Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management

TLDR

Publics increasingly use social media during crises, yet theory‑grounded research on how they consume crisis information via social media versus other sources is scarce, prompting a need for strategic optimization. The study introduces the SMCC model to guide crisis managers in understanding how publics produce, consume, and share crisis information via social media and other sources. The authors tested key SMCC components using a 3×2×2 mixed‑design experiment with 338 participants. Results show that crisis origin shapes publics’ preferred information form and source, thereby influencing expectations of organizational response and the emotions they experience when exposed to crisis information.

Abstract

Publics increasingly use social media during crises and, consequently, crisis communication professionals need to understand how to strategically optimize these tools. Despite this need, there is scarce theory-grounded research to understand key factors that affect how publics consume crisis information via social media compared to other sources. To fill this gap, an emerging model helps crisis managers understand how publics produce, consume, and/or share crisis information via social media and other sources: the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC). This study tests essential components of the SMCC model through a 3 (crisis information form) x 2 (crisis information source) x 2 (crisis origin) mixed-design experiment ( N = 338). The findings indicate the key role of crisis origin in affecting publics’ preferred information form (social media, traditional media, or word-of-mouth communication) and source (organization in crisis or third party), which influences how publics anticipate an organization should respond to a crisis and what crisis emotions they are likely to feel when exposed to crisis information.