Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
4-2020
Abstract
Considered one of the deadliest incidents in the history of aviation crises and labelled a “continuing mystery,” the ongoing search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 offers no closure. With endless media attention, and negative reactions of stakeholders to every decision made by the airline, this study investigates the types of emotions found in social media posted by publics to the MH370 search suspension announcement. It content analyzed 5,062 real-time tweet messages guided by the revised integrated crisis mapping model. Our findings indicated that, in addition to the four original emotions posited, there was a fifth emotion because of the long-drawn crisis and only two dominant emotions were similar to the model. A redrawn version to better encapsulate all the emotions is offered for one quadrant in the model. Implications for both crisis communication scholarship and the importance of social listening for organizations are discussed.
Keywords
integrated crisis mapping model, crisis communications, emotions in social media, tweet messages, corporate reputation
Discipline
Asian Studies | Business and Corporate Communications | Organizational Communication | Social Media
Research Areas
Corporate Communication
Publication
International Journal of Business Communication
Volume
57
Issue
2
First Page
194
Last Page
211
ISSN
2329-4892
Identifier
10.1177/2329488419882755
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
YEO, Su Lin; PANG, Augustine; CHEONG, Michelle L. F.; and YEO, Tye Shi Jerome Quincy.
Emotions in social media: An analysis of tweet responses to MH370 search suspension announcement. (2020). International Journal of Business Communication. 57, (2), 194-211.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6453
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419882755
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Organizational Communication Commons, Social Media Commons