Crisis communication and trustworthiness among crisis actors: towards a typology of crisis management difficulties

Abstract

The concepts of communication and trust play a central role in crisis management. There is a complex nexus between communication and trust building in crisis management, as different activities and processes result in communication and trust building in crisis management. This article argues that communication and trust are two sides of the same crisis management coin: each complements the other. To this end, we reflected on how crisis communication and trust factors could be a tool to amplify or attenuate the level of attention given to creeping crises and how such factors could influence creeping crisis management difficulties. We then proposed a crisis management typology to aid crisis managers in managing the difficulties associated with creeping crises.