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 Public Relations Review 46 (xxxx) xxxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

journal homepage: [Link]/locate/pubrev

The social-mediated crisis communication research: Revisiting dialogue T

between organizations and publics in crises of China
Yang Cheng
222 Winston Hall, Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The rapid diffusion of social media is ushering in a new era of crisis communication. To enhance our under-
Social media standing of the social-mediated dialogue between organizations and their publics in crises of China, this study
Crisis communication conducts a content analysis of 61 relevant journal articles published in 2006–2018. Results of this research
Weibo present an overview of ongoing research trends such as theoretical frameworks and methodological preferences.
Dialogue
This research also explores how the unique Chinese social media characteristics affect the dialogue between
Mediator
China
types of organizations and their publics. Contextual factors such as face and favor, relationship (Guanxi) and
Public relations sentiment (Renqing), and the centralized political system that may facilitate/inhibit dialogue in crises of China
are identified as well. Finally, this study suggests promising new directions such as a scholarly assessment tool
for the social-mediated crisis communication research in China.

1. Introduction example, Tai and Sun (2007) demonstrated that in the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis in 2003, the online tools have em-
Crises now frequently occur all over the world. In several fast-de- powered the public to speak out and open the conversation with official
veloping countries such as China, India, and Brazil, crises are appearing claims in China. Cheng (2016b) explored the crisis communication of
more often than we have expected. Especially in China, crisis in- the Red Cross of China on Weibo and found that factors such as strict
formation spread rapidly and influenced the whole society through government control of information dissemination and closed culture of
social media such as Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and Youku (Chinese a Chinese non-profit organization (NPO) might inhibit effective dialogic
YouTube). Major crises, for instance, the Wenzhou online mass incident conversations and lead to public distrust towards Chinese charitable
and the China’s Red Cross credibility crisis in 2011, and the Hepatitis B organizations. Zhu et al. (2017) examined how McDonald’s and KFC
vaccine scandal in 2013 have triggered public emergencies significantly used social media during their 2012 crises in China and found crisis
through social media, which served as platforms for disseminating and response strategies should be contextualized and based on specific
exchanging information widely and instantaneously (Xie, Qiao, Shao, & cultural variations. Mou (2014) conducted a content analysis of 6,186
Chen, 2016). In the era of Web 2.0, organizations could directly apply microblog posts on 12 food safety incidents in China and results illu-
social media to start a dialogue with the massive audience. Meantime, strated how different types of micro-blogs gratify diversified needs of
publics were empowered in the online open space by actively partici- online publics.
pating in crises events (Romenti, Murtarelli, & Valentini, 2014; Xie Considering a large amount of relevant literature focusing on the
et al., 2016), instead of being passive receivers of organizational in- social-mediated crisis communication/dialogue in public relations or in
formation. Therefore, social media served as an ideal avenue for fos- the field of communication, the purpose of this paper is to provide a
tering dialogue between organizations and their publics in crises (Kent synthesized review of how global scholarship examines the realm of
& Taylor, 2002; Romenti et al., 2014). SMCC in China and offer insights for future research agendas. Through
The social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC), also called “so- content analysis of 61 articles in 27 journals indexed in Web of Science
cial-mediated dialogue” between organizations and their publics in core collection from 2006 to 2018, this paper gives an overview of
crises (Fearn-Banks, 2002, p. 2; cited in Cheng, 2016a) has attracted current research trends such as theoretical frameworks and methodo-
attention from worldwide scholars in the past decade (Bondes & logical preferences. Meanwhile, this study explores how social media
Schucher, 2014; Cheng, Huang, & Chan, 2017; Kim, Zhang, & Zhang, has been changing dialogue between different types of organizations
2016; Tai & Sun, 2007; Zhu, Anagondahalli, & Zhang, 2017). For and their publics and the impact of unique contextual factors (e.g.,

E-mail address: ycheng20@[Link].

[Link]
Received 21 August 2018; Received in revised form 27 December 2018; Accepted 9 April 2019
0363-8111/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Yang Cheng, Public Relations Review, [Link]
Y. Cheng Public Relations Review 46 (xxxx) xxxx

cultural elements and political regimes) on the social-mediated dia- methodological preferences)?
logue. Aims of this study include three main dimensions: a) to enrich
the global public relations literature by reviewing the SMCC research in 2.2. Dialogue, social media, and crisis communication
a Chinese context. Not only a review is provided, but also a greater
picture on theory building and practical implications of SMCC in China In the past decades, the concept of dialogue has emerged as an
are addressed; b) to extend the dialogue research in China by exploring important research and professional issue in the field of public relations
online dialogue between three types of organizations and their publics (Kent & Taylor, 2002; McAllister-Spooner & Taylor, 2007; Pang, Shin,
in crises; c) to illustrate how sophisticated cultural and political factors Lew, & Walther, 2018; Taylor & Kent, 2014; Taylor & Perry, 2005).
affect the SMCC practice in China. Pearson (1989) first considered “dialogue” as a public relations theory
and he suggested that the ethical public relations practice was to have a
2. Literature review dialogic system with publics. To outline a dialogic public relations
theory, Kent and Taylor (2002) traced the roots of dialogue from in-
2.1. Social-Mediated Crisis Communication (SMCC) terdisciplinary areas and defined dialogue as “an orientation that va-
lued sharing and mutual understanding” (Taylor & Kent, 2014, p. 388).
Social media, as a “double-edged sword” has brought both oppor- They defined dialogic communication as “any negotiated exchange of
tunities and challenges for crisis communication (Cheng, 2016a). On ideas and opinions” (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p. 325). To extend the
the one hand, scholars found that social media could facilitate organi- conceptualization of dialogue in crisis communication, Romenti et al.
zations to monitor crisis issues, open up-to-date conversations with (2014) reviewed organizational development and management litera-
publics, cultivate critical relationships, and create transparency of or- ture (Innes, 2004; Shotter, 2008) and they found that dialogue might
ganizational actions (Jin & Liu, 2010; Macias, Hilyard, & Freimuth, not require mutuality or openness as public relations literature as-
2009). On the other hand, misinformation, rumors, negative opinions, sumed. Instead, dialogue served strategic communication purposes, and
and emotions were amplified on social media and crisis managers might organizations and their publics could adopt a dialogic approach for any
lose control of official messages when user-generated contents emerged single or two-way communicative interactions in crises (Romenti et al.,
or even dominated the public opinion (Liu, Jin, Austin, & Janoske, 2014).
2012; Wigley & Fontenot, 2010). Studies also found that social-mediated dialogue might play a cri-
To address the impact of social media on crisis communication, Liu tical role in building and maintaining organization-public relationships
et al. (2012) created a social-mediated crisis communication model, (Pang et al., 2018; Yang, 2018) and social media contained different
serving as the first theoretical framework to describe relationships be- functions in crisis communication. For instance, Liu and Kim (2011)
tween organizations, online and offline publics, social media, tradi- found that social media could provide emotional support during the
tional media, and word-of-mouth communication before, during and 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Muralidharan, Dillistone, and Shin (2011) de-
after crises (Austin, Fraustino, Jin, & Liu, 2017). This model has been monstrated the use of social media interacting with publics and dis-
widely tested using different methods such as experiments or interviews seminating organizational information in the Haiti earthquake. Cheng,
in the context of the United States. Scholars mainly discussed 1) how Jin, Hung-Baesecke, and Chen (2018) also supported the important role
crisis information form, sources, crisis type and history might influence of social media tools in corporate social responsibility engagement in a
publics’ (e.g., influential social media content creators, followers, and natural disaster. This review study focuses on social-mediated dialogue
inactives) crisis responses; 2) how types of organizations (i.e., corpo- in crises and specifically any exchange of ideas or opinions between
rates, NPOs, and governments) may respond to publics effectively by organizations and their online publics in China.
adopting different crisis communication strategies (Liu, Jin, & Austin,
2013; Liu, Fraustino, & Jin, 2015). 2.3. Chinese social media in crisis communication
Besides this SMCC model, scholars also applied four main blocks of
theories to study the interplay between social media and crisis com- According to Cheng and Cameron (2017), social media as one of the
munication (Austin et al., 2017). These theories included audience and fast-growing areas has significantly influenced crisis communication
stakeholder theories (e.g., uses and gratifications theory, media de- research in the U.S. In the mainland Chinese society, Huang, Wu, and
pendency theory, and spiral of silence theory), form or medium influ- Cheng’s (2016) study supported the impact of digital transformation in
ence-based theories (e.g., media richness theory), source influence- crises. Contrasting with the social media system in Western countries
based theories (e.g., dialogic public relations theory), and content in- such as the United States, the Chinese new media landscape contained a
fluence-based theories (e.g., framing theory, image repair theory, and large number of highly engaged users. For instance, one of China’s most
situational crisis communication theory). For instance, Lev-On (2012) popular social network, Sina Weibo has over 411 million monthly ac-
adopted uses and gratifications (U & G) theory to examine publics’ tive users in the first quarter of 2018 (China Internet Watch, 2018),
motivations of using social media in a natural disaster context. Cheng while Twitter only has 336 million users globally (Statista, 2018). Ex-
et al. (2019) continued to use the U & G approach and examined perimental research also disclosed that this large crowd of social media
publics’ gratifications-sought on social media of mobile devices during users in China could generate more online negative crisis-reaction in-
an earthquake in mainland China. Taylor and Perry (2005)’s multi-case tentions such as boycotting companies and writing negative comments
study provided recommendations for organizational crisis responses than those in the U.S. (Chen & Bryan, 2017).
based on dialogic public relations theory. According to Tong and Lei (2013), Chinese social media also func-
In sum, scholars in the past years have increasingly paid attention to tions more dialogically than those tools in the rest of the world. WeChat
the SMCC research in contexts (Cheng, 2016a; Liu et al., 2015; Tai & in China, for example, integrates features from Twitter, Facebook, and
Sun, 2007; Taylor & Perry, 2005; Zhu et al., 2017). This field also at- WhatsApp, targeting 1.5 billion Chinese users who averagely spend 3 h
tracted updated reviews from several scholars such as Cheng (2016a), a day on their smartphones (People’s Daily, 2017). WeChat not only
Eriksson (2018), and Rasmussen and Ihlen (2017). However, none of performs as a tool for personal and social communication, but also
these studies fully examined the SMCC research in a non-Western functions in crisis communication by offering updated news and geo-
context such as contemporary China and a review of the trends and localized services, collecting donations, and facilitating direct money
research domains on SMCC in China is lacking. To explore this emer- transfers. On Weibo, a post with 140 characters in Chinese can express
ging field, the first research question was raised. more meanings than a tweet in English. Compared to Twitter, Weibo
RQ1: What was the general trend of SMCC research in China (e.g., contains several unique features such as threaded comments, verified
numbers of articles in each journal, theoretical frameworks, and accounts, trends categorization and Weibo events, and the medal

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Y. Cheng Public Relations Review 46 (xxxx) xxxx

reward system and hall of celebrity (Chen & Bryan, 2017). social-mediated crises in China (Cheng et al., 2017). Scholars found that
Furthermore, research shows the live broadcasting function of social the ubiquitous control of the central government and strict media
media in China has dramatized crises in China. Domestic social media censorship have significantly influenced the communication pattern
features such as rich media and virtual red envelopes have motivated a and dialogue building between organizations and their publics (Huang
huge online crowd to watch, cyber-manhunt, comment, and edit media et al., 2016). Thus, this study proposed RQ3 to explore the contextual
content (Goode, 2009). In crises, Luo and Jiang (2012) found that influence on the social-mediated dialogue in crises of China.
Chinese online users were driven by rumors online and had a tendency RQ3: How did contextual characteristics influence the social-
to follow the crowd. This study thus posited the second research mediated dialogue in crises of China?
question to explore the types of social media commonly discussed in
current SMCC research. Most importantly, RQ2 intended to explore 3. Method
how social media was changing the dialogue in crises of China.
RQ2: What were the types of social media discussed in current 3.1. Data collection
SMCC research and how did these tools influence dialogue between
types of organizations and their publics? To answer the above-mentioned research questions, a keyword
screening method was applied to filter related articles written in
2.4. Contextual factors, crisis communication, and dialogue English in the Web of Science core collection, which included over
20,000 worldwide scholarly journals in over 250 science, social sci-
Different from Western contexts, which value low-power distance, ences, and humanities disciplines (Clarivate Analytics, 2018). Articles
the need for equality, and democracy, Chinese cultures emphasize high- with the following keywords in the topic section were selected for re-
power distance, group harmony, and authoritarianism (Hofstede, 2001; view: any of “online,” “Internet,” “social media,” “new media,” “blog,”
Wong, Wei, Wang, & Tjosvold, 2017). Power distance, as an important “micro-blog,” “WeChat”, “Weibo”, “video,” “Web,” “social network
contextual factor measures inequality across culture and affects the service,” or “SNS,” and any of “crisis” or “crises” or “incident”, and any
relational dialogue between organizations and their publics in crises of “China” or Chinese”.
(Mathew & Taylor, 2018; Sriramesh & Vercic, 2011; Taylor, 2000). For Meanwhile, 27 representative journals in the field of communica-
instance, practitioners’ selection of communication models were dif- tion were used for screening. Specifically, six top-tier journals on new
ferent depending on levels of power distance in a society (Sriramesh & media technologies in communication (e.g., Information
Vercic, 2011). In a low-power distance culture, which “better supports Communication & Society,New Media & Society, and Cyberpsychology,
the multilevel distribution of data, information, and certain types of Behavior and Social Networking), seven journals relevant to public
knowledge” (Leonard, Van Scotter, & Pakdil, 2009, p. 855), organiza- relations/crisis communication (e.g., Journal of Public Relations
tions preferred to apply a dialogic communication process with their Research, Public Relations Review, andJournal of Contingencies and
publics in crises. In contrast, the high-power distance existed in Chinese Crisis Management), seven top-ranked general communication journals
societies and effectively influenced the crisis communication strategies (e.g., Journal of Communication and Communication Research), and
and public responses in crises (Huang et al., 2016; Hwang, 1987). Or- seven journals in regions (e.g., Asian Journal of Communication and
ganizations such as governments in a high-power distance nation were Chinese Journal of Communication) were selected. Finally, 61 articles
perceived to be very powerful and they avoided using extreme strate- from the 27 journals exclusively focusing on the SMCC research in
gies and preferred passive crisis communicative strategies (Huang et al., China were collected for data analysis.
2016). Powerless individuals expecting an equal distribution of power
might distrust organizations and reacted more strongly in crises than 3.2. Measures and inter-coder reliability
those in low-power distance nations. (Taylor, 2000).
Meanwhile, several other contextual factors such as face-saving/ Previous review studies focusing on new media, crisis communica-
giving, favor-seeking/giving, relationship (Guanxi) and sentiment tion, and public relations provided a framework of analysis for this
(Renqing), and the centralized political system may also challenge the study (Huang et al., 2016; Ye & Ki, 2012). Coding categories included
Western-dominated crisis communication practice and characterize a four dimensions: 1) general information, including the name of the
distinctive dialogue between organizations and publics on social media journal, publication year, names and locality of authors; 2) research
in crises (Cheng et al., 2017; Jiang, 2014). Rooted in Confucianism, the focus (organization, media or publics), types of organizations (cor-
Chinese culture emphasized face (Mienzi), favor (enhui), relationship porations, governmental institutions, and NPOs), theoretical frame-
(Guanxi), and sentiment (Renqing). In crisis communication, Chinese works (the spiral of silence theory, U & G theory etc.), and methodo-
organizations frequently adopted face-saving strategies since losing face logical preferences (survey, experiment etc.) 3) social media types
means losing prestige, reputation or honor (Huang et al., 2016). (Weibo, blogs etc.); 4) crisis types (natural crisis, crisis of malevolence,
Meanwhile, organizations and publics in China exchanged face and confrontation crisis etc.) and occurred time.
favor in the processes of social exchanges and resource distributions To test inter-coder reliability, two well-trained coders analyzed 15
(Hwang, 1987). Giving face and favor to others could help establish and randomly selected articles, representing 25% of the 61 articles. Using
reinforce relationships between each other (Ting-Toomey, 2005). To Scott’s pi, the inter-coder agreement was 1.0 for the general informa-
build an effective dialogue, relationship and sentiment also served as tion (i.e., the name of each journal, publication year, and authorship),
key cultural factors. In China, creating a long-term and strong re- 1.0 for social media types, 0.93 for research focus and organizational
lationship is the precondition of opening conversations, developing types, 0.90 for theoretical frameworks, 0.95 for methodological pre-
cooperative goals, and reaching commited relationships (Wong et al., ferences, and 0.95 for crisis types and occurred time. The overall inter-
2017). Defined as “the emotional responses of an individual confronting coder agreement was 0.96.
the various situations of daily life” (Hwang, 1987, p. 953), public
sentiment, rather than regulations and rules, may become the top 4. Findings
priority that organizations should take care of in crises of China.
Besides the above-mentioned cultural elements, the political regime RQ1 investigated the trends in current SMCC research including
in mainland China is also significantly different from those in Western general information of articles, theoretical frameworks, methodological
countries such as the U.S. (Chou, 2009). The dominance of political preferences, and crisis types and occurred time. Fig. 1 demonstrated
power over social power is manifest very well when the central gov- increasing attention to the SMCC research in China in the past decade,
ernment strictly controls information dissemination in any types of with 10 articles (16%) published between 2006 and 2010; 18 articles

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Y. Cheng Public Relations Review 46 (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 1. The Number of Articles on the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication from 2006 to 2018.

(30%) published between 2011 and 2014, and 33 articles (54%) pub- (5%).
lished from 2015 to July 2018. Regarding methodology, results indicated that quantitative methods
Among the 61 articles, the majority (n = 25, 41%) appeared in included content analysis (n = 14, 23%), survey (n = 6, 10%), and
public relations or crisis communication-focused journals. Public experiment (n = 2, 3%). Qualitative methods included case study
Relations Review was the leading public relations journal, serving as the (n = 15, 25%), interview (n = 3, 5%), and other methods such as lit-
major outlet (21%) for the SMCC research in China. Seventeen articles erature review and discourse analysis (n = 9, 14%). Overall, we found
(28%) were from journals focusing on communication research in re- that qualitative methods (44%) were more frequently employed than
gions such as Asian Journal of Communication. Eleven articles (18%) quantitative methods (36%). Mixed methods were also common
were found in the six technology-focused journals and eight articles (n = 12, 20%).
(13%) were published in the seven top-ranked communication journals RQ1 also examined types of crises studied in current SMCC research
such as Journal of Communication. All the published research was led by in China. Fifty-four articles (89%) have mentioned specific crises. The
scholars from global institutions: 29 first-authors were from Greater most frequently examined crises were managerial misconducts (n = 25,
China (i.e., mainland China, Taiwan, Macau, or Hong Kong), 24 from 41%), followed by natural disasters (n = 9, 15%), confrontation crises
the United States, 2 from Australia, 2 from England, 2 from Singapore, 1 (n = 8, 13%), malevolence (n = 3, 5%), and technological crises
from Japan, and 1 from Germany. (n = 1, 2%). Other eight crises (13%) included the financial crisis and
In terms of theoretical frameworks, approximately half of the arti- celebrity scandal etc. These crises occurred between 2003 and 2014,
cles (30 out of 61) applied theoretical frameworks. As shown in Table 1, covering major crises in contemporary Chinese society: 2003 SARS
scholars mostly applied content influence-based theories, including crisis, 2011 Red Cross credibility crisis, 2012 Diaoyu/Senkaku crisis,
image repair theory (12%), situational crisis communication theory 2013 vaccination scandal, and food safety crises such as 2014
(8%), and framing theory (8%). Meanwhile, audience and stakeholder McDonald's food crisis.
theories (e.g., U & G theory, media dependency theory, and spiral of RQ2 inquired into types of social media examined in current re-
silence theory) were also frequently adopted (13%), followed by the search. Data from Table 2demonstrated that the majority of articles
social-mediated crisis communication model (3%), and other theories examined Weibo (n = 20, 33%), followed by Blogs/Forum (n = 7,
11%), online news apps (n = 13, 21%), and social media in general
(n = 15, 25%). Six articles (10%) examined multiple types of social
Table 1 media such as Tencent QQ, Taobao blog, and Tianya forum. Regarding
Theoretical Frameworks and Methodological Preferences. the impact of social media on dialogue in crises of China, this paper
Theory/Methods Frequency Percentage demonstrated results from perspectives of three main organizations
(i.e., governments, corporates, and NPOs) and their publics.
Theoretical framework
Image repair theory 7 12
Situational crisis communication theory 5 8 Table 2
Framing theory 5 8
Types of Crises and Chinese Social Media Studied in the SMCC Research.
Uses and gratifications theory 3 5
Media dependency theory 3 5 Frequency Percentage
Spiral of silence theory 2 3
Social-mediated crisis communication model 2 3 Crises
Other theories 3 5 Managerial misconducts 25 41
No theories applied 31 51 Natural disasters 9 15
Total 61 100 Confrontation crises 8 13
Technological crises 1 2
Research Methods Crises of malevolence 3 5
Quantitative methods Other crises 8 13
Survey 6 10 Crises in general 7 11
Content analysis 14 23 Total 61 100
Experiment 2 3
Qualitative methods Social Media
Case study 15 25 Weibo 20 33
Interview/focus group 3 5 Blogs/Forum 7 11
Literature review 2 3 Online news apps 13 21
Discourse analysis 7 11 Social media in general 15 25
Quantitative and qualitative mixed 12 20 Multiple types of social media 6 10
Total 61 100 Total 61 100

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Y. Cheng Public Relations Review 46 (xxxx) xxxx

Fig. 2. The Government-Public Dialogue on Social Media of China.

4.1. Governmental institutions However, when facing publics, these firms guided dialogue through
using strategies such as framing, denying, or even covering up the truth
Serving as the principal actor in dialogue, governments become the (Kim et al., 2016; Veil & Yang, 2012) in crises. Online publics corre-
research focus among nine articles (15%). Scholars found that the spondingly were found to dislike a denial of responsibility in dialogue
Chinese central government has absolute power to interfere with other and their negative sentiments easily triggered secondary crises in the
actors in a crisis event (Cheng, 2016b; Lyu, 2012). For instance, in the dialogue with corporates (Luo & Zhai, 2017).
Xinjiang riot crisis, Chen (2012) found that the Chinese government Meanwhile, due to Weibo’s rapid circulation of information, crises
maintained a highly controlled, reserved, and less direct conversation evolved from the breakout to regression stage at a faster pace than
with publics. In addition, in the first 8 h of the Wenzhou train collision through other social media channels. Liu, Yu, and Wang (2016) argued
crisis, the Chinese government closed the dialogue by abandoning the that the cycle of public talking about crisis issues would not be longer
rescue process and trying to bury the collided train under soil (Bondes & than five days if no new topics plugged in. In both Baidu and Ctrip cases
Schucher, 2014). in 2016, since the corporates did not respond to critics immediately,
On social media, however, Chinese governmental institutions in public opinion was guided under the direction defined by social media
recent years retained a certain level of openness by setting up an “on- (Liu et al., 2016).
line supervisory system” (Chen, Liu, & Deng, 2018). Instead of com-
pletely “controlling” dialogue with publics, the Chinese government 4.3. NPOs
was “guiding” dialogue to maintain a positive public image in crises
(Xie et al., 2016). As shown in Fig. 2, the central government first Only three articles (Cheng, 2016b; Cheng et al., 2017; Long, 2016)
posted messages on its official website and linked to local governments’ addressed NPOs’ crisis communication with their publics. Within lim-
social media accounts. Then local governments applied these messages ited literature, Cheng (2016a) examined responses of the Red Cross of
as main sources for crisis communication. Second, serving as inspectors, China in a credibility crisis. Results demonstrated that this NPO
local opinion leaders were hired to transmit crisis information and they adopted an accommodative communication strategy to open dialogue
were authorized to scan user-generated contents as well. These online with angry donors on social media during the crisis, but finally shirked
opinoin leaders reported publics’ feedback following local governments’ responsibility and shifted the blame onto others. Although many donors
directions (Chen et al., 2018) and meanwhile responded to online lost their trust toward the Chinese charitable system and refused to
publics’ requests or inquiries. Scholars also found that the dialogue donate again, the Red Cross of China insisted on conducting a closed
between local opinion leaders and their online followers was more di- dialogue and did not disclose any donation information to the general
rect and efficient than the top-down dialogue between governments public.
and publics in crises of China (Tong & Lei, 2013).
Studies also indicated that governments allowed social media users
4.4. Online publics
to post opinions directly and even shared negative comments on gov-
ernments during a certain period of politically sensitive events (Cairns
A majority of current research (24 articles, 39%) examined publics
& Carlson, 2016; Cheng, 2016b). Chinese governments began to open
and a significant increasing trend towards online stakeholders was
dialogue with online publics in strategic decision-making processes and
found from 2006 to 2018. Scholars discussed antecedents that moti-
thus several public emergency events were solved through online pe-
vated publics to engage in dialogue on social media in crises, including
titions (Xie et al., 2016).
a low-level of trust toward governments and traditional media, grati-
fications-sought from social media, and the increased-level of civic
4.2. Corporations awareness and media literacy (Mou, 2014; Xie et al., 2016). Results also
showed that Chinese online publics are highly dependent on social
Scholars increasingly focused on corporations in previous years, media and a growing number of users have used social media to express
publishing 13 articles in total (21%). Different from governments as and share opinions during public emergency events (Xie et al., 2016).
leaders in dialogue with publics, Chinese private firms such as Taobao During the Sichuan earthquake, for example, grass-roots activists began
(China’s version of Amazon) had to avoid any conflicts and open dia- to build up mutual trust, pave the way for more regular and extensive
logue with governments for possible future cooperation (Na, 2017). dialogue between online and offline activism (Lu, 2018). In the “occupy

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central” social movement, large quantities of online publics also ex- they found that totally relying on the law was ineffective or even use-
pressed their extreme voices through proactive dialogue with autho- less in handling a crisis in China. Instead, sentiment (Renqing) should be
rities (Luo & Zhai, 2017). Finally yet importantly, the Chinese social- specially taken care of during crises. For instance, the chief executive
mediated dialogue consists of many nonverbal languages such as officer (CEO) of Vanke, the largest property firm in mainland China,
emoticons and figurative language. Scholars such as Kim et al. (2016) stated that he would donate two million RMB (around 300,000 US
found that when Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce companyadopted dollars) in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. However, online publics at-
an informal personable communication style in dialogue with their tacked his blog post since this CEO ignored the sentimental feelings of
online publics in China, the communication outcomes were positive in victims in the natural crisis (Yang & Jiang, 2015).
terms of consumer sentiments.
RQ3 explored how contextual characteristics in China affected the 4.9. Centralized political system
social-mediated dialogue in crises. Results identified several major
contextual factors, which included high-power distance, face-saving/ Scholars (Bondes & Schucher, 2014; Cairns & Carlson, 2016; Cheng,
giving, favor-seeking/giving, relationship (Guanxi) and sentiment 2016b) found that the organization-public dialogue was strictly con-
(Renqing), and the centralized political system. trolled by the centralized political system in China. In crises, sensitive
words and social media accounts were blocked; nonverbal languages
4.5. High-power distance such as emoticons and figurative language were strictly filtered out;
private-personal data could be easily collected by governmental in-
This cultural trait significantly influenced the government-public stitutions. Between governments and corporations, the political control
dialogue in crises. For instance, (Hong, 2007) found that in the SARS restricted “all the argumentative moves of a corporate weblog” (Na,
crisis, instead of sending updated information to the publics, local of- 2017, p. 344). Even if publics stayed in their daily conversations on
ficials concealed the real number of infectors until receiving upper-level social media, the political system could monitor users’ online dialogue
orders from the central government. The high-power distance pre- and detect any negative comments on governments. Thus, the cen-
vented the occurrence of true dialogue and could easily trigger publics’ tralized political governance in China impedes a transparent, equal, and
high-level of distrust toward organizations when people felt dis- open dialogue between the above-mentioned three types of organiza-
empowered and helpless during crises (Cheng, 2016b). tions and their online publics in crises.

4.6. Face-saving/giving 5. Discussion and conclusion

Due to the traditions of Chinese culture, another factor that influ- By reviewing 61 articles published in 27 academic journals, this
ences social-mediated dialogue in crises is face-saving/giving. Private study presented an overview of current SMCC research in China from
corporations in China have developed a unique dialogic pattern with 2006 to 2018. Results demonstrated that increasing academic attention
governments by giving the face to governments and saving face for focused on online publics. Scholars widely discussed public motives of
themselves. For instance, Na (2017) found that the corporate blogger using social media, highly engaged online communication, and public
Taobao has never directly threatened the face of governmental officials emotions and non-verbal language use in online dialogue (Kim et al.,
in crisis responses. Instead, the blogger rhetorically passed the buck to a 2016; Mou, 2014; Tai & Sun, 2007; Xie et al., 2016). Findings also
third party as the scapegoat. Veil and Yang (2012) also found that in the demonstrated the two sides of social media’s impact on dialogue be-
Sanlu milk contamination crisis, the value of “face-saving” led to a tween organizations and their publics in crises of China. On the one
totally closed dialogue between the state-owned corporate and its hand, social media may act as a mediator for rapid information trans-
publics. The accused firm in crises chose to cover up the truth and mission and promote transparent dialogue in crises. Chinese social
manipulated media coverage since “the ugly things in the family shall media helps balance the organizational power as the “dominator” and
not go public” (Veil & Yang, 2012). Thus, in the Chinese context, face- the public power as the “challenger” in crises. On the other hand, social
saving/giving resulted in a closed and unethical dialogue between media serves as an open-platform to all types of users, so it is hard to
corporations and their online publics. control information due to the highly engaged dialogic interactions.
Messages online have the power of directing public opinion and can
4.7. Favor-seeking/giving cause damage to an organization’s reputation. Last but not least, the
unique contextual factors such as power distance, face-giving/saving,
In the social-mediated dialogue, both organizations and publics favor, relationship (Guanxi) and sentiment (Renqing), and the cen-
valued “favor” in their relationships. For instance, Mou and Lin (2017) tralized political system that may facilitate/inhibit dialogue in crises of
found that individuals build online social networks and engage in China were identified. Implications and directions for future SMCC
dialogue with others since they expect resources for favor-seeking/ research were presented below.
giving between each other. To engage in a relationship, Chinese social
media users categorize their virtual community members and choose to 5.1. Theorizing the social-mediated dialogue in crises
open dialogue with connections following a favor-seeking or giving
tradition. Within the current literature, scholars extensively discussed the
social-mediated crisis communication between three types of organi-
4.8. Relationship and sentiment zations and their publics in China. However, results found only half of
current SMCC studies applied a theoretical framework. Meanwhile,
Results showed that cultural traits such as relationship and senti- theories such as the social-mediated crisis communication model, form/
ment have significantly influenced the social-mediated dialogue in medium influence-based theories (e.g., media richness theory), and
crises. On the one hand, Chinese people heavily relied on relationships source influence-based theories (e.g., dialogic public relations theory)
and their online dialogue with others was to enhance interpersonal were not frequently applied. Moreover, a theoretical framework that
relationships in a collectivist culture (Zheng, Liu, & Davison, 2018). explains the antecedents, process, and outcomes of dialogue on social
Relationship has become the basis for maintaining a dialogue in Chi- media in crises of China is lacking. This study consequently posits a
nese society (Yang & Jiang, 2015). On the other hand, sentiment is the theoretical framework of the SMCC research in China, which confirms
top priority in crisis communication of China. Yang and Jiang (2015) the importance of Chinese contextual elements and may help crisis
identified the hierarchical sequence of sentiment, reason, and law and managers to consider dialogue as an alternative communication

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Fig. 3. A Scholarly Assessment Tool for the Social-Mediated Dialogue in Crises of China.

approach for crisis responses. As shown in Fig. 3, this scholarly as- perspectives of NPOs and provide theoretical and practical suggestions
sessment tool first lists major contextual antecedents that can sig- to increase organizational transparency and accountability in crises.
nificantly influence social-mediated dialogue in crises of China, which Meanwhile, dominant studies focused on mainland China and little
include high-power distance, face and favor, relationship (Guanxi), attention was paid to Greater China, which included Hong Kong,
sentiment (Renqing), the centralized political system, and media cen- Macau, and Taiwan. Although Hong Kong and Macau for instance, have
sorship system. Second, as what Romenti et al. (2014) suggested, dia- returned to the territory of China, local residents may still hold a dif-
logue fulfilled the strategic goals of organizations. Dialogue orienta- ferent political stand and stay out of the strict control of mainland
tions and approaches determined types of dialogue strategies, serving Chinese governments (Huang et al., 2016); people there can easily get
for different purposes and functions in crisis communication. This new access to Facebook and Twitter, which are entirely blocked in mainland
framework thus argues that purposes, strategies, and functions of so- China. The Hong Kong government currently is facing the crisis of
cial-mediated dialogue should be examined in the future. Last but not mistrust from publics in the post-handover period (Luo & Zhai, 2017).
least, this assessment tool contains measurements of SMCC outcomes In Taiwan, the relatively mature democratic policies may lead to a
such as organization-online publics relationships, image construction, different adoption of dialogue strategies in crises. Thus, future research
economic value (e.g., stock, revenue, cost reduction, market share), and can thoroughly explore each specific region and compare the social
social media publicity (e.g., cognitive or affective attributes). Future media and crisis communication practice in Greater China.
research may test the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of social-
mediated dialogue in crises of China based on this scholarly assessment 5.4. Lessons/advice for practitioners
tool.
According to Eriksson (2018), a good systematic review should not
5.2. Extending research on secondary crisis communication only describe directions for theory development and research topics,
but also provide implications for practitioners. This review research
As social media has become increasingly important and powerful in filled the gap of global public relations literature by presenting lessons
facilitating publics to express their own opinions, scholars showed a for practitioners who are interested in the social media and crisis
keen interest in secondary crisis communication (SCC), which was de- communication practice in China. First, in China, emoticons and fig-
fined as “the public disseminate crisis information and post negative urative language were popular on various domestic social media tools.
comments about firms in crisis” (Schultz, Utz, & Goritz, 2011; cited in Results suggested that it is important for organizations to adopt an
Zheng et al., 2018, p. 56). For instance, Noguti, Lee, and Dwivedi informal personable communication style in dialogue with online
(2016) found the unique feature of SCC is the capacity for large publics in crises. Second, the appearance of social media such as Weibo
quantities of information transmitted rapidly on social media (Noguti and WeChat makes timing an essential factor in crisis communication.
et al., 2016). Moreover, SCC not only spread crises events, but also led Thus, organizations need to change their dialogic approaches from
to new crises (Luo & Zhai, 2017). SCC has magnified the consequences being passive to being active and open true dialogue on China's social
of crises and certain publics’ posts in a celebrity-endorsement crisis media sites for crisis communication. It is also essential to grasp publics’
even generated more “likes” than organizational crisis responses (Jiang, sentimental feelings at the outset of dialogue and regularly monitor
Huang, Wu, Choy, & Lin, 2015). Currently limited research focused on items such as customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth on popular so-
the effects of SCC and stakeholders’ crisis communication strategies, cial media platforms (Kim et al., 2016). Finally, as results from this
while in crises of China the public-generated dialogues had a high de- study demonstrated, organizations should particularly understand the
gree of diffusivity and interaction. The highly active publics and their cultural norms and societal forces of China, if their strategic goal is to
crisis responses strategies on social media deserve exploration. This establish and maintain a positive relationship with publics in such a
study calls for more future studies on secondary crisis communication challenging marketplace.
in China.
Limitation and future directions
5.3. Exploring NPOs’ crisis communication in Greater China
Several limitations must be mentioned. First, this study did not
Results presented that large quantities of current studies focused on explore articles written in Chinese from local Chinese scholars, future
stakeholders/publics, governments, or corporates, rather than NPOs. In research might conduct a complete review and compare findings be-
China, two main types of NPOs exist: one is initiated and sponsored by tween the international and local scholarship on the subject of social-
governments; the other is organized and financially supported by pri- mediated dialogue in crises. Second, to explore the stand-alone em-
vate citizens or institutions (Cheng, 2016b). Future research agenda pirical research, this study only reviewed journal articles and excluded
may focus on the social-mediated crisis communication from book reviews, commentaries, and conference proceedings. With the

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rapidly growing productivity in the SMCC research, many journal ar- Jin, Y., & Liu, B. F. (2010). The blog-mediated crisis communication model:
ticles, books, and conference papers from interdisciplinary areas such as Recommendations for responding to influential external blogs. Journal of Public
Relations Research, 22(4), 429–455.
business, psychology, and public policy could also provide rich refer- Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (1998). Building dialogic relationships through the World Wide
ences on this topic. Future research may include those resources into Web. Public Relations Review, 24, 321–334.
discussions. Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (2002). Toward a dialogic theory of public relations. Public
Relations Review, 28, 21–37.
Kim, S., Zhang, X. A., & Zhang, B. W. (2016). Self-mocking crisis strategy on social media:
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Oaks, CA: Sage. Yang Cheng is an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
Tong, Y. Q., & Lei, S. H. (2013). War of position and microblogging in China. Journal of She teaches quantitative research methods, strategic communication, the introduction of
Contemporary China, 22(80), 292–311. public relations, and crisis communication. Her research interests include public rela-
Veil, S. R., & Yang, A. (2012). Media manipulation in the Sanlu milk contamination crisis. tions, social media and crisis communication, and artificial intelligence in the business
Public Relations Review, 38(5), 935–937. context. Some of her publications have appeared in top journals such as the New media &
Wigley, S., & Fontenot, M. (2010). Crisis managers losing control of the message: A pilot Society, American Behavioral Scientist, International Journal of Communication, Public
study of the Virginia tech shooting. Public Relations Review, 36(2), 187–189. https:// Relations Review, and Asian Journal of Communication. She has also received many awards
[Link]/10.1016/[Link].2010.01.003. and honors from global institutions such as the Institute of Public Relations and PRIME
Wong, A., Wei, L., Wang, X., & Tjosvold, D. (2017). Guanxi’s contribution to commitment research, and has acted as the principal investigator in many grants including the Arthur
and productive conflict between banks and small and medium enterprises in China. Page Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant.
Group & Organization Management, 42(6), 819–845. [Link]