Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of stakeholders’ corporate reputation regarding a brand’s crisis communication.                                                                   Research Questions:  How are stakeholders’ cognitive reputation affected after exposure of the crisis communication and the generated eWOM? How are stakeholders’ affective reputation affected after exposure of the crisis communication and the generated eWOM?   Methodology:The research was of qualitative nature and had an explorative approach. The collection of data was done by semi-structured interviews based on a convenience sample of six respondents.  Findings:The results of this study indicated that the crisis communication had a higher impact on the respondents’ corporate reputation than the eWOM had. The generated eWOM worked as an influential factor of the corporate reputation rather than the dominant factor in connection to corporate reputation. The crisis communication is proposed to be a dominant factor affecting one’s corporate reputation of a brand, even though one’s corporate reputation of a brand previous to the crisis lays the foundation for how one is affected. Research limitations:Since this study applied the crisis communication of two fashion-retailer brands, there was a limitation by aiming the focus towards the fashion industry. Previous corporate reputation towards these two specific brands may also have affected the results.

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation examined how seven federal agencies utilized Twitter during a major natural disaster, Hurricane Sandy. Data collected included tweets between October 26-31, 2012 via TweetTracker, as well as federal social media policy doctrines and elite interviews, to discern patterns in the guidance provided to federal public information officers (PIOs). While scholarly research cites successful local and state government efforts utilizing social media to improve response efforts in a two-way communications interaction, no substantive research addresses social media’s role in crisis response capabilities at the federal level. This study contributes to the literature in three ways: it focuses solely on the use of social media by federal agencies in a crisis setting; it illuminates policy directives that often hamper federal crisis communication response efforts; and it suggests a proposed model that channels the flow of social media content for PIOs. This is especially important to the safety of the nation moving forward, since crises have increased. Additionally, Twitter was adopted only recently as an official communications tool in 2013. Prior to 2013, social media was applied informally and inconsistently. The findings of this study reveal a reliance upon a one-way, passive communication approach in social media federal policy directives, as well as vague guidelines in existing crisis communications models. Both dimensions are counter to risk management and crisis communication research, which embrace two-way interactivity with audiences and specific messaging that bolsters community engagement, which are vital to the role of the PIO. The resulting model enables the PIO to provide relevant information to key internal agencies and external audiences in response to a future crisis. / Dissertation/Thesis / Crisis Tweet Text and Data / Doctoral Dissertation Mass Communication 2017

Crisis management is the process by which an organisation deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organisation or its stakeholders. Fast fashion retailers have been highly affected by crisis spread through social media, which could be seen as a result of the increasing usage of social media. This thesis is concerned with crisis management and crisis communication examining Coombs Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Trust repair in regards to social media is further investigated and incorporated with Coombs SCCT model. The purpose of the study is to gain an insight into how trust repair works when dealing with crises, in the context of social media. A qualitative study was utilised with an abductive approach to research the purpose. The context of this paper is a case study involving H&M, the second biggest fast fashion retail company, that managed to miss the mark by publishing an ad that provoked many people all over social media. Social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, were observed and a social media feed was collected and later analysed to shed light on the trust repair process. A focus groups was also formed to gain complementary data to strengthen the findings. The findings add insight to the field of crisis management, as well as the concepts trust repair and social media, which have not been researched together in relation to crisis management and crisis communication before. Findings showed that H&M used different approaches in dealing with the crisis, some corresponding with the SCCT model to regain trust from their stakeholders.

This study analyzes crisis communication strategy of a Chinese multinational technology enterprise on social media and tests the effectiveness of the crisis response. This study conducts quantitative analysis on two social media crises experienced by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd in 2017. The analysis uses Situation Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) as the theoretical framework, and proposes advices of crisis management for multinational technology enterprises in emerging countries represented by Huawei. The results show that when multinational technology enterprises face crisis, it is necessary to analyze the situation of crisis in a rational and localized way according to different social and cultural context, and adopt appropriate crisis communication strategies. While dealing with a complex cultural environment, avoiding cultural conflicts is an effective choice.

Les accidents nucléaires majeurs constituent des crises à grande échelle, susceptibles de contaminer de large territoires pour des décennies. Les habitants de ces territoires doivent alors acquérir de nouvelles connaissances et adapter leur mode de vie pour limiter l'impact sanitaire et sociétal des radiations. Si la France a développé un plan de gestion d'une telle situation, les stratégies de communication proposées laissent peu de place au dialogue entre les autorités et les citoyens ainsi qu'aux usages du Web social. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet de recherche SCOPANUM (Stratégies de COmmunication de crise en gestion Post-Accident NUcléaire via les Médias Sociaux) soutenu par le CSFRS (Conseil Supérieur Pour la Formation et la Recherche Stratégique). Elle vise à examiner le potentiel des technologies de l'information et de la communication pour la mise en œuvre d'une communication de crise plus adaptée aux situations post-accidentelles nucléaires. Après l'accident nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi, les mesures de la radioactivité ont fait l'objet de pratiques collaboratives de collecte et d’agrégation s’appuyant sur les médias sociaux. L'étude des usages de Twitter a révélé que les modalités de diffusion de ces mesures ne sont pas adaptées aux spécificités de la situation post-accidentelle nucléaire. Sur la base de ces résultats, nous avons proposé des recommandations et un prototype d'outil logiciel pour favoriser la réutilisabilité de mesures de la radioactivité ainsi partagées. Nos travaux portent également sur les connaissances pratiques susceptibles d'aider les personnes à adapter leur quotidien à la vie dans les territoires contaminés par un accident nucléaire. Plusieurs méthodes sont présentées pour faciliter l'identification de ces connaissances et leur représentation formelle à l'aide des technologies du Web Sémantique. À partir de ces modèles, nous décrivons la conception et l'évaluation d'une application web, Ginkgo, visant à faciliter l'appropriation et le partage des connaissances en matière de radioprotection. / Major nuclear accidents generate large scale crisis that may contaminate wide areas for decades. The inhabitants of these areas must then gain new knowledge and adapt their lifestyle to limit the health and social consequences of radioactivity. France developed a procedures to manage such a situation, but the communication stragies presented do not fully support neither dialogue between authorities and citizen nor the use of social Web tools. This thesis was part of the SCOPANUM (Stratégies de COmmunication de crise en gestion Post-Accident NUcléaire via les Médias Sociaux) research project, backed by a grant from CSFRS (Conseil Supérieur Pour la Formation et la Recherche Stratégique). It aims to assess the benefits of information-communication technologies to develop more suitable crisis communication strategies for post-nuclear-accident situations. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, collaborative practices have emerged to collect and aggregate radiation measurements thanks to social media. The analysis of Twitter uses revealed that the diffusion of these measurements is not well adapted to the post-nuclear-accident situation. We developed a set of guidelines and a software prototype to support the re-usability of the radiation measurements that are shared on social media. Our work also focused on the practical knowledge that may help people to adapt their life in the contaminated areas. We presented several methods to support the identification and the formal representation of this knowledge using Semantic Web technologies. From these models, we built and tested Ginkgo, a mobile web application designed to support knowledge sharing and appropriation.

På senare år har det skett en förändring av medielandskapet. De traditionella medierna har fått konkurrens i form av de sociala medierna som snabbt har växt fram och börjat ta plats. Detta har även ställt nya krav på hur företag framställer och hanterar sin kriskommunikation i samband med kris. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka faktorer som idag är av betydelse för svenska företag i kriskommunikation genom sociala medier. För att undersöka detta har vi genomfört en empirisk studie. Studien grundar sig dels i en teoretisk modell inom kriskommunikation samt ett antal påverkansfaktorer på kriskommunikation i sociala medier. Datainsamlingen har skett genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med experter inom krishantering och kriskommunikation. I studien framkom ett antal centrala faktorer som företag idag bör beakta vid kriskommunikation genom sociala medier. Dessa faktorer är ägarskap av egna kanaler och budskap, tidspress på kriskommunikation, en låg trovärdighet samt ett hätskt medielandskap. Genom att ha kännedom av faktorerna kan företag lyckas bättre med sin kriskommunikation genom sociala medier.

This research looks at how corporates manage crisis communication using press releases and social media channels. It aims to find out how the case corporations Nordea and  Samsung executed their crisis communication during the years 2016 and 2017.The dissertation draws upon literature on organizational crisis and reputation. It also reviews how companies could possibly react to a crisis, how press releases are usually formatted, and finishes with utilization of social media during the crises.In 2016, Samsung became the center of a crisis by the exploding “Note7” phones and Nordea was being mentioned in the “Panama Papers” for tax evasion. The data of the crisis cases has been collected using online ethnography and analyzed with the support of interviews with four crisis specialists. The interviewees were asked semi-structure questions in order to analyze the data  from a professional perspective. The dissertation did not only cover the content used, but also studied which channels where used and the timing of the statements.The findings revealed that Samsung took the “Note7” case seriously and had a bigger quantity of crisis messaging than Nordea on the “Panama Papers” case. Based on the messages, Samsung’s crisis communication length was five months and Nordea’s four. Samsung’s crisis communication showed major gaps in their timeframe and Nordea’s was more coherent. Nordea used long press releases with complex language compared to Samsung’s advertisement and international style. Samsung used a lot of infographics in social media compared to Nordea’s factual messages.The dissertation is relevant in regard to previous studies on this subject, which have shown utilization of press releases and social media during a corporation crisis. Therefore, the  dissertation contributes with new empirical understanding.

The aim of this study is to understand the influence of online discussion forums during times of crisis. These forums can be considered as a form of social media, a relatively new form of technology that is constantly evolving and gaining in popularity. It has become an important medium, and can be integral in communications plans, specifically with regards to crisis communication. Through the use of these media, message delivery has unbelievable breadth and speed, making it crucial to understand its implications in crisis events. In order to understand social media’s implications in reputation management, during times of crisis, an ethnographic content analysis was conducted through the analysis and comparison of comments posted on news forums and media documents issued by the NHL during the 2012-2013 lockout. Literature suggests the importance of relationship management prior to crisis onset, as social media has the potential to inflame and contaminate the perceptions of others. Through social media, the formation and emergence of an engaged and active public was observed and studied. However, when considering traditional crisis communication theories, results from this particular case are counterintuitive; the findings counter traditional crisis communication theories, suggesting that cases such as this one are to be investigated further.

The diploma thesis is concentrated on internal organizational communication analysis in Hirschmann Czech s.r.o. during the financial crisis. All empirical data are obtained by the anonymous questionnaire research among the workers and standardized individual interview with their leaders. Gathered data are statistically processed followed by verbal interpretation. There are some internal organizational communication problems identified according to the research findings. Final chapter is devoted to the practical recommendations which can help the company to improve the process of its internal organizational communiaction.

The aim of the thesis is to describe the methods of crisis management and their application on the particular company, which was saved from bankruptcy due to effective crisis management. The theoretical part explains the concepts related to the crisis management using knowledge from both domestic and foreign specialized literature. The practical part applies the theoretical knowledge on the selected company. The brief description of the company is supplemented by its economic situation and description of steps that were made by the crisis management. These steps are analyzed and evaluated in the final part of the thesis.