Focusing on the “Public” in Public Relations: The Importance of Person-Centered Messages (PCMs) in Crisis Communication on Twitter

Abstract

Based on the theoretical frameworks of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and person-centered messages (PCMs), this interdisciplinary study conducted a 2 x 3 experiment to examine the role of PCMs in crisis management on social media. Our findings suggest that crisis type (victim, preventable) has an effect on people’s perceptions/reactions toward an organization and that PCM levels (low, medium, and high person-centered messages) in crisis communication on social media influence organizational reputation and participants’ intention to post negative feedback about the organization in crisis. We suggest that when organizations are responding to crisis online, they provide additional attention to the interpersonal dynamics of those interactions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Relationships between Bereavement Support Strategies and Empathy Dimensions

“…The common feature of adequate comforting messages is that they contain high person-centeredness in their formulations. High person-centeredness refers to the extent to which messages explicitly contextualize and acknowledge the feelings and perspectives of a person in distress (Oh et al, 2021). Low person-centered messages deny a person's emotions and declare how they should think, feel, and behave ("You need to move on with your life").…”

Ethical public typology: How does moral foundation theory and anticorporatism predict changes in public perceptions during a crisis?

“…Using this framework, scholars continuously have acknowledged the importance of targeting a specific public in crisis communication (Campiranon & Arcodia, 2008; Claeys et al, 2021; Fediuk et al, 2010; Jin & Liu, 2010; Wen et al, 2021). Oh et al (2021) underscored the importance of recipient centred messages. Because, for an organisation to communicate effectively during a time of crisis, targeting a certain group who would perceive a situation to be more serious than others would provide better outcomes in a more efficient way (Liu & Fraustino, 2014).…”