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This study aims to provide an overview, the state-of-the-art “research fronts”, the emerging themes of investigation and a research agenda of crisis communication for destinations’ image.

This research is conducted with a bibliographic coupling study, complemented with an H-Classic classification and a thematic analysis of the articles included in the four clusters provided by the bibliometric methodology (papers dating from 2017 to 2021, both years included).

Based on the bibliometric analysis, four thematic clusters were identified. Two of these clusters supply the “research fronts”, the most current themes in a scientific field: Cluster 1 addresses communication related to tourists’ safety, and cluster 2 enhances the role of stakeholders’ collaboration to create destinations resilience in crisis communication. The other two clusters highlight emerging themes for future investigation: Cluster 3 focuses on recovery marketing communication strategies for a post-crisis era, and cluster 4 analyses how crisis communication strategies contribute to reduce tourists’ risk perception and boosting travel intention. Finally, a future research agenda is proposed, based on the emerging themes from this study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study to analyse crisis communication for destinations’ image (pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis). This study, which covers the most recent academic literature in this field, provides insights of communication strategies from recent crises and disasters within the “research fronts”. Besides, a research agenda useful for future scholar investigation is proposed with its emerging themes. These rising topics and learnings from past events could be used by destination marketing organisations in crisis communication for destination image recovery in the current post-pandemic scenario or in upcoming crises or disasters.

危机和灾难中目的地形象沟通：回顾和未来研究议程

摘要

本研究提供了目的地形象危机沟通的概述、最先进的“研究前沿”、新兴的研究主题以及研究议程。

本文进行了书目耦合研究, 辅以 H-经典分类和对文献计量方法提供的四个集群中包含的文章的主题分析 (论文日期为 2017–2021 年间)。

根据文献计量分析, 确定了四个主题集群。 其中两个集群提供“研究前沿”, 这是科学领域的最新主题：集群 一 解决与游客安全相关的沟通, 集群 二 加强利益相关者合作的作用, 以在危机沟通中创造目的地恢复力。 其他两个集群突出了未来调查的新兴主题：集群 三 侧重于后危机时代的复苏营销传播策略, 集群 四分析危机传播策略如何有助于降低游客的风险感知和提高旅行意愿。最后, 本文提出了基于新兴主题的未来研究议程。

据我们所知, 这是第一个分析了目的地形象的危机传播（危机前、危机和危机后）的, 独特的文献计量研究。该研究涵盖了该领域最新的学术文献, 通过其“研究前沿”提供了有关近期危机和灾难的沟通策略的见解。此外, 本文还提出了具有新兴主题的研究议程。这些新兴话题以及从过去事件中吸取的教训, 可以被目的地营销组织 (DMO) 用来进行灾难沟通, 以便在当前的大流行后情景或未来的危机或灾难中恢复目的地的形象。

Comunicación Para la imagen de destinos en crisis y desastres: revisión y futura agenda de investigación

Resumen

Este estudio proporciona una perspectiva general, los “research fronts”- los temas más actuales de una disciplina científica-, los temas emergentes y una agenda de investigación sobre comunicación de crisis de la imagen de los destinos turísticos.

La investigación está basada en un análisis bibliográfico coupling, complementado con una clasificación h-Classics y un análisis temático de todos los artículos examinados con esta metodología bibliométrica (artículos fechados entre 2017 y 2021, ambos años incluidos).

Con este análisis bibliométrico, se identifican cuatro clusters temáticos. Dos de ellos, presentan los “research fronts”, los temas más vigentes de un campo científico: el cluster 1 se refiere a la comunicación realizada para transmitir el concepto de seguridad a los turistas, y el cluster 2 destaca la relevancia de la colaboración de todos los agentes turísticos para crear resiliencia en los destinos en la comunicación de crisis. Los otros dos clusters recogen los temas emergentes de investigación futura: el cluster 3 se centra en las estrategias de marketing para la época de postcrisis y el cluster 4 analiza cómo la comunicación contribuye a reducir la percepción de riesgo de los turistas y, por tanto, a potenciar su intención de viaje. Por último, el artículo propone una agenda de investigación basada en estos temas emergentes.

Hasta donde tenemos conocimiento, éste es el primer estudio bibliométrico especialmente enfocado a la comunicación de crisis para la imagen de los destinos turísticos (con sus tres etapas, precrisis, crisis y poscrisis). Esta investigación, que analiza la literatura más reciente en este campo, proporciona conocimiento sobre la comunicación de las crisis y desastres más recientes, a través de sus “research fronts”. Asimismo, propone una agenda con nuevos temas que están surgiendo en esta disciplina, útil para futuras investigaciones académicas. Dichos temas, junto con los aprendizajes de incidentes pasados, pueden ser usados por las Organizaciones de Marketing de Destinos (DMO, en sus siglas en inglés) para incorporarlos en su comunicación de crisis destinada a la recuperación de la imagen de los destinos turísticos en el actual escenario post pandemia o en futuras crisis o desastres.

Communication with employees during times of crisis has become a crucial aspect of crisis management for building organizational resilience knowledge. Thus, explaining how internal crisis management promotes positive employee behaviour has become imperative. This study aims to investigate the relationship between internal crisis communication, job engagement, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour towards the Environment, Communicative behaviour for sensemaking and sensegiving and organizational resilience.

An online survey was conducted with 483 full-time employees in Pakistan. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to assess the study's hypotheses.

The findings of this study demonstrate that internal crisis communication can boost employee job engagement, organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment, sensemaking and sensegiving, which will also have a downstream effect on organizational resilience.

The findings of this study indicated that effective internal communication can aid managers in making well-informed decisions, coordinating response efforts and disseminating vital information to relevant stakeholders. As a result, this study contributes to the literature on internal crisis management by incorporating employee behavioural intention towards the environment. It provides managers and practitioners with knowledge on managing employees during a crisis.

Surprisingly, the conservation of resource theory (COR) does not explain communicative conduct (sensegiving) and environmental (e.g. organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment) components. This research combines the tenets of COR theory that have yet to be researched with the employees' environmental responses element. The mechanisms of cognition and communication were also ignored in earlier studies. This study sheds light on the process through which higher levels of job engagement, organizational citizenship behaviour towards environment and the capacity for comprehension (e.g. sensemaking) and meaning-transmission (e.g. sensegiving) ultimately help organizations navigate the crisis successfully.

This study aims to contribute to strategic crisis communication research by exploring international media representations of third sector crises and crisis response; expanding the range of crisis types beyond transgressions; and developing a framework that integrates framing and crisis communication theory.

Quantitative content analysis was applied to identify patterns in crisis reporting of 18 news media outlets in Canada, Germany, India, Switzerland, UK and US. Using an inductive framing approach, crisis coverage of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) between 2015 and 2018 was analyzed across a wide range of crises, including but not limited to prominent cases such as Oxfam, Kids Company, or the Islamic Research Foundation.

The news media in six countries report more internal crises in the third sector than external crises. The most frequent crisis types were fraud and corruption, sexual violence/personal exploitation and attacks on organizations. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three components of crisis response strategies quoted in the media, conditional rebuild, defensive and justified denial strategies. Causal attributions and conditional rebuild strategies significantly influenced media evaluations of organizational crisis response. Three frames of third sector crises were detected; the critique, the damage and the victim frame. These frames emphasize different crisis types, causes, crisis response strategies and evaluations of crisis response.

The study reveals the particularities of crises and crisis communication in the third sector and identifies factors that influence mediated portrayals of crises and crisis response strategies of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) from an international comparative perspective. The findings have relevant implications for crisis communication theory and practice.

This study, informed by the Situational Crisis Communication Theory, aims to suggest two primary response strategies that can be used for effective internal crisis communication during a pandemic situation, such as COVID-19. The effect of base response strategies on employees' perceptions of communication quality, leadership and relational outcomes were investigated.

An online survey of full-time employees in the United States was conducted.

The findings showed that for an instructing information strategy, not all types of information were equally associated with positive employee responses in terms of perceived quality of internal communication related to the COVID-19 pandemic and transformational leadership. Specific information that employees need to know in order to safely perform daily tasks, such as organizational protocols and thorough preparation, seem to be the most needed and desired information. Adjusting information was positively associated with employee perceptions of internal communication quality and perceptions of CEO leadership. Employees' perceived quality of internal communication affected by the base crisis response strategies were positively correlated with perceptions of transformational leadership and relational outcomes (i.e. employee trust in the organization, employee perceptions of the organization's commitment to relationships with employees, employee support for organizational decision-making related to COVID-19).

This study presents important theoretical and practical insights through an interdisciplinary approach that applies the theoretical framework and relationship-oriented outcomes of public relations to public health crisis situations.

In an effort to provide insights that nurture the future of brand relationships, this paper aims to examine the impact of brand communications on consumption behavior during critical events that significantly impact the marketplace. Specifically, this research focuses on external crises (i.e. global health crises, natural disasters and regional conflicts) beyond the control of the corporations that govern brands. It does so by exploring the most effective brand communication strategies at the onset of a crisis when brands may shift promotional content to more sensitive, crisis-related content as a means to connect with consumers. Furthermore, this paper seeks to understand which consumer segment will benefit most from brands’ crisis-related content.

This research introduces two empirical studies (combined sample = 490), using student and online participant samples.

Results from this work demonstrate that at the onset of a crisis, consumers’ attitudes, brand engagement, and self-brand connections significantly increase after visualizing crisis-related versus noncrisis-related brand messages. Results also reveal that consumers who feel less socially connected will react more favorably to brand communications that contain crisis-related content (i.e. informative or emotional content related to the crisis) than non-crisis-related content (i.e. marketing content aimed to promote and advertise the brand, product and/or services).

While the effect of crisis communications on consumption behavior and the moderating effect of social connections is explored, the underlying mechanism of these effects is not investigated in this study. Therefore, future research might consider evaluating the mechanisms that drive these effects.

This work builds on past research to help establish that during early critical times, marketing managers should include crisis-related content in their communications, which will increase consumers’ positive reactions toward the brand.

Another implication of this work is that it underscores the significance of crisis-related brand communications as an inclusive practice because these are particularly well-received among vulnerable consumer segments, such as those who feel less socially connected during critical times.

Proactive communication strategies allow brands to better manage external critical challenges. As brands navigate a postpandemic marketplace, this research highlights the adaptations that managers can make to their communication strategies at peak uncertain times, such as the earlier stages of an external crisis.

This study aims to explore how source type can influence organizational assets proposed by source credibility theory (SCT) when paired with matched situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) strategies for accidental, preventable, and victim crises. Crisis communication delivered online provides an invaluable outlet for organizations to disperse information to stakeholders quickly. It has been shown that receivers of this information have motivational assumptions about sources having their own agenda for producing content. Thus, it is important to explore how sources tasked with delivering crisis responses can influence perceptions of the sincerity and credibility of the message.

The researchers conducted a 3 (crisis response: matched accidental, matched preventable, matched victim) × 3 (source type: organization, CEO, The New York Times) online between-subjects experimental design (N = 623).

By identifying how the source disseminating crisis responses influences message perceptions, findings from this study recognize how the crisis response is situated in a greater context. Since perceived sincerity and credibility were found to influence message acceptance and reputation, making intentional decisions that acknowledge both within a crisis communication strategy may benefit both future practice and research applications.

The current study advances understandings afforded by SCCT, along with SCT, by experimentally testing the influence of these variables within crisis responses on outcomes such as account acceptance and organizational reputation.

The Astroworld concert tragedy is used as an example of crisis (mis)management and the potential utility of the 4R model. Although the 4R model has been implemented in high-risk emergency management situations, it is useful in the PR field because of its actionable approach, creating a way for practitioners to prepare for and manage crisis situations.

This is an analysis of the crisis that occurred at Astroworld, spanning preparation, day-of events, casualties and enduring reputational impact. The paper applies the 4R method to the Astroworld tragedy to show how it could have lessened or even prevented the tragedy. Finally, the SCCT model is used to explain why the official post-crisis statements were ineffective.

Social media has heightened the importance of a quick and effective organizational response to risk and crisis situations because poor responses can go viral quickly. However, social media also provides intelligence and crowd sourced information that can inform PR practitioners of emerging crisis scenarios. It is also an underutilized tool for two-way communication during crises.

The 4R approach is beneficial to general practitioners as it simplifies crisis best-practices, something essential for quick action. As our world changes and becomes less predictable, practitioners must have a clear plan to protect their organizations and the public surrounding them. This approach includes reduction, readiness, response and recovery, which are all essential in crisis communication.

The 4R method has not been explored or applied in the PR field. This paper highlights how the model has been utilized in the emergency management field and illustrates the way 4R can serve the PR field.

This systematic literature review presents the state of the field of fashion and crisis communication. The quantitative coding offers insight into dominant and emergent themes in one of the most crisis-prone industries. This review also offers a framework for future research.

This study uses a systematic literature review approach. 205 academic articles were gathered in total using the search term “fashion industry crisis”. Subsequently, they were quantitatively coded using the Diers-Lawson (2016) Crisis Communication Code Book.

Findings show an increase in the fashion industry crisis with clear emergent themes such as sustainability, emphasising the truly global and multidisciplinary nature of the industry. Findings also reveal a genuine lack of theoretical grounding, with over 80% of the articles coded using no crisis communication theory. The findings also suggest value co-creation ought to be a priority for this agenda moving forward, as it overlaps with emerging themes and is a practical tool and concept to support crisis prevention and management through an extension of the Stakeholder Relationship Model (SRM) Model.

As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings present a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute. At this point, the research field is lacking, and there is room for theory testing and hypothesis building. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.

As well as research implications, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the future of the fashion industry.

As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings demonstrate a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute because there is a dearth of research and a lack of theoretical development. Therefore, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the fashion industry’s future. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.

When an audience mentally counterargues a spokesperson, the message is backfiring. In such cases, audience members are practically persuading themselves to take the opposite position advocated by the spokesperson. Yet spokespeople who are professional persuaders serving corporations often seem to instill counterargument. This paper examines the role of counterargument as the conduit through which a spokesperson's different message types affect a company during a crisis. The authors explore the paradox of spokespeople's (in)effectiveness by testing divides in research drawn from normative crisis communication theory, narrative persuasion theory and the theory of reporting bias.

Two controlled, randomized experiments are reported. Participants (total N = 828) watch video clips of media interviews of a company spokesperson fielding questions about a scandal.

In the first study, non-narrative information most effectively bolsters purchase intentions and reduces negative word-of-mouth. The effect is mediated by decreased counterargument. The second study replicates the results concerning on-topic narratives compared with spinning, while on-topic narratives and non-narratives perform equally well.

This study addresses conflicts between two distinct traditions of theory as well as between normative crisis communication and its frequent practice. Reducing counterargument matters in the context of non-narrative persuasion, and non-narratives can perform at least as well as narratives in crisis communication.

Although situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) is centered on rationality and cognitive information processing, it ignores that people are also driven by irrationality and non-cognitive information processing. The purpose of this study aims to fill this gap by examining how gender stereotypes, based on perceived spokesperson sex influence the public’s perceptions of crisis response messages.

A 2 (industry type: automotive vs daycare industry) × 2 (spokesperson’s sex: male vs female) × 2 (crisis response appeal: rational vs emotional) between-subject online experiment was conducted to examine the effect of gender stereotype in crisis communication.

Results showed that either matching spokesperson sex with sex differed industry or matching sex differed industry with appropriate crisis response appeal can generate a more positive evaluation of the spokesperson and the organization. The results also revealed under which circumstances, the attractiveness of different sex of the spokesperson can either promote or mitigate people’s perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, when people are aware of a spokesperson’s sex, in a female-associated industry, a mismatching effect of a positive violation of a male-related stereotype overrides a matching effect of a female-related stereotype in crisis communication.

This study is among the first to identify how the gender of a spokesperson and industry type affect publics’ crisis response.