Effects of Media Channel, Crisis Type and Demographics on Audience Intent to Follow Instructing Information During Crisis

Media channel use during crisis is an underdeveloped area of crisis communication research. A thorough understanding of how and where people seek information during a crisis is central to effective crisis message strategy, and understanding how the media source of crisis information affects motivation to comply with crisis directives to audiences can further inform crisis management. A survey (N = 454) examines how audiences use media during crisis communication and reveals that (1) people use different media for information seeking during different types of crisis, (2) among demographics, age predicts preferences in information channels during crisis and (3) crisis type and age shape the relationship between media choice and intent to follow recommended behaviours. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

[1]  Sora Kim,et al.  A quantitative review of crisis communication research in public relations from 1991 to 2009 , 2010 .

[2]  William L. Benoit.  Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies: Image Repair Theory and Research , 2014 .

[3]  Matthew W. Seeger,et al.  A post-crisis discourse of renewal: the cases of malden mills and cole hardwoods , 2002 .

[4]  Sora Kim,et al.  Reputation Repair at the Expense of Providing Instructing and Adjusting Information Following Crises , 2011 .

[5]  Eva-Karin Olsson,et al.  Crisis Communication in Public Organisations: Dimensions of Crisis Communication Revisited , 2014 .

[6]  Lucinda L. Austin,et al.  How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model , 2012 .

[7]  Laura M. Arpan,et al.  Stormy weather: testing “stealing thunder” as a crisis communication strategy to improve communication flow between organizations and journalists , 2003 .

[8]  R. Vallerand,et al.  On the Assessment of Situational Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) , 2000 .

[9]  Elizabeth Johnson Avery,et al.  Contextual and Audience Moderators of Channel Selection and Message Reception of Public Health Information in Routine and Crisis Situations , 2010 .

[10]  S. Shapiro,et al.  An Analysis of Variance Test for Normality (Complete Samples) , 1965 .

[11]  S. Shapiro,et al.  An analysis of variance test for normality ( complete samp 1 es ) t , 2007 .

[12]  Lawrence Kapp.  Recruiting and Retention: An Overview of FY2005 and FY2006 Results for Active and Reserve Component Enlisted Personnel , 2005 .

[13]  H. Raghav Rao,et al.  Community Intelligence and Social Media Services: A Rumor Theoretic Analysis of Tweets During Social Crises , 2013, MIS Q..

[14]  Yan Jin,et al.  How publics respond to crisis communication strategies: The interplay of information form and source , 2011 .

[15]  Julia Daisy Fraustino,et al.  Beyond image repair: Suggestions for crisis communication theory development , 2014 .

[16]  Humaizi.  Uses and Gratifications Theory , 2020, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.

[17]  W. T. Coombs,et al.  Conceptualizing Crisis Communication , 2008, Handbook of Risk and Crisis Communication.

[18]  Deanna D. Sellnow,et al.  A Receiver‐Based Approach to Effective Instructional Crisis Communication , 2015 .

[19]  Brooke Fisher Liu,et al.  How Disaster Information Form, Source, Type, and Prior Disaster Exposure Affect Public Outcomes: Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon? , 2015 .

[20]  Sora Kim,et al.  How organizations framed the 2009 H1N1 pandemic via social and traditional media: Implications for U , 2011 .

[21]  Maxwell McCombs,et al.  The Young and Agenda-less? Exploring Age-related Differences in Agenda Setting on the Youngest Generation, Baby Boomers, and the Civic Generation , 2007 .

[22]  S. Hilgartner,et al.  The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[23]  Triin Vihalemm,et al.  Citizens' Response Patterns to Warning Messages , 2012 .

[24]  Yan Jin,et al.  The Tendency To Tell: Understanding Publics' Communicative Responses To Crisis Information Form and Source , 2013 .

[25]  Miljenko Huzak,et al.  Chi-Square Distribution , 2011, International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.

[26]  Serving the Public Interest in a Crisis: Does Local Radio Meet the Public Interest? , 2011 .

[27]  N. Couldry,et al.  Media Consumption and Public Engagement: Beyond the Presumption of Attention , 2007 .

[28]  MH370 All lives lost: the ‘Black Swan’ Disaster Confirmed with a 26 Word Txt , 2015 .