Strategic Crisis Communication On Social Media During Public Health Emergencies: A Comparative Analysis Of Government Responses

Abstract

The research question presented in this study is how government crisis communication affects social media in times of a health crisis, and how the Perceived Credibility of Social Media Platforms, Government Transparency in Crisis Communication, and Social Media Engagement affect the Public Trust in Government Crisis Communication on Social Media. A quantitative survey design was used to collect data on 200 respondents and statistical analyses on the data were done using SPSS, correlation, regression and reliability test. The findings indicate that government transparency and the use of social media positively impact the level of public trust the most, whereas the credibility of the platform, still being significant, has a less important impact. These results emphasise the importance of governments using transparent and interactive communication approaches in situations of the national health crisis as the means of creating and sustaining the trust of the population. The present research paper adds to the existing body of research on crisis communication as it illustrates the relative significance of these elements and provides a way of informing future studies on the specifics of the government communication strategy that should be employed in the event of an emergency.