Using Twitter in crisis management for organizations bearing different country-of-origin perceptions.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of using Twitter on American stakeholders: crisis appraisal for organizations originated from two foreign countries with distinctively different perceptions. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a 2 (medium: Twitter vs news release) 2 (country-of-origin: China vs France) factorial . The participants (n=393) are recruited through the Amazon Mechanical Turk system (Mturks). Findings: The findings suggest that using Twitter substantially mitigates participants: negative evaluation of the organization undergoing a crisis. Country-of-origin affects how individuals perceive the organization after it has experienced a crisis. In addition, participants: product involvement intensifies the reputational threat specifically for the organization with a less favorable country-of-origin perception. Originality/value : This study is one of the few empirically based studies in international public relations research, using an experiment to extrapolate the effects of social media and country-of-origin on consumers: crisis appraisal. This investigation reinforces the need to consider social media not just at the individual level, but also as a form of communication that can have broader consequences at the organizational level. In addition, it is important for company leaders to understand that the organization: home country image may exacerbate the negative management outcomes during a crisis. It is expected that this study yields theoretically indicative, empirically informative, and culturally relevant results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]/nCopyright of Journal of Communication Management is the property of Emerald Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
a series of χ2 tests and two-way analyses of variance were conducted (ANCOVA)
This study uses a 2 (medium: Twitter vs news release) × 2 (country-of-origin: China vs France) factorial . The participants (n¼393) are recruited through the Amazon Mechanical Turk system (Mturks).
Crisis responsibilityReputationPurchase intentionProduct involvementPerceived crisis responsibilityOrganizational reputationPurchase intention
The three-stage approach including pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis is most commonly used to separate the events surrounding a crisis (Coombs, 2007). The crisis phase includes the trigger event, during which organizations try to limit the damage.France. Each participant was then randomly directed to read one news release or one Twitter page regarding a Chinese or French company in a coffeemaker explosion crisis, a fictional case specifically designed for this study to avoid potential confounding effects of pre-existing knowledge of the organization
a five-point Likert scale on statements
RQ1. Will there be more desirable outcome of perceived company responsibility, reputation, and purchase intention for stakeholders exposed to Twitter messages from the company with a favorable country-of-origin perception compared to other conditions?
- the findings are based on one single fictional coffeemaker crisis, with only one type of crisis examined,- the study only examines the effects of crisis management during the crisis response phase- the participants included in this study cannot be considered as random- the effect sizes for different factors revealed in this study are fairly small
The findings suggest that using Twitter substantially mitigates participants’ negative evaluation of the organization undergoing a crisis.
Totally, 436 participants from the USA took part in the online and 393 finished it completely. After giving their consent of participation and filling out demographic information, participants were asked to rate their perceptions of China and France.
study is using an to extrapolate the effects of social media andcountry-of-origin on consumers’ crisis appraisal
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