Crisis from the stakeholder’s view – developing a model

How stakeholders look for information

Barbara Ryan

Crisis management

Could we learn from disaster behaviour?

1. Receiving an alert2. Believing the alert is credible/confirming the threat3. Personalising the threat.4. Determining whether protective action is needed5. Determining whether protective action is feasible6. Deciding what action to take and taking action.

(Mileti 1999; Mileti & O’Brien, 1992)

Pinpointing info seeking

• What was the alert source?

• Where did people then go for more information?

• What was their most often used source?

• What was the most helpful source?

A possible model?

How is it useful?

Crisis type might influence the sequence, channels and sources.

We should be able to predict:• where stakeholders will look and• what they will be looking for

• …But using evidence as a base

References• Coombs, WT & Holladay, SJ 2005, 'An exploratory study of stakeholder

emotions: affect and crisis', Research on emotion in organizations, vol. 1, pp. 263-380.

• McDonald, LM 2005, 'Impact of communicated company accounts during various crises on consumer emptions, attitudes and behavioural intentions', Griffith University.

• McDonald, LM & Cokley, J 2013, 'Prepare for anger, look for love: A ready reckoner for crisis scenario planners', PRism, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-11.

• McDonald, LM, Sparks, B & Glendon, AI 2010, 'Stakeholder reactions to company crisis communication and causes', Public Relations Review, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 263-71.

• Mileti, DS 1999, Disasters by Design: A reassessment of natural hazards in the United States, Joseph Henry Press, Washington DC.

• Mileti, DS & O'Brien, PW 1992, 'Warnings during disaster: normalizing communicated risk', Social Problems, vol. 39, no. 1, p. 13.

• Savolainen, R 2008, 'Source preferences in the context of seeking problem-specific information', Information Processing & Management, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 274-93.