Crisis Communication Research in Nigeria

George, Amiso M.

doi:10.1002/9781118516812.ch24

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Scholarship on crisis communications in Africa has also been developing, particularly in South Africa, where an initial focus on strategic communication and public relations (Wassserman and Hyde-Clarke, 2016) has now expanded into more specific crisis studies such as how the government used a professional and nuanced approach to stakeholder communications during COVID-19 (John et al, 2022) but could have focused further on emotional messaging (Wiese and Van Der Westhuzien, 2023), or how social media should be embedded in strategic crisis communication planning (Chiotia et al, 2022). Studies focusing on Africa often highlight cultural aspects of crisis communications, for example, the implications of high-power distance and respect for authority in Ghana (Kwansah-Aido, 2017) or the importance of culture, ethnicity and religion in Nigeria over accuracy and the timeliness of information (George, 2016, 2017). At present, however, seemingly little or no research has focused on Botswana.…”

Section: Crisis Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises

Simon,

Rees,

Thomas

2023

Public Relations Inquiry

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This article examines Facebook posts in Botswana to determine how government public relations (PR) practitioners used language to help protect the reputation of two state-owned agencies during times of crisis. For insufficiently prepared PR practitioners, crises can quickly become complex owing to the proliferation of social media which has dramatically reshaped crisis communication in non-Western, multicultural contexts. While crisis communication has drawn more scholarly interest, the way the Botswana Government use language to maintain power and legitimacy during emergencies represents a fresh case study. We use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in our scrutiny of the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) crisis of 2011, and the Botswana Railways (BR) crisis of 2019. The analysis reveals a corporate ideology of economic development used as an underlying manipulative and propagandistic form of organized persuasive communication (OPC) strategy aimed at establishing and maintaining power. The article also demonstrates how, via this strategy, the government uses state power to galvanize support and mobilize audiences to rally behind state-owned organizations.

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Section: Crisis Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises

Simon,

Rees,

Thomas

2023

Public Relations Inquiry

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“…Despite plenty of research which analyzes how organizations can effectively communicate with external stakeholders amid a crisis, only a small number of studies examine crisis communication from an employee perspective. Crisis communication occurs in three phases: prevention before the crisis, management during it and recovery afterward (Coombs, 2010; George, 2012). Internal crisis communication management should follow the same phases to prevent an external crisis from entering the internal organizational environment (Frandsen & Johansen, 2017; Mazzei & Butera, 2021).…”

Section: Theoretical Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of an external crisis: How internal communication influences employer brands

Verčić

Špoljarić

2023

Contingencies & Crisis Mgmt

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This study explores how a major external crisis, like the COVID‐19 pandemic, affects employees' perception of their employers, as a result of changes in internal communication practices. A total of 3457 employees filled out a questionnaire on internal communication satisfaction and employer attractiveness; 1805 just before the first COVID‐19 outbreak in Europe and 1652 after the first outbreak. Multi‐group structural equation modelling was conducted to examine how the relationship between internal communication satisfaction and employer attractiveness changed as a result of the crisis. The effect of different internal communication aspects on employer attractiveness was altered. Horizontal communication remained only significant determinant of positive employer perception even after the crisis. Channels of internal communication and informal internal communication lost their significant influence on employer perception, whereas communication climate and level of available corporate information gained significant influence. This study elucidates how an external crisis alters the relationship between internal communication and employer branding and can help organizations optimize their communication strategies during and after a major crisis to retain and attract desired employees.

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“…As such, public relations scholarship remains scant in Botswana. However, crisis communication scholarship is also negligible across the African continent, excluding more developed contexts like South Africa and Nigeria where most of it emerges in strategic communication and public relations (George, 2016;Wasserman & Hyde-Clarke, 2016;George & Kwansah-Aidoo, 2017).…”

Section: Crisis Communication Definedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organisational crisis communication in Botswana: Investigating the crisis response strategies and the role of social media

Simon¹

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Post-millennial crises in the digital age have become more challenging and difficult for unprepared organisations and public relations (PR) practitioners to manage. As such, organisations in Botswana, including global conglomerates with operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, have not been spared from these emergencies. With social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Pinterest, to mention a few, spreading crisis information at lightning speed, organisational crises can become global and multicultural in nature, further threatening the organisation’s reputation. To manage such complex exigencies, PR practitioners must understand the factors influencing the types of their crisis messages and how to use Facebook to persuade their audience. Currently, the lack of crisis communication research in Botswana to guide practitioners on appropriate response strategies and how language is used on Facebook to persuade audiences has attracted academic interest. Botswana’s crisis communication ecosystem is still new and there is need for adjustments for PR practitioners to scale up to international standards. As such, this study investigates crisis communication in Botswana using the case studies of the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) Fengyue Glass Manufacturing Project crisis of 2011, and the Botswana Railways (BR) passenger train derailment crisis of 2019. This research conducted a detailed content analysis of Facebook posts and identified themes and categories of how these organisations and their audiences communicated during these emergencies. To complement this quantitative data, selected Facebook posts were subjected to critical discourse analysis to establish how PR practitioners used language to dominate and persuade their audiences. Further explanations on how and why practitioners respond the way they do on Facebook were developed from semi-structured interviews with senior PR practitioners in Botswana. The study finds that crisis communication in Botswana is distinctive due to cultural factors. This thesis has developed a crisis information flow and relationship model (the Cross Cloverleaf Relationship Matrix) between Facebook and Botswana’s cultural offline communication platform, the kgotla system. The model helps to facilitate Facebook in a non-western setting where it is culturally resisted for its liberalism and promotion of Western values. Additionally, this thesis confirms Coombs (2006)’s cluster of crisis response strategies as valid and robust for non-western contexts, provided the corrective strategy is introduced as a cluster to accompany them.

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Crisis Communication Research in Nigeria

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises

Behind the scenes: A critical discourse analysis of Botswana government power plays on Facebook during two post-millennial state-owned organizational crises

Effects of an external crisis: How internal communication influences employer brands

Organisational crisis communication in Botswana: Investigating the crisis response strategies and the role of social media

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