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Kommunikationsstrategier vid kritiserade händelser – hur formas kritikhantering i ett samhälle präglat av informationsspridning?: En kvalitativ innehållsanalys av sex företags kommunikationsstrategier vid bemötande av offentlig kritik i sociala medier och hållbarhetsrapporter
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences, Business Studies.
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences, Business Studies.
2020 (Swedish)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This study aims to investigate how companies formulate external communication in social media and sustainability reports when dealing with public criticism linked to sustainable development, in a society where information spreads quickly via social media and thus risk leading to loss of legitimacy and damaged reputation. The study is based on a qualitative method with quantitative elements. A qualitative directed content analysis has been conducted on six different companies' Twitter and Facebook pages as well as sustainability reports, where data has been interpreted, categorized and analyzed based on Image Repair Theory's communication strategies. A selection was made among 14 295 words in social media and 80 234 words in sustainability reports to find out which strategies the companies used in their crisis management, which strategies were most common in each medium and why.

The results show that strategies such as corrective action and mortification were equally common in both channels. In social media, it was also common for companies to formulate posts using strategies such as defeasibility and sympathy, while the content of sustainability reports often could be linked to strategies such as information, bolstering and transcendence. The study shows that companies' choice of communication strategies is based on a combination of the type of recipient and the type of channel used. A combination of one-way and two-way communication is thus important for the company to be able to meet the specific needs of both of these factors. Furthermore, the study shows that Image Repair Theory could be expanded with more strategies such as sympathy and information, as these were common in all companies' crisis management. Finally, the study shows that the monologic or dialogic characteristics of a medium have a major impact on how communication is formulated in response to public criticism.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. , p. 64
Keywords [en]
Corporate Social Responsibility, word-of-mouth, sustainable development, communication strategies, crisis management, Image Repair Theory, social media, sustainability reports, Web 2.0
Keywords [sv]
CSR, word-of-mouth, hållbar utveckling, kommunikationsstrategier, kritikhantering, Image Repair Theory, sociala medier, hållbarhetsrapporter, Web 2.0
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-41177OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-41177DiVA, id: diva2:1444800
Subject / course
Business Studies
Uppsok
Social and Behavioural Science, Law
Supervisors
Available from: 2020-06-23 Created: 2020-06-22 Last updated: 2020-06-23Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf