Open AccessStakeholders’ Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Blueprint for Health Crisis Communication
Author(s) -
Lisa Bergson,
Thomasena Shaw,
Nancy Van Leuven
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international crisis and risk communication conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2576-9111
DOI - 10.30658/icrcc.2021.09
Subject(s) - blueprint , crisis communication , pandemic , action (physics) , public relations , stakeholder , covid-19 , call to action , perception , risk communication , health communication , psychology , political science , qualitative research , crisis response , communicative action , medicine , sociology , business , environmental health , social science , engineering , marketing , disease , mechanical engineering , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty)
In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. This qualitative phenomenological study of undergraduate communication students in a 4-year public university explored how as primary stakeholders for universities, students responded to the pandemic. Using Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), the researchers explored students’ perceptions of the risk of contracting COVID-19 and the protective actions recommended, and how perceptions influenced protective action decision making and behavioral responses. This study fills a gap in the crisis communication literature by focusing on stakeholder perspectives rather than the typical organizational responses to crises; it affirmed the sequential nature of PADM and suggests it should be expanded to include the sense of loss stakeholders experience during a health crisis. It also presents a blueprint for communicating with stakeholders during a health crisis.