summary for a research paper

Chapter 1: Introduction …………..………………..…………………..…………….…………4 Statement of Problem...……………………………………………………………...………….5 Aims and Objectives…………………………………...…………………………...…..………6 Research Questions …..….….……………………………………………………..…………...7 Significance of the Study…..…………………………………………………………………...7

Chapter 2: Literature Review...…………………………………………………………………9 Crisis and Crisis Communication…………………………………………………………….10 Attribution Theory Guiding Post-Crisis Communication…………………...………………..11 Situational Crisis Communication Theory ………...……...………………………………….12 Crisis Management in Organizations …….……………………………………….………….13 Models of Crisis Management..………………………………………………………………14 Crisis Life Cycle Models ………………………………………………….……………...….15 Stages of Crisis Management……………………………………………...……………...…..16 The Role of PR Practices in Managing a Crisis ……………………….……………………..18 The Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication.………………………………………...20

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………21

Chapter 3: Methods …………………….....……………………..…………………………….23 Research Method……………………..…………………..………………….……………….24 Data Collection Method…………………………..…………….………………...…………..25 Coding Process……………………………..……………………………………..…………..26 Sampling Technique……………..………………………………..………..………..……….28

Chapter 4: Findings ………………….…………………………………..…………………….30 Findings.………………………….…………………………….…………………….………31 The Splendor Fire Tragedy…………………………......……….…...……………………….32 The Costa Concordia Collision Incident………………..…………………………………….34 The Triumph Fire Tragedy Crisis………………….……………………………...………….37 Importance of the Findings ……………...…...……………………………………..………..40

References……………………………………………………………………………………….49

Appendix……………………………………………………………………………...…………57

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Chapter 1

Introduction

The cruise ship industry is one of the fastest growing forms of trade in the tourism and leisure travel market (FCCA, 2016). The industry is one of the most attractive ventures in luxury overseas travel. Cruise ships are known for providing voyagers with diverse services such as live entertainment, libraries, casinos, cinemas, gyms, pool tables, and tennis courts as they travel long distances on trips that can last for more than three months (Ryschka, Domke-Damonte, Keels, & Nagel, 2016). A cruise management team makes the trips worthwhile for voyagers by engaging them in educative conversations and providing information about various destinations (Page, 2014). Cruise ship journeys usually also give travelers an opportunity to explore cuisines from different parts of the world.

However, like any other industry, the cruise ship industry has been facing numerous challenges (Jeong, 2009). Maintaining a high level of professionalism is paramount in handling these challenges, as it helps shape travelers’ perspectives of the journey as well as the position of the company in the market (Ott & Theunissen, 2015). Furthermore, crisis management requires the emotional and professional maturity of the management team (Claeys, Cauberghe, & Vyncke, 2010). An efficient crisis management strategy carried out by this team plays an essential role in ensuring that clients maintain trust in the cruise company (Coombs, 2014). During a crisis, controlling the message is vital to preserving clients’ confidence in the cruise company. Message control may involve controlling the amount of information released to the public with regard to any crisis experienced. The words and tone used to communicate with travelers and the public during a crisis determine how voyagers perceive the situation (Coombs, 2015a).

A crisis is a wholly unanticipated event (Bundy, Pfarrer, Short, & Coombs, 2016). The management team has no control over the natural forces that create it (Pace, Balboni, & Gistri, 2017), but it must spring into action to mitigate the crisis immediately. When a crisis occurs, it is imperative to rebuild the reputation of the company by maintaining an operational public relations team (Pace, Balboni, & Gistri, 2017; Jin, 2014). In a crisis event, the public relations department of the cruise ship company is responsible for controlling the message flow and rectifying any negative publicity brought about by the crisis. This can be achieved by ensuring strategic communication procedures and channels that foster mutually constructive relations between the public and the company (Kadarova, Mihalcova, Kadar, & Vida, 2014).

Problem Statement

As a new industry in the field of hospitality and leisure travel, the cruise ship industry has been facing various challenges. One of the most prominent challenges it faces is the establishment of efficient crisis management procedures (Mileski, Wang, & Beacham, 2014). With the rise of social media, many cruise companies have been facing the challenges of ensuring prompt crisis communication and averting derogatory reports from the passengers, who in most cases rush to share any occurrences through their social media networks (Husain et al., 2014). According to Husain et al. (2014), during crisis situations, social media can be instrumental in message control through its ability to circulate information to a large group of people within a short period of time. Crisis incidents demand effective public relations that guarantee strategic communication processes that ensure the message reaching the public is adequately controlled and that appropriate channels are established to create mutually agreeable relationships between the organization and its stakeholders (Kadarova, Mihalcova, Kadar, & Vida, 2014). This study is intended to reveal how the use of social media can be employed as a PR platform in crisis communication and message control in the cruise ship industry. The study will present an evaluation of positive public responses toward crisis messages posted on cruise ship companies’ social media platforms. To accomplish this aim, the study will explore several crisis situations that this young industry has experienced over the past decade (Ryschka, Domke-Damonte, Keels, & Nagel, 2016).

Aims and Objectives

The main objectives of the study include:

i. To determine the effectiveness of using social media as a public relations platform through an evaluation of positive responses toward the content of messages posted during organizational crises within the cruise ship industry.

ii. To identify the best public relations practices for enabling the control of messages during a crisis in order to maintain an organization’s reputation and image within the industry.

Research Question

RQ1. How can public relations maintain an organization’s reputation and image when utilizing social media as a platform during a crisis in the cruise ship industry?

The Significance of the Study

The cruise ship industry offers services to the public wherein travelers use a ship’s amenities as a source of pleasure (Coombs, 2015a). Crises in the cruise ship industry have become a common phenomenon, however, and no amount of preparation can be deemed enough to mitigate a crisis event (Yehya & Coombs, 2017). With the increasing changes in technology, the utilization of the Internet and social media as a means of mass communication has become one of the most efficient methods of controlling crisis situations in organizations (Gonzalez-Herrero & Smith, 2008). According to Gonzalez-Herrero & Smith (2008), aside from assisting companies in preparing strategic crisis management plans, the Internet and social media serve as a platform for launching an effective reaction to crises by facilitating message control during a crisis occurrence and establishing post-crisis web-based actions.

This study seeks to establish the efficiency of social media in crisis communication and message control through an evaluation of the positive responses to the content of messages posted during organizational crises within the cruise ship industry. In the event of a crisis, it is usually crucial for the affected company to be the first party to provide information about the crisis, as this reduces the circulation of false or exaggerated information by other parties (Yehya & Coombs, 2017). Information passed through social media can reach a broad audience across the globe within a short time (Husain et al., 2014). This makes social media an effective channel for crisis communication and message control during a crisis (Husain et al., 2014). Nevertheless, in the event of a crisis, the use of social media could have both constructive and destructive effects on an institution (Yehya & Coombs, 2017). According to Yehya and Coombs (2017), if companies do not use social media professionally, inefficient control of the message through social media platforms can exacerbate the current crisis or trigger an entirely new one.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

Crises have become a common phenomenon in the modern world (Alfonso & Suzanne, 2008). Presently, most jobs involve some exposure to various forms of professional risks that cannot be entirely eradicated (Roux‐Dufort, 2007). Thus, organizational researchers worldwide have shown great interest in studying the various aspects of crises and crisis management (Coombs, 2013). Based on the number of studies carried out on crisis management and the role of public relations in crisis communication, it is evident that such issues have become a pervasive concern in corporate settings (Coombs & Holladay, 2014). Understanding which public relations practices have the potential to be most effective in an organizational crisis is essential in crisis mitigation (Roux‐Dufort, 2007).

Social media, which includes a broad variety of contemporary media and communication practices (Husain et al., 2014), is currently one of the most commonly used crisis communication channels. A plethora of research has focused on the advantages of using social media in organizational crisis communication (Ott & Theunissen, 2015). In the recent past, various industries and governments have successfully used social media for this purpose (King, Pan, & Roberts, 2017). According to Dykeman (cited in Husain et al., 2014), social media can be described as a place where people can use the Internet and mobile-phone-based tools for sharing and discussing issues. This form of media has brought about significant changes in global communication practices (King, Pan, & Roberts, 2017) by ensuring availability, ubiquity, and immediacy in message delivery (Husain et al., 2014). These qualities make social media an efficient platform for crisis communication.

Many studies have revealed the pivotal role of public relations in crisis management (Bundy, Pfarrer, Short, & Coombs, 2016). According to Bundy et al. (2016), researchers have shown interest in discovering crisis antecedents and crisis outcomes as well as studying different crisis management methods that are currently in use around the globe. Despite the dedicated efforts of experts in the field, the research remains disjointed; however, researchers experience difficulty in comprehending the literature’s core conclusions, identifying problems yet to be solved, and determining the way forward (Bundy et al., 2016; Coombs & Holladay, 2014). To address these issues, this study examines the benefits of using social media in organizational crisis management through an analysis of social media posts and comments in a crisis.

Crisis and Crisis Communication

A crisis can be defined as an unpredictable phenomenon that tends to negatively affect the expectations of clients, which in turn can negatively influence an organization’s performance, leading to undesirable outcomes (Youngblood, 2010). According to Coombs (2007b), a crisis is a sudden and unexpected event that tends to disrupt the operations of an organization, imposing financial threats while also jeopardizing the organization’s reputation. The various crisis management methods that may be employed in mitigating a given crisis have been considered the critical determinants of whether the affected companies manage to overcome the crisis (Claeys, Cauberghe, & Vyncke, 2010). No organization can claim to be entirely immune to crises, and as a result, organizations are highly encouraged to preemptively prepare some form of basic crisis mitigation measures (Claeys et al., 2010).

According to organizational theory, the crisis has primarily been utilized in studies as a magnification medium enabling further research on other concepts (Roux‐Dufort, 2007). Reierson, Sellnow, and Ulmer (2007) examined the case study of the Odwalla apple juice crisis. In 1996, an E. coli outbreak compromised the merchandise of Odwalla, which produced organic apple juice and other natural products. According to Reierson et al. (2007), despite being a health-certified food and beverage company, Odwalla was prompted by the E. coli outbreak to undergo substantial changes to both its production operations and expenses. The study identified Odwalla’s initial achievements and the challenges the company faced throughout the crisis period as it struggled to regain its previous level of success.

Youngblood (2010) defined crisis communication as a process by which a given business or any other sort of organization deals with a sudden emergency. To achieve effective communication procedures, a company should create a public relations office that is able to provide the required crisis communication services. For quite some time, crisis management professionals have been working to develop different crisis communication theories that provide more detailed guidelines for dealing with crises (Coombs, 2007a).

Attribution Theory Guiding Post-Crisis Communication According to Coombs (2007a), attribution theory was one of the earliest theories created to address crises. This hypothesis suggests that crises are usually unexpected and negative events and that despite it being possible to anticipate that a crisis might occur, it is quite impossible to determine how and when the expected crisis will occur (Coombs, 2007a; Jeong, 2009; Veil, 2011). Attribution theory is based on the principle that people need to allocate accountability for events, suggesting that people strive to understand the causes of events, especially those that are negative and unexpected (Coombs, 2007a; Jeong, 2009). Coombs (2007a) further asserts that attribution theory stipulates that the threats posed by a given crisis are largely a function of crisis responsibility divided by the blame associated with the crisis. Public relations managers are usually responsible for assessing conditions and making decisions about which crisis responses are best for handling a given crisis situation (Coombs, 2007b). Researchers trying to develop protocols for crisis communication have studied past crises that have caused product harm. These studies led to the identification of three crisis responses: denial, meaning the company does not acknowledge that a crisis has occurred; forced compliance, which involves waiting until enforcement to comply occurs; and voluntary compliance, which involves taking responsibility for past actions without a forced response (Coombs, 2007a). An adequate response to the crisis can help mitigate the various negative effects of crises on organizations’ market shares (Coombs, 2007a; Spence, Lachlan, & Griffin, 2007).

Situational Crisis Communication Theory Situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) applies ideas from attribution theory to a wider range of crises (Coombs, 2007a). SCCT provides a means of predicting how different stakeholders would respond to a crisis in terms of mitigating threats to their reputation that might arise with the crisis (Coombs, 2007b). It can be used to predict stakeholders’ reactions toward the chosen response approaches employed by a given institution in the management of a crisis (Coombs, 2007b). Additionally, SCCT facilitates the testing and improvement of hypotheses for how the perception of a given crisis may affect the response initiated as well as the effects of different responses on crisis aftermath, including organizational reputation, consumer emotions, and product purchase intentions (Coombs, 2007a).

Currently, businesses all over the world are being confronted with many unanticipated and inescapable difficulties (Kim, Choi, & Atkinson, 2017). Therefore, crisis managers must expand their scope of operation to account for the effects of new and emerging phenomena such as widespread instantaneous visibility, economic recessions, globalization, rapid shifts in technology, and information overload (Pearson, 2010). According to Youngblood (2010), crisis communication has recently become a critical consideration for all businesses. This may have stemmed from the continuous global technological advancements that have encouraged most stakeholders to become activists (Alfonso & Suzanne, 2008; Youngblood, 2010). Due to advances in communication technologies, any form of crisis can now swiftly receive widespread public attention no matter how small it may be (Youngblood, 2010). Because the organization most directly affected by the crisis is usually deemed responsible for taking the lead in addressing the issue before it spreads to the public domain, where speculation is high (Claeys & Cauberghe, 2012; Ki & Nekmat, 2014), businesses must consider in advance how they can mitigate potential crises.

Crisis Management in Organizations A sound and efficient management plan are imperative for responding to any form of crisis (Coombs, 2015a). According to Coombs (2015a), crisis communication professionals have created an array of crisis management models, and a workable model should include at least three or four steps of crisis management. These phases may include a crisis preparedness phase, wherein the necessary action plans are made, which includes the gathering of essential supplies and equipment. The second phase is often termed the response phase, wherein an immediate action is undertaken when a crisis occurs. The third phase is often termed the recovery phase, which entails taking safety actions and procedures to bring about a return to normal conditions. Lastly, the mitigation phase involves taking the necessary steps to prevent and lessen the impact of an unexpected crisis (Liu, Pennington-Gray, & Krieger, 2016).

Models of Crisis Management

Crises are unpredictable events that can negatively affect the credibility, viability, and reputation of any organization (Youngblood, 2010; Coombs, 2007b). Management of any crisis should involve the entire life cycle of the event (Coombs, 2014), which aids in reducing the possible interferences and failures that may arise as a result of any changes in the associated variables over time (Coombs, 2014). For maximum effectiveness, management procedures should begin well before the actual occurrence of the crisis (Coombs, 2015a). Theoretically, some crisis events can be avoided by implementing an early warning system that would help crisis management professionals to understand the crises in advance and formulate the best methods for solving them before manifestation occurs (Coombs, 2015b).

Precisely identifying and understanding the elements of a crisis life cycle is vital in devising such preparations; early detection of the various warning signs in the pre-crisis period can significantly assist in mitigating the expected consequences of a given crisis (Coombs, 2007b). In the post-crisis phase of crisis management, crisis managers need to consider the evolutionary steps of the event in order to understand why it took place and how to renew their institutional image while preventing the crisis from recurring in the future (Veil, 2011). Furthermore, efficiently handling the post-crisis phase of crisis management can help minimize the possible ensuing chain of disturbances that could potentially trigger another crisis or lead another sector in the same organization into the pre-crisis phase (Coombs, 2007b).

To enable efficient crisis communication, crisis managers can always use more effective methods that can assist in their understanding of the impacts of crises on their shareholders (Kim, Miller, & Chon, 2016). This can involve setting up reference models that describe incidents and their different phases in graphical forms based on collected historical information specific to past events (Janoske, Liu, & Madden, 2013).

Stages of Crisis Management

SCCT usually begins with the crisis managers’ assessment of a given crisis situation in order to determine the reputational threat that may arise (Coombs, 2007a). A reputational threat includes any damage that may be inflicted on an organization’s image and reputation if no appropriate action is taken in the event of a crisis (Coombs, 2007a). A reputational threat is usually determined by three characteristics: the initial accountability for the crisis, the history of the occurrence of the crisis, and the existing reputation of the company (Coombs, 2007a; 2007b).

Coombs (2007b) clarified the two major steps in crisis management by describing the first step as the establishment of who holds primary responsibility for the crisis. The initial crisis response essentially defines customers’ perception of how much control the organization had over the occurrence of the crisis and how much its actions contributed to the event (Withers, Corley, & Hillman, 2012).

SCCT tends to divide crises into three categories (Claeys et al., 2010). According to Claeys et al. (2010), these categories include the “victim” category (characterized by little attribution of managerial accountability), the “accidental” category (characterized by a somewhat low level of accountability attributed to management), and the “preventable” category (which encompasses the various crises for which company management bears full responsibility).

Claeys et al. (2010) further asserted that the more an organization is seen as responsible for the occurrence of a crisis, the more negatively the crisis affects the company’s reputation. This led to the formulation of several hypotheses on how different types of crises may have different impacts on an affected company’s reputation, which Claeys et al. (2010) summarized. The first hypothesis holds that a “victim” crisis has a less negative outcome on a company’s organizational reputation than an accidental or preventable crisis does. Compared to a victim crisis, an accidental crisis tends to have a fairly negative outcome on the reputation of a company. A preventable crisis is considered to have the most negative effect on the reputation of a given company, which is worse than the effects of an accidental or victim crisis (Claeys et al., 2010). The second hypothesis described by Claeys et al. (2010) maintains that a company using the “rebuild” crisis response approach usually has a stronger reputation than companies that employ either the “deny” or “diminish” strategy. The third hypothesis suggests that proper matching of a given form of crisis with the most appropriate response strategy would lead to a less negative impact on the reputation of an organization compared to a situation in which the crisis type is mismatched with the response strategy (Claeys et al., 2010). According to Claeys et al. (2010), the last hypothesis holds that the more severe a crisis is perceived to be, the greater the adverse effects it has on a given organization’s reputation.

The Role of PR Practices in Managing a Crisis

An organizational crisis is an event that is perceived by managers and other stakeholders as a significant, unexpected, and potentially disruptive threat to an organization’s goals (Bundy et al., 2016). Such an event also poses negative implications for the organization’s relationship with stakeholders (Bundy et al., 2016). After experiencing a major crisis, a company must engage in proper crisis management action to recover (Coombs & Jean, 2014; Yang, 2007). Using a collection of research published over an 18-year period, Kim, Avery, and Lariscy (2009) employed quantitative content analysis in evaluating crisis response strategies. Their results suggest that denial is the most commonly used response strategy employed by the majority of organizations, even though other findings have indicated that denial is the least effective strategy. According to Kim et al. (2009), regardless of the type of crisis, most organizations seem to be continuously engaging in this approach.

In the event of a crisis, many stakeholders tend to engage in various forms of communication in order to learn about the incident, reduce uncertainties, and gain a sense of control over the situation (Turner, 2008). Use of the most appropriate combination of public relations strategies is considered critical in managing a crisis (Jin, 2014). The apology has been losing its effectiveness in crisis communication, while failure to choose the right response methods may aggravate the situation (Coombs, 2016). A major shortcoming in crisis communication was evident in the public relations measures utilized in the 2014 Dairy Khoury crisis, in which the company was reported to be using Natamycin, a banned preservative, in its milk products (Yehya & Coombs, 2017). According to Yehya and Coombs (2017), the company decided to employ the defensive approach, which did not produce a positive outcome.

Bundy et al. (2016) cited the example of BP’s crisis management efforts in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one of the biggest crises ever experienced in the oil industry worldwide. The incident plunged BP into a crisis that negatively affected the company’s financial performance and reputation as well as its relationship with its employees, clients, and general stakeholders. This study revealed that researchers in business communication and public relations have begun concentrating on the responsibilities of internal crisis communication. Effective leadership style is essential for improving an organization’s chances of overcoming the effects of a crisis (Werder & Holtzhausen, 2009). Consequently, it is important to engage employees as shareholders in times of crisis to alleviate the adverse effects associated with neglecting employees within such situations (van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014; Koc, 2013).

Veil and Husted (2012) evaluated the American Red Cross’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina to demonstrate the importance of exceptional crisis communication. Qualitative case study methodology provided a thorough description of the incident based on a media (including social media) analysis as well as internal and external evaluations. The best public relations practices in crisis communication were then used to evaluate the efforts of the Red Cross. The research showed the significance of upholding flexibility in a crisis management plan; creating a public relations procedure with business associates; considering the various impacts of referent procedures on the emotional and physiological health of crisis victims; and establishing connections with diverse populations and local communities surrounding the organization (Veil & Husted, 2012). According to Pace, Balboni, and Gistri (2017), the use of social media in crisis management has proven effective in ensuring reliable communication within crises of such magnitude since it facilitates fast and widespread message transmission.

The Role of Social Media in Crisis Communication

Ryschka, Domke-Damonte, Keels, and Nagel (2016) evaluated the role of social media in the restoration of clients’ perceptions of a company’s reputation during crisis management in a cruise ship business background. The researchers sought to determine the influence of the speed and precision of a crisis communication response on people’s perceptions of a cruise line during a crisis. The results suggested that the speed and clarity of a company’s response on social media has an effect on people’s perception of the affected company. Ensuring a prompt response in the event of a crisis is therefore critical to alleviating negative perceptions of the affected company (Ryschka, Domke-Damonte, Keels, & Nagel, 2016). According to Xie and Peng (2009), after the occurrence of any crisis, continuous communication with stakeholders is an important means of restoring the affected company’s image and winning back the stakeholders’ trust.

Conclusion

One of the major challenges faced by institutions throughout the corporate world is the management of crises when they arise, which involves ensuring that the organizational image is not destroyed (Coombs, Frandsen, Holladay, & Johansen, 2010). Crisis management has become a subject of great importance for modern businesses, yet no single method of entirely avoiding the various forms of organizational crises exists (Coombs, 2007b). The rise of social media has revolutionized earlier methods of crisis management and changed the role of public relations professionals tasked with handling such events (Schultz, Utz, & Goritz, 2011). Today, social media readily documents any crisis occurrence and therefore can be used as a barometer to gauge the effectiveness of an organization’s response to the crisis (Coombs & Holladay, 2014).

In the event of an organizational crisis, an analysis of the positive comments on a company’s social media platforms can be instrumental in determining public perception of the company. This information can be of great significance in helping the company to promptly address the crisis situation and rebuild or maintain its institutional image. To build a stronger rapport between the business and the community, a cruise ship company’s PR team should maintain continuous engagement with the public through the company’s social media platforms. Continuous communication and timely responses to questions can help an organization overcome negative publicity that results from a crisis.

Chapter 3

Crises are events that create abnormalities in the business life of an organization by generating an unpredicted issue, keeping it active, and strengthening its presence (Allen & Carletti, 2010). Rapid technological advancements have not only provided companies with growth prospects but have increased the chances of their becoming engaged in a crisis relevant to product or service performance and socio-ethical violations (Wang, 2016). The cruise industry has experienced promising advances in terms of the services cruise lines can offer. On the one hand, this advancement has increased their market share, while on the other hand, it has increased the chances of technical failures in the middle of the sea, accidents, and other unpredictable events. According to De Vries (2014), the crises suffered by numerous cruise lines have affected the entire industry, giving stakeholders negative perceptions of the industry as a whole. A sinking ship can negatively influence the demand across the entire industry, as the emergence of such a crisis gives the media an opportunity to overemphasis the incident, not only triggering criticism against the company but also questioning the credibility of the entire cruise industry (Wang, Wang, Zhen, & Qu, 2016).

The research on crisis communication has embraced the importance of social media mediation in managing a crisis. Cheng (2016) found that organizations frequently use the Internet for effectively responding to a crisis through online chatting, link-sharing, and company-stakeholder communication. According to the social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC), social media is used to manage the rumors that may arise during a crisis in order to diminish the impact of the crisis and rebuild the company’s image (Liu, Jin, Briones, & Kuch, 2012). The public frequently uses social media to get information about a crisis. However, the selection of a social media outlet depends upon the crisis origin and type, the PR team’s communication strategy, and the form of the intended message (Liu et al., 2012). It has been emphasized that crisis communication is usually facilitated by social media when a crisis is projected to threaten the organization’s reputation. According to Zoonen and Meer (2015), crisis communication theory highly recommends utilization of social media in responding to the occurrence of natural disasters or a crisis that demands two-way communication and frequent interactions between the company and the public.

Case study research design has been selected for this qualitative study. The study is intended to assess how a PR team can maintain an organization’s reputation and image by utilizing social media as a communication platform during a crisis in the cruise ship industry. This question cannot be addressed by any other research design, such as ethnography or observation, because both of those designs demand that a researcher must directly experience or observe the event. Since this study is intended to answer the research question using data gathered from past crises, the case study research design was most applicable. Furthermore, this methodology aids in understanding a complex crisis event.

In this study, we chose to focus on Carnival Cruise Lines, which is well recognized for offering memorable and luxurious vacationing services to its passengers. Despite employing the latest technology, the company has experienced a series of cruise crises that have resulted in deadly incidents for its passengers. The company has been scrutinized due to the occurrence of three consecutive crises in the middle of its voyages. Two fires in ships’ engines and the collision of a ship generated chaos inside the company, triggered the proliferation of rumors, and raised the eyebrows of stakeholder groups. These events forced Carnival to turn toward social media outlets instead of relying on conventional communication mediums for conducting public relations communication and reaching out to its existing and potential customers as well as other concerned parties on a frequent basis. Thus, Carnival is the best subject company for this study, as an assessment of its PR strategy allows us to explore the impact of utilizing social media as a public relations platform during a crisis.

The case study method enables this study to investigate the crisis situation in a real-time context with the help of multiple sources (Widdowson, 2011), which will, in turn, illuminate the best public relations practices for enabling the control of messages during a crisis as a means of maintaining an organization’s reputation and image within its industry. Carnival’s cruise crisis triggered criticism and led to a surge of two-way communication on social media among passengers, the general public, and the company. It is therefore important to critically review the event in order to assess the impact of PR efforts on the company’s reputation. No other method except a case study can allow for a thorough examination of the public relations strategy and permit the generalizing of the findings across the industry.

This qualitative study focuses on specific crisis situations to assess the impact of social media on a company’s image. Three tools (interview, focus group, and content analysis) are readily available for collecting data to respond to the study question. Interviews would make the data collection phase quite expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, the likelihood of biased intervention would be high due to human engagement in the data collection process. The interviewers (experts) may have their own preferences and personal opinions regarding Carnival’s use of social media. Focus groups could generate the same problems of biasedness, as groupthink might prohibit the members from taking an aerial view of the situation and assessing the impact of social media mediation in crisis communication on Carnival’s image. Thus, content analysis has been selected due to its ability to facilitate the collection of unbiased and reality-based data related to the event.

The content analysis method was introduced by Philip Marrying. Initially, it was considered a set of techniques used to collect and assess data in order to quantitatively test a hypothesis. It involved applying a set of codes to theoretical data to put it into quantitative form and attain the results through the appropriate statistical test. Content analysis was introduced to qualitative research after identifying the shortcomings of using this method in quantitative studies (Gavora, 2015).

Wang and Dong (2017) codified the content of the selected articles in terms of the focused crisis, theoretical approach, and social media platform utilized in order to assess the employment of social media in crisis communication. Ye and Ki (2017) analyzed the content of communication when assessing British Petroleum’s communication in the media. Since this study focuses on exploring the impact of social media on Carnival’s crisis, content analysis therefore serves as the most suitable method of evaluating the positive responses to the content of messages posted during organizational crises, which enables the study to identify the role of social media as a public relations platform in maintaining the organization’s reputation and image in the cruise industry.

Two social media outlets, Twitter and Facebook, were explored to assess Carnival’s communication with the public during the crisis. The comments posted in the first two weeks of each crisis were then codified for content analysis. The positivity or negativity of each was assessed through the presence of keywords reflecting satisfaction, dissatisfaction, or neutrality toward the post. The following are a few examples of the keywords:

The responses to each post were assessed using set criteria, including the time of the post and customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction (as measured by a negative or positive comment). The comments posted by users were then assessed using the keywords to determine whether they were satisfied.

Sampling Technique

Some of the posts had more than 200 comments, which made it difficult and time-consuming to assess the number of positive, negative, and neutral ones. Instead, simple random sampling was used to select both positive and negative ones, with each comment having an equal chance of being selected. For example, if a selected post had more than 1,500 comments, the study sample (n) would include 150 to 500, because this sample size can better represent the population. This technique has been used by several researchers in qualitative and quantitative studies. Even if a post has a large number of comments, this can measure how many are positivefor instance, if 6 out of every 10 are positive, the percentage of satisfied customers can be estimated to be 60%.

This technique was not applied to posts with 200 or fewer comments. Those comments were thoroughly reviewed, and each comment was assessed using set criteria for distinguishing positive and negative comments.

For each post by the organization, a numerical code was recorded on a coding sheet with six columns. The first column represented the position of the post in the list, and the second represented its purpose. At the beginning of the research, we anticipated three possible purposes: passing along information about an event involving one of the company’s ships, making an inquiry, and spreading rumors or unconfirmed information. The coding scheme for this column is as follows:

The third column showed the time when the posts and replies by the company were made. This revealed the amount of time the company took to respond to comments and inquiries, which helped us determine whether the company’s social media strategy is effective. The fourth column indicated whether customers were satisfied or dissatisfied with the posts the company made, as determined by the positivity, negativity, or neutrality of their comments, which we measured using the aforementioned keywords. Importantly, a positive response indicated that the customer was satisfied, but continued inquiries implied the customer had not been satisfied.

The fifth column showed the total customer responses to the post. The last represented the company’s response to its followers. (See Appendix D.)

This column was important because it indicated whether the company addressed its customers and the public in a bid to rectify its image. Instances of a company’s management issuing a response were taken to reveal an effort by the organization to reach out to its customers, so this column helps us determine the effectiveness of the company’s communication through social media. The following is the coding scheme for this category:

After recording the coding of the statements with respect to customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction, post type, and company reply, the percentage of each column will be calculated in relation to its specific category.

Chapter 4

Research Findings

Advancements in technology have turned water journeys into luxurious voyages for which passengers are willing to pay even more than for air travel. However, crises are far from surprises for the cruise industry, as the sinking of the Titanic still frightens the world. Carnival Corporation is the world’s leading cruise line, capturing more than 44.3% of the global market share (Statista, 2017). Despite its leading position and adoption of the latest technology, Carnival encountered three consecutive crises in a period of only three years. On November 8, 2010, the Splendor cruise ship experienced a fire in its engine. As a result of the incident, passengers were stuck in the middle of the ocean for nearly four days. The incident generated a chaotic media situation, especially on social media. In a similar situation, Carnival’s Costa Concordia cruise ship collapsed near the coast of Italy. In this incident, passengers had to board lifeboats, and several jumped directly into the water. The company was still mitigating the impact of the first two crises when the engine of its cruise ship Triumph caught fire in February 2013. This incident prompted the passengers to share pictures and videos of the situation on social media. Instead of relying on traditional media, Carnival Cruise Line used social media to reduce the impact of the crisis and related rumors on its image and market share.

Two social media outlets, Facebook and Twitter, were selected to assess the public relations practices and crisis communication of Carnival Cruise Line. A sample of 13 different posts was selected from Facebook, and 4 posts were selected from Twitter. Although the company made several other posts during the crises, they were not relevant to the crises. The selected posts were published during the first two weeks of each crisis. The rationale for selecting posts from this two-week period is that criticism and projections about the severity of the crisis would be most likely to occur during this early phase of the crisis. Thus, the crisis communication conducted during the first phase of the crisis can better reveal the effectiveness of the public relations strategy and the impact of social media on eliminating the influence of crises on the company and cruise industry.

The posts on Facebook and Twitter published by Carnival Cruise Line were selected on the basis of the following four criteria:

· Published during the initial days of the crisis. The company would be more likely to encounter criticism and projections about the severity of the crisis in the days directly following the emergence of the crisis.

· Relevant to the crisis. Only those posts that directly discuss the crisis under consideration were selected.

· The absence of repetition. Posts that repeated the material found in other posts would not be selected because considering them could bias the findings.

· Revealing information, showing sympathy, or responding to questions. Posts made for these purposes would reveal the company’s crisis response strategy.

Although Carnival Cruise Line used social media on an hourly basis, most of the posts were irrelevant to the crisis or focused on repeated statements. The only statements selected were unique ones that might help to minimize the impact of the crises on the company’s image and the cruise industry as a whole. The statements that made uncertainties clear and had the potential to prompt discussion among customers and followers were highly focused. The following are some of the selected statements issued during each crisis:

Table 1.

The Splendor Fire Tragedy

The first Facebook post, issued on November 9 at 7:45 a.m., disseminated the latest updates and described the current situation at Splendor. It was intended to make people aware of what was happening in real time, so they would not have to rely on the rumors. No less than 53 users negatively replied to the post, and 87 users’ statements revealed their satisfaction with the post and the company. Carnival posted a link to the latest updates on Twitter. This tweet garnered 302 positive and 218 negative replies. (Samples of the posts are available in Appendix A.)

On November 12, 2010, Carnival made a post to boost the public’s access to information about the crisis. Seventy-seven of the replies to the post were positive, containing words such as “appreciate,” “thank you,” “fantastic,” “agree,” “love,” and “expert.” The post triggered just 18 negative and 6 neutral responses as well. The responses to the post showed that 76.24% of respondents were satisfied with Carnival’s social media crisis communication and only 17.82% were dissatisfied, as shown in Table 2 below.

The following posts reflect the positive, negative, and neutral opinions of customers and the public about the Splendor fire.

Positive (Satisfaction). The impact of crisis communication can be clearly observed in the following comment, in which the respondent emphasizes the inevitability of accidents due to the mechanical nature of the ship. The customer’s trust in and commitment to the company was restored by its crisis communication, as shown by this comment’s highlighting of Carnival’s efforts to compensate its passengers.

Negative (Dissatisfaction). The following comment reflects that 17.82% of customers considered Carnival’s communication to be nothing but a bundle of excuses. This customer’s trust in the company could not be restored by Carnival’s informative posts.

Neutral. The keyword “wonder” was used in the following post, which reflects that the respondent had a neutral opinion about the crisis. This respondent couldn’t decide whether she would take a cruise in the future or not. She has not formulated either a negative or positive opinion about Splendor.

Table 2. The Splendor fire tragedy social media response

Costa Concordia Collision Incident

The second event took place on January 13, 2012, when Costa Concordia, Carnival’s giant ship, collided with an underwater rock. This collision caused the ship’s engine to shut down, which led one side of the ship to sink into the water within minutes. Carnival neither communicated with Facebook users and Twitter followers nor with the general public through traditional media channels for almost 24 hours after the crisis. Later, however, when the situation grew worse and seemed to be mushrooming out of Carnival’s control, the company began frequently posting updates on Facebook about the incident. On January 14, 2012, at 5:27 p.m., the company stated, “It is a tragedy that deeply affects our company. Our first thoughts go to the victims, and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends.” This statement garnered 306 likes, as people appreciated an apologetic response from Carnival Cruise Line. The message gained 104 positive comments from customers and 67 negative comments.

On January 15, 2012, Carnival made another post at 11:21 p.m. This post did not gain much attention; only one customer was satisfied with it. On January 16, Carnival expressed its condolences to the victims. The percentage of satisfaction tended to be higher in this post. On the same day, another post also revealed customer satisfaction, as it received positive comments. Posts made on January 18, and 19 did not receive any positive comments. Overall, the majority of the following posts garnered positive responses as customers revealed their satisfaction with how the situation was progressing and shared their appreciation for Carnival’s efforts. The data collected are shown in Table 3 below. (Samples of the Costa Concordia collision crisis posts are available in Appendix B.)

The following are the examples of positive, negative, and neutral comments made by users:

Positive (Satisfaction). The following positive comments demonstrate respondents’ satisfaction with Carnival. Instead of berating the company, the respondents are sending their best wishes to the passengers and crew members (Carnival’s staff). The respondent Tuten shows confidence in Carnival’s ability to restore its image and recover the losses for its passengers. This reflects the idea that Carnival’s persuasive crisis communication had been rebuilding consumer confidence.

Negative (Dissatisfaction). The negative comments about the Costa Concordia crisis

communication reveal the company’s inefficiency in issuing timely responses to customers’ queries and making itself available to them. The respondent Aiello’s aggression was stimulated

by Carnival’s poor customer service. The families of some respondents were on the ship, so they contacted customer service to get the latest information. The absence of any available representative signified Carnival’s lack of responsiveness to its customers and their families while managing the Costa Concordia crisis. The respondent Amundsen used bitter language that reflected the degree of his dissatisfaction with the company.

Table 3. Social media comments about the Costa Concordia collision incident

The Triumph Fire Tragedy Crisis

The Triumph’s engine caught fire on February 10, 2013, which forced thousands of passengers to stay in the middle of the ocean without food and supplies for no less than five days. The Triumph’s passengers started posting pictures and videos of the miserable conditions and worn-out ship’s interior on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag “cruise from hell.” This situation led to a frenzy of two-way communication between passengers and the public on social media, which had the potential to exert a profoundly negative impact on Carnival’s image. However, on February 10, 2013, Carnival began using social media as a public relations platform by posting its first statement informing people about the incident. It stated that passengers were being provided with the necessary supplies and food. Moreover, it gave numbers to which families could contact their family members or loved ones on Triumph. This first statement garnered 361 negative and 1,066 positive comments. (Samples of the Triumph fire tragedy crisis posts are available in Appendix C.)

On February 12, 2013, Carnival issued a long statement on Facebook to update users about how the situation was progressing and to inform them about the safety of passengers. Along with an apology, Carnival offered a full refund to the passengers as well as a free future voyage. A full 248 respondents appreciated this statement, and only 22 of the total customers opposed it. On February 13, 2013, Carnival shared a link to the press conference of Garry Cahill, president of Carnival Cruise Line. This post gained more negative comments than positive ones. On the very next day, the company posted a statement about the progress of the recovery by informing the public that Carnival was arranging for water coaches and boats for taking passengers to the ground in Mobile. Of the responses to this statement, 29.8% voiced dissatisfaction and, 66.9% expressed satisfaction. On February 14, 2013, Carnival posted a statement informing people that Triumph was 10 miles away from land and that upon reaching the shore, passengers would be catered to with food, beverages, and mobile phones. The customer dissatisfaction rate revealed by this statement was 26.85%, and the satisfaction rate was 58.5%. Carnival also frequently used Twitter on February 14, 2013. Its tweets garnered 56 negative replies and 119 satisfied replies. Overall, the percentage of satisfied replies tended to be higher than the percentage of dissatisfied replies. The following are examples of positive, negative, and neutral comments made by users.

Positive (Satisfaction). The following positive comment reveals that Alberto was confident in Carnival’s customer service. The language demonstrates his faith in the capabilities and responsiveness of the company to passenger needs.

Negative (Dissatisfaction). The respondent Corner’s comment reflected that the customer’s trust could not be recovered by Carnival’s crisis communication. Her dissatisfaction discouraged her from trying Carnival’s service. She therefore, canceled her booking.

Neutral. Respondent Kenny has not revealed whether she supports Carnival or has found it guilty. She has neutrally reflected her sense that lawsuits could ensue.

Table 4 below can be used to easily comprehend the figures collected with regard to the received responses.

Table 4. Social media comments on the Triumph fire tragedy crisis

The research question could not be responded to with an assessment of Carnival’s activities on traditional media channels. Thus, the findings outlined above have the potential to explain the role of social media in maintaining the organization’s reputation.

This study is intended to determine the effectiveness of using social media as a public relations platform through an evaluation of the positive responses toward the content of messages posted during organizational crises within the cruise ship industry. The assessment of social media posts published on Facebook and Twitter during crises could aid the study in meeting this objective by assessing the customer satisfaction rate expressed in each of the selected posts. The findings mentioned above reveal the customers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction rate during three consecutive crises.

Overall, the incorporation of social media into crisis communication theory has been found to foster positive public relations that can turn the tables in a company’s favor. However, the study’s objectives cannot be attained unless the results are reviewed through the lens of the literature reviewed in Chapter 2. Assessing the limitations of this study and the possibilities for future research is also crucial. In regard to the role of social media in crisis management, it is also important to make managerial recommendations for both the small and large players of the cruise industry so that crises like those of the Splendor and Costa Concordia can be better mitigated in the future. Chapter 5 will analyze the findings in the light of past studies. Aside from making managerial recommendations, this chapter will describe areas for future research. Additionally, it will explain why the study’s findings cannot be generalized to several other crisis situations.

Chapter 5

Discussion

The cruise industry has been quite notorious for crises that have the potential to take the lives of passengers. Carnival Cruise Lines, one of the world’s leading cruise companies, continued to undergo crisis situations for three years from 2010 to 2013. This study explored how public relations can aid in maintaining an organization’s reputation and image when utilizing social media as a platform during a crisis in the cruise ship industry. It was intended to determine the effectiveness of using social media as a public relations platform and to identify the best public relations practices for enabling control of the message during a crisis. Carnival was selected as the subject company for a case study because instead of using traditional communication channels, it focused on using social media as a public relations platform for conducting crisis communication. The findings have revealed that by using social media as a PR platform, Carnival not only minimized the aggression of stakeholders and the general public but also kept everyone updated about its progress in resolving the crises, which turned the tables in its favor.

The findings are supported by the studies reviewed in Chapter 2. Although rumors had the potential to cause irreparable damage to Carnival, social media saved it from encountering any long-term negative impacts from the series of crises by allowing the company to continually respond to customers’ urgent questions. In short, using social media helped Carnival to avoid any unnecessary delays. In the case of the Splendor crisis, customers and stakeholders forwarded rumored messages of ship destruction and Carnival’s technical failures to others, generating a negative perception of Carnival. Social media mediation used in the crisis communication helped Carnival to turn the negative perceptions into positive ones by consistently updating customers and the public and responding to rumors. This practice of mitigating negative reactions has been advocated by Coombs (2007a) and Spence, Lachlan, and Griffin (2007).

Carnival quickly switched to using social media and communicating about the crisis situations with the public before the widespread proliferation of rumors, as Claeys and Cauberghe (2012) and Ki and Nekmat (2014) suggest a company should do. By conducting reliable crisis-related communication, Carnival reduced the negative impact on its image and persuaded its customers to support it on public platforms (Pace, Balboni, & Gistri, 2017). The prompt communication along with valuable information delivered through social media restored customers’ perception of the organization’s reputation. Carnival won back its stakeholders’ trust with the utilization of social media because this PR platform brought the company closer to its customers.

Limitation of the Study

This study has considered the impact of utilizing social media as a public relations platform during an organizational crisis within the cruise ship industry. However, the findings of this research cannot be generalized to other industries, as it focuses only on the cruise industry. One cannot claim on the basis of this study’s findings that if a manufacturing company were to use social media, it would get the same results attained by Carnival Cruise, as other factors may impact the customers or stakeholders. Further, the scope of the study is limited to an assessment of the use of social media in crisis mitigation. Thus, the study cannot help researchers understand the impact of using conventional PR platforms in minimizing potential reputation damage. Additionally, the psychology and culture of Western people are different from those of Eastern individuals. This study has focused only on crises that have occurred in the West and how western passengers reacted to social media used in mitigating these crises. Thus, the findings cannot be generalized to how Asian passengers react to the use of social media as a PR strategy in such cases. No cause and effect relations have been established in the study either. Moreover, while collecting data, it was impossible to identify whether the comments were fake or original; therefore, some of the comments could be biased, which could limit the relevance of the results to forthcoming situations of uncertainty in the cruise industry. Finally, this study has considered only two social media outlets: Facebook and Twitter.

Despite its limitations, this study has opened different pathways for future research. By following the same methodological framework, future researchers could investigate the impact of utilizing YouTube and community forums as PR platforms during an organizational crisis within different industries such as auto manufacturing, construction, and textiles. In the future, research could be conducted to compare the effectiveness of using different social media outlets in minimizing the impact of a crisis on an organization’s image. A longitudinal study could be conducted to assess how using social media gradually reduces stakeholders’ aggression, helps a company to regain their trust, and improves its market image. A researcher could also conduct the same type of study for a crisis that emerged in another industry.

Future studies could explore whether Asian passengers respond in the same way as Western passengers to crisis communication delivered through social media as well. This study has also generated an important research question regarding which factors mediate the impact of social media as a PR platform in reducing the negative perceptions of stakeholders toward a company. A researcher could extend this research by conducting surveys in addition to content analysis to increase the generalizability of the findings. Furthermore, future research could compare the usefulness of Facebook and Twitter on reducing the impact of a crisis. A researcher could also investigate the usefulness of social media vs. conventional PR channels in influencing perceptions of a crisis. Moreover, future research could assess whether cultural values increase or decrease the impact of social media on crisis management.

The utilization of social media has positively influenced reactions to crises that Carnival has experienced. In doing so, it has helped the company to reduce the negative impact of crises on its image, as revealed by the higher percentage of satisfaction compared to dissatisfaction. However, the company could further increase its customers’ satisfaction rate and reduce their negative perceptions by using YouTube and community forums. YouTube could let the stakeholders view real-time efforts in the form of videos, which would eliminate rumors. Furthermore, the customer satisfaction rate has been observed to be lower in the apology-related posts compared to the posts in which the company employed an accommodative and compensatory strategy. Thus, it is recommended that a company encountering a crisis should accommodate its stakeholders by giving them more information about the crisis and announcing the compensation in the initial phase of the crisis, because this could prevent the crisis from increasing negative feelings toward the company.

This study has also revealed that crisis-related social media messages should employ active sentences instead of unassertive ones. The messages should not focus only on the crisis updates but should adequately reveal the company’s degree of responsibility toward the crisis. It is recommended that organizations experiencing a crisis should frequently communicate with their customers and other stakeholders through social media as well, as a delayed response tends to trigger the proliferation of rumors.

Additionally, messages with a non-empathetic tone, slang words, or lack of clarity generate confusion among social media users. Thus, a company should develop empathetic messages with a humble tone. Carnival has strategically used social media outlets for not only updating customers and other stakeholders about the crisis but for increasing their engagement with the company by stimulating two-way communication. Thus, it is suggested that companies encountering crises should make posts that could stimulate discussion among customers and other stakeholders. This discussion not only reveals their satisfaction and dissatisfaction rates but helps the company to identify the factors that contribute to reducing the negative effects on the company’s image. Like Carnival, every cruise line should conduct strategic public relations when immersed in a crisis, as they would not maintain a strong position in the market without effectively managing the crisis. Social media is a crucial platform for conducting crisis communication and other public relations activities because it directly impacts the public’s perception of the crisis. It also enables public relations personnel to refute the negative comments constructively and directly. The replies to users’ negative comments and queries should be persuasive enough to change the negative perceptions into positive and supportive ones.

Conclusion

The content analysis conducted in this study has revealed the benefits of utilizing social media as a public relations platform. This case study has presented social media as an unavoidable and vital part of a crisis communication strategy because it enables a company to better handle customers’ reactions to a crisis than other crisis-communication tools do. A comprehensive review of the literature has supported the study’s findings. It has been found that the more a company communicates about a crisis with its stakeholders through social media, the more it reduces their negative perceptions and produces positives ones instead. An important factor in determining the success of social media utilization is customer engagement. Regardless of its type and size, a company cannot engage customers in crisis communication through the conventional PR platforms. Rather, a company must employ social media because it stimulates two-way communication and aids in responding to the confusion and concerns of stakeholders in a timely manner before they turn into negative perceptions.

This study is important because it empirically demonstrates how a cruise company can protect its image and regain the trust and commitment of stakeholders by using social media in conducting crisis communication. Despite technical assurance, the cruise ships may encounter deadly situations due to underwater rocks, glaciers, and fuel issues. However, after hearing about a cruise crisis, a majority of stakeholders typically attributes the responsibility of the crisis to the cruise company instead of considering it an accident caused by rocks or glaciers. Thus, a cruise company should work to explain exactly what happened and how the situation was mitigated. This study encourages managers to use social media for crisis communication instead of giving general explanations in TV interviews, newspapers, and press conferences. It has shown that using social media reduces the communication gaps between consumers and companies, enabling customers’ issues and concerns to be resolved as quickly as possible and helping companies to rapidly respond to negative comments and perceptions in order to discourage their proliferation.

In sum, this study has made a contribution to the crisis communication and public relations literature. Its findings add value to the crisis management field by demonstrating the effectiveness of using social media as a PR platform in crisis communication. Moreover, it provides a valuable addition to the literature in that it explains how social media can help a cruise line reduce the impact of a crisis and replace negative perceptions with positives ones while generating increased support for the company.

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Appendix A

Splendor Fire Tragedy Social Media Crisis Communication