pass over incoming data, such that we do not need to process old data again, and the clustering model should evolve over time not to lose any important feature statistics of the data. In this research, we have developed a new clustering system that …

Stream Clustering And Visualization Of Geotagged Text Data For Crisis Management, Nathaniel C. Crossman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, the advent of social media and microblogging services have inevitably changed our world. These services produce vast amounts of streaming data, and one of the most important ways of analyzing and discovering interesting trends in the streaming data is through clustering. In clustering streaming data, it is desirable to perform a single pass over incoming data, such that we do not need to process old data again, and the clustering model should evolve over time not to lose any important feature statistics of the data. In this research, we have developed a new clustering system that …

Análisis Económico Del Sector De Vivienda En Bogotá 1998 2018, Andrés Camilo Díaz Vargas, Julián Camilo Rincón Moscoso

Economía

Este trabajo se realizó con el fin de analizar y entender a través de datos históricos, el comportamiento del mercado de vivienda en Bogotá. Tomando como punto de partida la crisis inmobiliaria que enfrentó el país en el año de 1998 con la caída del UPAC y las repercusiones que esto tuvo en la economía. Adicional, realizamos un análisis de algunos indicadores nacionales pertinentes a oferta y demanda de vivienda para determinar algunos factores que han generado el incremento constante que han venido presentando los precios de la vivienda tales como escasez de espacios urbanizables, aumento en la demanda de …

Female Senior Student Affairs Officers’ Experiences In Decision Making Across Their Careers, Somaia Hamza Mustafa

Dissertations

This study explores the experiences of female Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAOs) in decision-making across their careers in colleges and universities. This study focuses on female SSAOs who work in public and private institutions in the Midwest region of the United States. The experiences and perspectives of female SSAOs focused on the changes in decision-making styles while making small or large-scale decisions over time, the skillsets utilized, the challenges that they faced and the strategies that they employed. This study also explores female SSAOs’ experiences and perspectives regarding decision making when handling crises on campus.

The research design for this …

Business Continuity Planning At Portland State University: An Adaptive Approach To Planning For Service Recovery After A Disruption, Heather Roberts

University Honors Theses

This paper examines a case study following the development of business continuity plans at Portland State University (PSU). The PSU business continuity planning team explored a new theory of Adaptive Business Continuity and evaluated its usefulness in an academic service industry. The business continuity project team set out to answer these critical questions: 'Could the Adaptive Business Continuity Theory work for PSU? Was it up to the challenge of many departments with varied regulations, rhythms and stakeholders? Could the Adaptive Business Continuity Theory be implemented by a limited emergency management staff? Would there be enough buy-in from the PSU department …

A Case Study Of Crisis Management Training Needs: Saudi Airlines, Hussain Saad Alqahtani

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores crisis management policies, programs, and training in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s premier airliners, Saudi Arabian Airlines. Saudi Arabian Airlines is a domestic and international carrier with a major role in the transportation of millions of Muslim pilgrims to the Kingdom during the annual Hajj season. This event places enormous strains on the capacity of the carrier, the airport, ground support systems, and the societal infrastructure of country. There have been tireless efforts by the Airline’s staffers to serve millions of visitors including pilgrims in a timely, safe and appropriate manner. Crisis management for Saudi Arabian Airlines …

Strategies For Mitigating The Effects Of Crisis In Microfinance Institutions In Ghana, Akorfa Ahiafor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ghana has experienced an unprecedented failure of microfinance institutions. Within a period of 8 years from 2011 to 2019, the Bank of Ghana has revoked the license of over 489 microfinance institutions. The purpose of the exploratory multiple case study was to explore strategies that microfinance managers apply to mitigate the effects of crisis to remain sustainable. The targeted population was composed of owner-managers from 6 microfinance companies in Ghana and 6 consultants who overcame the microfinance crisis and remained in practice. The situational crisis communication theory and the team leadership model were the conceptual frameworks for this study. Methodological …

Crisis Management And Student Conduct On College Campuses: The Role Of Adminstrative Discretion, Aisha Sherea Kenner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Crisis Management is a very important part of higher education on college campuses across the nation. Violent events that have occurred in recent years have caused universities to examine how they respond to critical incidents that have negatively affected students, faculty and staff. Because these incidents have resulted in death, injury and other negative consequences, more consideration is given to various aspects of critical incident management such as administrative discretion. This study concentrated on examining the intersection between crisis management and administrative discretion at institutions of higher education (IHE).

Mental health status, laws with relation to information sharing and disability …

Apology Not Accepted: The Impact Of Executive Rhetoric, Communication Strategies, Media Coverage And Time On Crisis Management And Public Perception During Major Oil Spills, Todd D. Harcek

Dissertations

This research builds upon the scholarship in crisis communication strategies and apologia employed by companies during a crisis. Within the expansive domain of crisis management, this work evaluates the media coverage and crisis communication strategies during three major oil spills: the Exxon Valdez, the American Trader, and the BP Gulf oil spill. The purpose of this study is to provide practitioners, researchers and others additional insight into the impact of media coverage on prior, current and future crises and how this coverage, coupled with the communication strategies of companies during a crisis, can influence public awareness or perception. Furthermore, …

Content-Based Clustering And Visualization Of Social Media Text Messages, Sydney A. Barnard

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Although Twitter has been around for more than ten years, crisis management agencies and first response personnel are not able to fully use the information this type of data provides during a crisis or natural disaster. This thesis addresses clustering and visualizing social media data by textual similarity, rather than by only time and location, as a tool for first responders. This thesis presents a tool that automatically clusters geotagged text data based on their content and displays the clusters and their locations on the map. It allows at-a-glance information to be displayed throughout the evolution of a crisis. For …

Essays On Reducing Vulnerability Of Tourism Destinations To Unpredictable Crises, Homa Hajibaba

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Tourism destinations are vulnerable to the occurrence of unpredictable critical events. Critical events range from natural to human-induced events and are increasing in number. Tourism destinations are vulnerable because unpredictable critical events cause drops in tourism demand. Drops in tourist numbers lead to loss of revenue for the affected destinations and negatively impact on tourism businesses and the local community. Therefore, developing strategies to reduce the vulnerability of tourism destinations to crises is critical.

Despite a growing body of work on tourism crisis management, little research has focused on developing marketing strategies towards developing resilience. Previous research introduces measures to …

Locating Gendered Resistance: Interethnic Conflict, Environmental Disaster, And Feminist Leadership In Sri Lanka, Allison A. Donine

Pitzer Senior Theses

In geographically vulnerable and politically unstable regions such as Sri Lanka, I argue that linking natural hazards and climate-induced disasters to existing social issues is more pressing than ever. In the case of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, it was impossible to dissociate the two. Looking though the lens of distress, in conflict and environmental disaster, this thesis explores how women have transformed moments of victimization into opportunities for resistance and agency. This thesis examines the following questions: Within the geo-political context of Sri Lanka, how does social stress (human-made or environmental) produce conflict and resistance to patriarchal traditions along …

Apology As A Leadership Behavior: A Meta-Analysis With Implications For Organizational Leaders, Matthew W. Brubaker

Theses and Dissertations

Leaders are frequently called to apologize on behalf of their organizations, in some cases skillfully resolving episodes of failure while meeting the unique, competing needs of diverse stakeholders. However, too often leaders handle apology poorly, exacerbating tense situations and alienating key constituents. This study is an examination of the practice of apology as a leadership behavior in an organizational context. To answer the question, How might the existing literatures on apology be examined, integrated and refocused to apply specifically to leaders operating within an organizational context? the study provides a meta-analysis of the diverse literatures that address the practice of …

The Great Data Breach, De'andre M. Brown

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This paper examines how Target Corporation dealt with their data breach when their network was infiltrated by hackers compromising the debit and credit card information of millions of customer's personal information including customer names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Crisis communication models that are used to evaluate the effectiveness of corporations' handling crisis situations in a world where social media and speed dominate the news cycle.