Beyond image repair: Suggestions for crisis communication theory development

Liu, Brooke Fisher; Fraustino, Julia Daisy

doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.04.004

Cited by 111 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Yet, minimal research has examined how organizational crisis response strategies can best encourage publics' protective action taking. Instead, crisis communication researchers typically have focused on organization-centered outcomes such as how an organization's strategic crisis communication response strategies can diminish perceptions of blame (Liu & Fraustino, 2014). Indeed, only a handful of scholars have examined how crisis communication can motivate protectionaction taking.…”

Section: Protective Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics’ Conative Coping

Jin

Fraustino

Liu

2016

International Journal of Strategic Communication

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Section: Protective Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics’ Conative Coping

Jin

Fraustino

Liu

2016

International Journal of Strategic Communication

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“…Corporations can adopt an anticipatory model of crisis communication to prepare for environmental catastrophes (Olaniran and Williams, 2008), emphasize common societal values shared with its customers (Miller and Lellis, 2016), or systematically discredit perceived industry opposition (Faber, 2008;Bell and York, 2010;Matz and Renfrew, 2015). One of the primary foci of crisis communication is the notion that organizations can repair damaged reputations (Avery et al, 2010), and image restoration theory 1 specifically addresses this strategic action (Liu and Fraustino, 2014). Image restoration theory proposes that an organization or an individual accused of being responsible for an offensive action must respond to that action (Benoit, 1997).…”

Section: Background Energy Democracy As a Communication Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Case Study of Electric Utility Companies’ Use of Energy Democracy in Strategic Communication

McKasy

Yeo

2018

Front. Commun.

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A substantial increase in distributed renewable energy resources is changing the face of the energy environment, leading to strategic communication efforts by key stakeholders. The energy democracy movement supports this transformation from fossil fuels to distributed renewable energy and aims for equitable involvement of publics in energy decision making. These tenets challenge utility company earnings as they are directly related to energy sales and infrastructure returns on investment. Proposals by electric utility companies to restructure net-metering policies as a solution to financial issues have been criticized as prohibitive to the success of renewable energy advancement. To address these disagreements, the Edison Electric Institute and a communication firm, Maslansky & Partners, created The Future of Energy: A Working Communication Guide for Discussion. This handbook provides utility companies with strategic communication guidelines to portray themselves as supportive of renewables within a dynamic energy industry. We posit that aspects of the energy democracy movement have been employed by electric utility companies, as shown through the use of the handbook, as a strategy for communicating with customers in discussions around net metering. We examine two case studies in states with recent controversial net-metering policy changes by analyzing utility company websites and press releases for the use of the communication handbook terminology. We found that, in both cases, the suggested language was used to position their companies as pro-renewable energy and their utility-scale projects as more equitable for their customers. In addition, we found differences between each company's use of key terms from the handbook. We posit that this is due to the temporal context of each net-metering debate at the time of the handbook release. Conclusions and future directions for research in the growing area of energy democracy are discussed.Keywords: electricity, energy, energy democracy, net metering, strategic communication A dramatic increase in solar power adoption has occurred in the last decade, in part because of the growing consumer interest in green energy, coupled with significant decreases in associated costs (Weiner, 2015;Muro and Saha, 2016). The unprecedented speed at which distributed resources are changing energy systems underscores the challenge and importance of understanding the roles of humans in this transition. This evolution is especially apparent in democratic societies in which participatory communication is integral to resolving environmental issues (Stephens et al., 2015). Energy democracy is a movement that aims to involve publics in energy decision making with emphasis on the transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy and distributed systems (Fairchild, 2017). This aligns with a broader effort in environmental communication to address human-caused threats to ecological systems and the failure of social institutions to confront these threats (Cox, 2007). Some propose that scholars...

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“…Researchers have called for a fuller understanding of the roles social media and traditional media play in crisis communication, especially for publics-focused outcomes other than their attributions of responsibility or blame (Liu & Fraustino, 2014). Therefore:…”

Section: Social Media Consumption During Disasters: Motivations and Ementioning

confidence: 99%

CDC's Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign—“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”

Fraustino¹,

Ma²

2015

Journal of Applied Communication Research

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This is a multiple methods study that highlights the tension between awareness-and behavioral-based campaign successes, particularly when communicating using social media and pop-culture-referencing humor. To illustrate, it examines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) "zombie apocalypse" all-disaster-preparedness campaign. An interview with a CDC campaign manager, campaign document analysis, and a 2 (information form: social vs. traditional media) × 2 (message strategy: humorous vs. non-humorous) experiment uncovers benefits and pitfalls of using social media and humorous messaging for risk communication. Findings show social media can quickly spread information to new publics for minimal costs; however, experiment participants who received the humorous (i.e., zombie) risk message reported significantly weaker intentions to take protective actions in comparison to those who received the traditional, non-humorous risk message.

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Beyond image repair: Suggestions for crisis communication theory development

Cited by 111 publications

References 22 publications

The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics’ Conative Coping

The Scared, the Outraged, and the Anxious: How Crisis Emotions, Involvement, and Demographics Predict Publics’ Conative Coping

A Comparative Case Study of Electric Utility Companies’ Use of Energy Democracy in Strategic Communication

CDC's Use of Social Media and Humor in a Risk Campaign—“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse”

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