Explicating the social constructionist perspective on crisis communication and crisis management research: a review of communication and business journals

Abstract

There is a growing body of literature concerning the social construction of crisis. This study aimed to clarify inconsistencies regarding the social constructionist perspective by examining how the key terms of social constructionism are applied in crisis communication and crisis management studies. Through an analysis of 65 scholarly works in both communication and business journals, this study proposes a four-dimensional model of social constructionist crisis research (SCCR): (1) cause–the objective facticity and subjective meaning of crisis; (2) text–a constitutive view of language; (3) meaning–multiple actors and multiple realities; and (4) context–societal context awareness. Next, three approaches to SCCR are identified: a terminological approach, a framing approach, and a complexity-based approach. Lastly, the implications of social constructionism for theory and methodology development in crisis communication are discussed.