Training civil servants in promoting the reputation of the country in the settings of crisis communication

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify how the updated refresher course influences the civil servants’ readiness to promote or restore the reputation of Ukraine in the setting of crisis communication. The study used qualitative methods and tools for baseline analysis of the currently delivered refresher courses for civil servants and quantitative methods for quasi-experimental research. It was found that there was a need for updating the curriculum to concentrate more on training civil servants in promoting the reputation of the country in the context of crisis communication. The main outcome of the intervention was the student-designed and presented projects. These were as follows: “Consolidation of the world through the “soft power” of the state,” “Transparency: See, Invest, Gain,” “Handwriting of Consolidation: Books and Journals,” “Welcome to Our Club,” “Great Citizens: Footprints in History,” “Fight Fakes: Learn how,” “From Heart to Heart via Facebook,” and “Did you ever know that …? You’ll be surprised!.” Using the researcher-designed awareness and readiness for promoting the nation’s reputation scale (ARPNRS), it was found that the updated refresher course for the civil servants improved the attendees’ brand management awareness and skills, crisis communication awareness, and skills, awareness, and skills in measuring a nation’s image and reputation, and motivational components. The ANCOVA test identified that there was a shift from knowledge readiness level (71.23%) to readiness-to-perform level (62.50%) in the participants of the updated course (EG). Further research is needed to identify the effectiveness of student-designed projects in real-life settings.