{"title":"Messenger Nationality, Media Skepticism, and Crisis Communication Effectiveness: Huawei’s YouTube Messages as Perceived in the U.S.","authors":"Yicheng Zhu, Shannon A. Bowen, Xiangming Lyu","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014499","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of messenger nationality on the credibility perception of YouTube sources in the theoretical context of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). An online survey experiment with a quota U.S. voter sample (N = 354) showed that Russian nationality decreases source credibility perception in comparison to U.K. and control conditions, while the latter two showed no differences. Although skepticism in domestic media dampens such an effect, path analyses also showed that such impact can be extended to the effectiveness of an MNC’s (i.e., Huawei) global crisis communication efforts in the U.S. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44980748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Valenced Metaphors in Strategic Communication: The Case of the Greek Economic Crisis","authors":"A. Vogiatzis","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2001472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2001472","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examined the valence of political metaphors in the context of the Greek economic crisis in ten speeches delivered by the Greek Prime Minister (PM). Five of the speeches were proclamations addressing the Greek people in the first year of the crisis, while the other five speeches were addresses to the Members of the Parliament (MPs). These two types of speeches were compared in terms of metaphor frequencies, metaphor valence, and types of metaphors. The results revealed that in the proclamations addressed to the Greek people the PM used significantly more metaphors than in the speeches addressing the MPs. In terms of valence, the analysis showed that the PM used significantly more positive metaphors than negative when addressing the Greek people; this, however, was not confirmed in the speeches addressing the MPs. In terms of metaphor type, overall the travel frame was the most frequently used one in the speeches addressing the Greek people, while this was not the case in the addresses to the MPs. In terms of strategic communication and crisis management, positive metaphoric language was the primary means to fulfil the organization’s (i.e., the government’s) mission, which was no other than to manage the crisis in relation to the Greek people.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45418169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Recalde, E. Gutiérrez-García, María Jesús Yánez-Galdames
{"title":"A Relational Dimension of Open Innovation: Towards A Comprehensive Strategic Communication Research Agenda","authors":"M. Recalde, E. Gutiérrez-García, María Jesús Yánez-Galdames","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014501","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Open innovation is a strategic phenomenon that has arisen in corporate life since the beginning of the 21st century. The management of this process involves a communicative dimension that both management and communication scholarship have overlooked over the last twenty years. At the same time, communication management in open innovation processes enacts the strategic nature of the discipline and practice. However, there is scant knowledge and evidence to be found in this discipline, despite the fact that the topic itself calls for deeper exploration of mainly a relational and communicative phenomena. We argue for the promotion of a comprehensive research agenda that entails delving into the theoretical and empirical challenges of the strategic communication discipline in open innovation. Likewise, this article responds to the call for greater interdisciplinary research. Findings include six research gaps, the examination of nine research lines, as it relates to discussion of specific methods/methodologies which would fill those gaps. Moreover, the proposed research pathways map out a starting-point for the future of this growing field of inquiry while also positioning strategic communication as a catalyst discipline and practice that will help to foster open innovation management and research.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43844393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Becoming a “Normal” and “Ordinary” Organization through Strategic Communication? Discursive Legitimation of the Swedish Armed Forces","authors":"Malin Ågren, H. Sataøen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014500","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines the use of discursive legitimation strategies as a mode of strategic communication in public sector organizations. The study object is the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). As a military organization, SAF’s communication has traditionally been characterized by restrictions, regulations, discretion, and secrecy. However, changing conditions have created a new need for legitimation of SAF and its operations, both internally and externally. The aim of the study is to understand how discursive legitimation is used in internal strategic communication in a public sector context, with particular emphasis on the challenges related to changing conditions and inconsistent demands on the organization. Discursive Legitimation Analysis (DLA) is used to study 31 editorials in SAF’s staff magazine to examine how SAF’s activities and its transformed role in society are legitimated. Two main findings are identified: (1) the frequent and unexpected use of rationalization as a legitimation strategy, stressing conformity with other organizations rather than differentiation; and (2) inconsistent legitimation strategies, with conflicting values and perspectives on strategic communication operating simultaneously. These findings highlight the difficulty of maintaining coherency and consistency in practice. The study further helps advancing the general understanding of the limits of strategic communication in pursuing legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43608569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fake-News Network Model: A Conceptual Framework for Strategic Communication to Deal with Fake News","authors":"Mohammad Ali","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988616","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988616","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes the entire life span of a corporate fake-news report as a case study, proposing a conceptual framework for strategic fake-news communication. Using the confirmation-bias theoretical model, this qualitative textual analysis examines the most widely circulated tweets of a fake-news item about Nike, 603 replies to the tweets, users’ biographical profiles (e.g., political affiliations), the role of opinion leader(s), and relevant prior contexts. The findings provide in-depth insight into how people believe fake news and how their conversations about fake news (re)shape the victim brand’s social realities. Overall, the findings of this study illustrate a “Fake-News Network Model” that explains the underlying mechanisms of how a fake-news item functions together with other aspects (e.g., context, perception, opinion leaders, and cognitive processes), prompting certain people to believe particular fake-news reports and, discuss the victim brand (e.g., Nike) based on that perceived truth. The article discusses the implications of this network model for both fake-news researchers and strategic communication professionals.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47876163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Active Employee Communication Roles in Organizations: A Framework for Understanding and Discussing Communication Role Expectations","authors":"Joost W.M. Verhoeven, Vibeke Thøis Madsen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014503","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Several scholars have pointed out the importance of employees’ strategic communication behaviors for organizational performance and employee wellbeing. Employees contribute to organizations by acting as brand ambassadors, boundary spanners and crisis communicators. Employees play such roles on top of assigned job tasks, which can lead to role overload, role conflicts and job stress. The analysis of employees’ communication role enactment is hampered by the lack of a framework describing the complete range of active communication roles that employees are expected to play in the workplace. This article introduces the Active Employee Communication Roles (AECR) Framework (AECR), develops the conceptualization of eight communication roles, and discusses implications for strategic communication. The first four roles – the embodier, promotor, defender, and relationship builder role – describe ambassador roles. In addition, employees play the roles of scout, sensemaker, innovator, and critic to contribute to organizational development. The AECR framework provides a new lens which aids our understanding of the relationship between communication, and employee performance and wellbeing, and provides employees and employers a tool to analyze and calibrate mutual expectations regarding communication behaviors. The framework can also help employees to more strategically allocate resources when executing the various communication roles. This may help to alleviate employee role stress, and create healthier workplaces.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59884198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deproblematization as an Enrichment of Framing Theory: Enhancing the Effectiveness of an Awareness-Raising Campaign on Child Poverty","authors":"B. Van Gorp, Bart Vyncke","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988615","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988615","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Entities wanting to communicate purposefully should have insight into the different frames and counter-frames that give meaning to an issue. Therefore, this research introduces a Framing Counter-framing Theory (FCT). A conceptual distinction is made between frames that define an issue as a problem and frames that deproblematize it. An experimental study (N = 1,000) was conducted in Belgium regarding the effects of an awareness-raising campaign on child poverty. It demonstrated that using deproblematizing frames can render such a campaign more effective. There was an increased willingness to donate in the condition in which the campaign used deproblematizing frames as counter-framing strategy. Furthermore, the results highlight how the internal coherence of a deproblematizing frame can be disrupted by priming an alternative problematizing frame mitigating the intended effect. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings and FCT are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49545815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Employees’ Communicative Behaviors in Response to Emotional Exhaustion: The Moderating Role of Transparent Communication","authors":"Katie Haejung Kim, Yeunjae Lee","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1967959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1967959","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT On the basis of the literature across various strategic communication disciplines, including organizational communication, business, and public relations, this study examined the role of employees’ emotional exhaustion in the workplace in influencing their communicative behaviors. Moreover, this study identified the effective communication strategy to such exhausted employees. Results of an online survey among full-time employees in the U.S. showed that employees who experience emotional exhaustion at work are less likely to have a favorable employee–organization relationship (EOR), resulting in less advocative behavior and more adversarial behavior toward the organization. As a moderator, transparent internal communication played a significant role in mitigating the negative effect of emotional exhaustion on EOR and advocative behavior. However, transparent communication did not have a significant moderating effect between EOR and employees’ adversarial behavior. Theoretical and practical implications for strategic internal communication are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45413963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leadership and Internal Communication: Linking Servant Leadership, Communication Satisfaction, and Employee Advocacy","authors":"Patrick D. Thelen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1984919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1984919","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT To fill the research gap and expand the body of knowledge on leadership and internal communication, the current study is among the first that investigates the effect of servant leadership on employee advocacy through the mediating role of communication satisfaction and employee-organization relationships (EORs). Through a web survey of 777 employees working in medium and large organizations in the United States, the study confirmed the relationship between servant leadership and communication satisfaction, and that supervisory communication satisfaction is positively related to EORs. Additionally, the study provides empirical evidence for the relationship between servant leadership and employee advocacy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45237320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perceived Brand Authenticity and LGBTQ Publics: How LGBTQ Practitioners Understand Authenticity","authors":"E. Ciszek, H. Lim","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988954","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This research seeks to shed light on perceived brand authenticity as it relates to LGBTQ stakeholders. Through in-depth interviews, this study centers the voices of LGBTQ practitioners to explore perceived brand authenticity. The empirical purpose of this study is exploratory: to gain a better understanding of perceived brand authenticity of LGBTQ marketing, as well as its drivers and consequences. The practical purpose of this study provides insights for both scholars and practitioners, suggesting methods for engaging in meaningful LGBTQ brand communication. Drawing from extant research, this article grounds its exploration in four dimensions of perceived brand authenticity: credibility, integrity, symbolism, and continuity. The article then identifies the prominence of skepticism in working with historically marginalized groups and proposes adding a fifth dimension: representativeness.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42455342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}