Business Commons^™

Maui Wildfires: A Case Study In Local Government Crisis Communication Response, Joshua A. Voda

Student Theses and Dissertations

When wildfires swept through the island of Maui in Hawai‘i in August 2023, the communities of Olinda, Kula and especially Lahaina were devastated. Thousands of people were displaced, and nearly 100 people were lost. Just like the speed at which the fiery winds consumed these towns, accusations of emergency mismanagement and a host of misinformation spread by word of mouth and online. The primary local government authority for these communities is the County of Maui, currently led by Mayor Richard Bissen. This case study examines the first month of communication from the County of Maui to the affected communities via …

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 …

When Silence Is Golden: The Use Of Strategic Silence In Crisis Management, Phuong D. Le, Hui Xun Teo, Augustine Pang, Yuling Li, Cai-Qin Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Scholars have discouraged using silence in crises as it magnifies the information vacuum (see Pang, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to argue for its viability and explore the type of silence that can be used. Design/methodology/approach: Eight international cases were analyzed to examine how silence was adopted, sustained and broken. Findings: The findings uncovered three intention-based typologies of strategic silence: delaying, avoiding and hiding silences. Among such, avoiding/hiding silence intensified crises and adversely affected post-silence organizational image when forcefully broken, while delaying silence helped preserve/restore image with primary stakeholders if successfully sustained and broken as planned. Research …

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 …

Explicating The Information Vacuum: Stages, Intensifications, And Implications, Eugene Woon, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Information vacuums (IVs) arise from organizational failure to satisfy the stakeholders’ informational demands during crises. The purpose of this paper is to expand Pang’s (2013) study of the phenomenon of IV by investigating its nature, stages, intensifying factors and resolution. Design/methodology/approach: Print and social media data of five recent international crises with apparent IVs were analyzed. Findings: Poor crisis communications are intensifying factors that induce media hijacks and hypes, distancing, and public confusion. A four-stage model maps the phenomenon into a flow chart describing its development. IV termination begins when organizations either respond with information or provide solutions, results, …

Subprime Mortgage Lending As It Relates To The 2007-2009 Financial Crisis, Josiah Bardy

The Kabod

The 2007-2009 financial crisis was the worst recession in recent economic history. The financial crisis has been the subject of much academic scrutiny, and many authors have arrived at different conclusions concerning the cause of the crisis and the effects. One of the most interesting real estate investments occurred during the crisis: certain investors and organizations predicted the bursting of the housing bubble and shorted real-estate backed securities, yielding huge profit. This paper will explore the financial crisis as well as the concurrent short selling to gain better understanding of financial markets, economic bubbles and recessions, and real-estate backed securities.

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 …

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 …