Business Commons^™

Supply Chain Insights From Social Media Users’ Responses To Panic Buying During Covid-19: The Herd Mentality, Violetta Wilk, Saiyidi Mat Roni, Ferry Jie

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose:

This study applied the herd mentality theory to explore local and global social media users’ responses to panic buying across the USA, UK and Australia during the COVID-19 crisis to understand the implications on operations and supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach:

A total of 208,806 social media user-generated content (UGC) pieces were collected from Twitter in three countries – the USA, UK and Australia. The analysis of this big qualitative data was performed using machine learning–based software – Leximancer.

Findings:

Positive and negative sentiment towards panic buying during the COVID-19 crisis was observed in the UGC. No significant differences in social …

How Exemplary Industrial Production Managers Lead Successfully Through The Turbulence Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Wendi Fast

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and describe behaviors that exemplary industrial production managers in organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of COVID -19 using the leadership attributes of personal temperament, concern for the collective interest, resilience, and moral purpose.

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological research design. Data was collected from 10 interviews of industrial production managers and artifacts collected to discover and describe behaviors that industrial production managers in manufacturing organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis.

Findings: The study revealed 27 …

How Exemplary Industrial Production Managers Lead Successfully Through The Turbulence Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Wendi Fast

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and describe behaviors that exemplary industrial production managers in organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of COVID -19 using the leadership attributes of personal temperament, concern for the collective interest, resilience, and moral purpose.

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological research design. Data was collected from 10 interviews of industrial production managers and artifacts collected to discover and describe behaviors that industrial production managers in manufacturing organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis.

Findings: The study revealed 27 …

Crisis Communications: How Businesses Respond In The Wake Of Tragedy, Sarah Blow

Senior Honors Theses

Crisis communication is an ever-evolving form of communication that is integral to a business’s success. When tragedy strikes, businesses must have a thorough plan of response that manages the situation and protects their brand. This paper discusses the definition of crisis communication, its history, and how modern trends like social media, have revolutionized it. This study is important because it influences a business’s public perception, and sustainability. Thorough knowledge of crisis communication is critical to a business student’s education and will prepare them for working in fast-paced communication and business environments. An analysis of this topic should yield an understanding …

Corporate Crisis Advertising: A Framework Examining The Use And Effects Of Corporate Advertising Before And After Crises, Benjamin Ho, Wonsun Shin, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While corporate advertising has been widely studied as a promotional tool, few studies have examined how it can be used in a corporate crisis situation. In 2013, Kim proposed a conceptual framework for examining stakeholders’ evaluation of pre-crisis corporate advertising, using the inoculation and reactance theory. The framework, published in Journal of Marketing Communications, suggested that pre-crisis advertising can increase audience resistance towards negative news of an organization and decrease audience resistance towards future corporate advertisements from the organization. The present study expands on Kim’s work to develop the corporate crisis advertising (CCA) framework. In addition to the inoculation and …

Leveraging Positive Psychological Capital (Psycap) In Crisis: A Multiphase Framework, Ivana Milosevic, A. Erin Bass, Djordje Milosevic

Organization Management Journal

Despite recent advancements in understanding of leadership in context, there is surprisingly little insight into leadership in crisis. To provide insight into how leaders navigate crisis, we utilize historical sources of Sir Winston Churchill’s leadership during World War II to analyze which resources are used by leaders during a crisis and how they leverage these resources to lead through and out of the crisis. We discover that psychological capital (PsyCap) is a core individual resource that leaders leverage in crisis. Our findings suggest that leaders leverage PsyCap in varying ways based on the phase of the crisis. That is, different …

What 100,000 Tweets About The Volkswagen Scandal Tell Us About Angry Customers, Vanitha Swaminathan, Suyun Mah

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In September 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency found that many Volkswagen cars sold in the United States were equipped with software that could falsely improve the performance of diesel engines on emissions tests. This cheating was subsequently acknowledged by the car maker.Among the many issues at stake for the company was one of public perception. Anecdotal evidence at the time of the incident suggested irreparable harm to the Volkswagen brand. So could Volkswagen recover in the short term in this regard? And, the broader question, how can you measure brand perception in times of scandal, particularly in an era where …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of A University Response To Crisis, Katherine M. Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to contribute to current theory-driven research in crisis communication by examining the perceptions of multiple stakeholder groups to a university crisis response strategy. Two main questions were examined in this dissertation. The first question attempted to determine if a significant difference existed between stakeholder groups and their perception of university reputation, responsibility for the crisis, and potential supportive behaviors toward the university following the university’s response to a crisis. The second asked if Coombs’s Situational Crisis Communication Theory is a practical application for universities.

The participants were from 4 stakeholder groups associated with a …

Using Inoculation Messages To Protect “Stay In The Market” Beliefs During Financial Crises, Lindsay Lyles Dillingham

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This paper focuses on the problem of collapsed “stay in the market” (SIM) beliefs during financial crises. The primary purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether or not inoculation messages represent a viable communication strategy to preemptively protect SIM beliefs during forthcoming financial crises. Ancillary purposes of this study were to further investigate the role of print and video crises, explicit instructions regarding post-inoculation talk (PIT), and gain and loss frame inoculation messages on the inoculation process. This study used a between subjects factorial design (3 x 2 plus four additional conditions) to explore ten hypotheses. Data collected from …

Repairing An Organization’S Image In Times Of Crises: What Strategies To Use When?, Augustine Pang, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho, Nuraini Malik

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The image repair theory has been described as the “dominant paradigm for examining corporate communication in times of crises” (Dardis & Haigh, 2009, p. 101). While the theory, which posits five major strategies and 14 sub-strategies, has been applied extensively, a fundamental question remains: What strategies should be used when? Through meta-analysis of the image repair studies, we examine the persuasiveness/effectiveness in the use of different strategies. This study addresses the call by Haigh and Brubaker (2010) to conduct more studies to understand the use of strategies across different crisis types with a view to providing a template to equip …

Communicating During An Organizational Crisis: Using Facebook As A Relationship Management Tool, Vjollca Hysenlika

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how organizations communicate on Facebook during a crisis, from a relationship management perspective, and how their interactivity, responsiveness, and transparency affect their Fan page's relevance, importance, and appeal. In this study, the researcher conducted a controlled experiment to examine if a strategized Facebook Fan page that contained a high level of interaction, responsiveness, and transparency contributed to long-lasting relationships with fans or helped organizations recover/prevent a crisis. The researcher created eight different conditions (Facebook Fan Pages) presenting a crisis message, and recruited 200 students (25 participants per condition) from the University of …

Managing A Nation's Image During Crisis: A Study Of The Chinese Government's Image Repair Efforts In The “Made In China” Controversy, Peijuan Cai, Lee Pei Ting, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The image of a nation is crucial in the conduct of international relations (Wang, J. (2006). Managing national reputation and international relations in the global era: Public diplomacy revisited. Public Relations Review, 32, 91–96). A favorable image plays a critical role in asserting one's influence (Benoit, W. L., & Brinson, S. L. (1994). AT&T: “Apologies are not enough”. Communication Quarterly, 42, 75–88; Wang, J. (2006). Managing national reputation and international relations in the global era: Public diplomacy revisited. Public Relations Review, 32, 91–96). Often, strategic communication tools like public relations and media diplomacy are used to enhance a nation's image …