Marcus Opitz, Vidhi Chaudhri and Yijing Wang
Defending their employer on LinkedIn or attacking their organization on Twitter: a ubiquitous social-mediated environment allows employees of crisis-stricken organizations to…
Abstract
Purpose
Defending their employer on LinkedIn or attacking their organization on Twitter: a ubiquitous social-mediated environment allows employees of crisis-stricken organizations to reach out to a mass audience with only a few keystrokes. But is such employee social-mediated crisis communication an opportunity or a threat to their organizations? By developing the perspective of employees in contrast to consumers, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of employee social-mediated crisis communication on organizational reputation.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey experiment was conducted among 386 participants constituting the publics of an organization.
Findings
The findings demonstrate the importance of moderating effects of message framing (advocacy vs adversary) and medium (blog vs microblog). They show that in comparison to consumers, employees attacking their organization on social media, particularly via media such as blog, cause disproportionally more damage to organizational reputation.
Research limitations/implications
While the significant effects of employees’ adversary message might make them a threat for organizations, it is argued that the fact that employees are equally as effective as advocates for their organizations as consumers also constitutes an opportunity.
Practical implications
Organizations need to be cognizant of the threats posed by employees’ crisis communication as well as aim to reap opportunities offered by these credible communicators by considering strategies such as authentically integrating employees in the official crisis communication response.
Originality/value
By comparing the role of the two groups of stakeholders (employees vs consumers) in crisis communication, the study contributes to an important audience-centered perspective.
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Robert F. Bruner and Casey S. Opitz
Students act as outside analysts attempting to determine how Alfin will finance its expected growth based on sales of antiwrinkle cream.
Abstract
Students act as outside analysts attempting to determine how Alfin will finance its expected growth based on sales of antiwrinkle cream.
Details
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Keywords
Crisis communication is an essential component of crisis management in hospitality and tourism. Yet few studies have offered a clear impression of the state of knowledge in this…
Abstract
Purpose
Crisis communication is an essential component of crisis management in hospitality and tourism. Yet few studies have offered a clear impression of the state of knowledge in this area. As one of the early conceptual attempts, this study aims to contribute to the existing knowledge by analyzing, comparing and synthesizing the literature in crisis communication and hospitality and tourism research. This study also proposes a transactional and dynamic crisis communication model that lays the conceptual foundation for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was guided by a theory synthesis approach and analyzed the related literature. More specifically, this study conducted a rapid review of the general crisis communication research and a conventional, systematic review of crisis communication research in hospitality and tourism. Based on the review findings, this study further develops a transactive and dynamic crisis communication model in hospitality and tourism, which is fundamental for future studies in this area.
Findings
The findings of this study are presented through a literature review of general crisis communication research and crisis communication research in hospitality and tourism and the development of a transactive and dynamic crisis communication model in hospitality and tourism.
Research limitations/implications
This study reviews the literature and develops an integrated model for crisis communication in hospitality and tourism. The findings of this study lay the conceptual foundation for crisis communication in hospitality and tourism and reveal future research venues.
Practical implications
By offering a state-of-the-art review and developing an integrated conceptual model, the findings of this study can help bridge the gaps between academics and practices as well as serve as references for practitioners to identify and develop effective crisis responses.
Originality/value
This paper represents an early effort to review crisis communication research in hospitality and tourism and conceptualize the subject area through an integrated model. The findings of this study contribute to the further conceptual development of crisis communication in hospitality and tourism.
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The most commonly described components of customer experience include cognitive and affective aspects. However, the subjective self-reported methods traditionally applied in…
Abstract
The most commonly described components of customer experience include cognitive and affective aspects. However, the subjective self-reported methods traditionally applied in tourism research cannot fully represent the instant, dynamic, and affective nature of customer experience. Therefore, there is a need for moment-based approaches and longitudinal methods in tourism research. The chapter provides a selective review of measures that can be used to assess the affective aspects of customer experience. Taking into account the advantages and limitations of each method, the integration of self-reported scales, moment-based psychophysiological techniques, and longitudinal methods should be considered as the best approach to measuring affective components of customer experience in tourism. This holistic interdisciplinary approach will help researchers and tourism practitioners understand the relationship between affective and cognitive components of tourists' pre-visit, onsite, and post-visit experience, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, identify weak points of tourists' customer journey, and maximize total travel experience.
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Matthew M. Schmidt and Noah Glaser
The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present evaluation findings from a proof-of-concept virtual reality adaptive skills intervention called Virtuoso, designed for adults with autism spectrum disorders.
Design/methodology/approach
A user-centric usage test was conducted to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, ease-of-use and relevance of Virtuoso to the unique needs of participants, as well as the nature of participants’ user experiences. Findings are presented from the perspectives of expert testers and participant testers with autism.
Findings
This paper offers findings that suggest Virtuoso is feasible and relevant to the unique needs of the target population, and that user experience was largely positive. Anecdotal evidence of skills transfer is also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted in limited settings and with a small number of participants. Multiple VR hardware systems were used, and some experienced instability. This could be accounted for in future research by deploying across multiple settings and with a larger number of participants. Some evidence of cybersickness was observed. Future research must carefully consider the trade-offs between VR-based training and cybersickness for this vulnerable population.
Originality/value
This paper reports on cutting-edge design and development in areas that are under-represented and poorly understood in the literature on virtual reality for individuals with autism.