the case of singapore airlines sq006

290 Pages·2017·1.97 MB·English

AN EXPLORATORY MIXED METHODS ANALYSIS OF
THE MEDIA FRAMING OF CRISIS STAKEHOLDER
SALIENCE: THE CASE OF SINGAPORE AIRLINES SQ006

Dissertation submitted for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Leicester

by

Lim Kim Yang
Institute of Lifelong Learning
University of Leicester

2016
CONTENTS

An exploratory mixed methods analysis of the media framing
of crisis stakeholder salience: The case of Singapore Airlines
SQ006

By: Lim Kim Yang

Abstract

Crises disrupt an organisation’s operations and harm its stakeholders. How an
organisation-in-crisis is perceived to respond to the needs of affected stakeholders may
significantly affect the firm’s recovery and future viability. Stakeholders and observers
acquire much of their information about a crisis from news media coverage. This study
accepts the principle that media framing can influence audience’s perceptions of reported
stories. The research explores how three news media sources in Taiwan and Singapore
framed the salience of stakeholders affected by the October 2000 crash in Taipei of
Singapore Airlines’ flight SQ006. The study introduces a conceptual framework of
crisis stakeholder salience drawn from stakeholder theory, crisis communication and
media framing of crises and disasters. Using a mixed methods content analysis
approach, the framework is applied to investigate the news media framing of SQ006
stakeholders in the sampled media texts. The findings show that the SQ006 crisis
stakeholders were framed as salient through more dimensions than the three attributes of
power, legitimacy and urgency recognised in a seminal stakeholder theory model of
stakeholder salience. The findings have implications for further research and
applications for crisis management practice, which are discussed.

Key words: crisis management, stakeholder salience, framing, SQ006
CONTENTS

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Identifying the problem: Perceptions of crisis stakeholder salience ............... 2
1.1 Background: Crisis, organisations, stakeholders and the media ........................ 3
1.1.1 Diverse stakeholders and disparate perspectives ........................................ 6
1.1.2 Role of the news media during crises ...................................................... 10
1.2 Conceptualising crisis stakeholder salience .................................................... 14
1.2.1 Stakeholder salience ................................................................................ 14
1.2.2 Situational crisis communication theory .................................................. 17
1.2.3 News media framing of crises ................................................................. 18
1.3 Research strategy ........................................................................................... 20
1.3.1 Research scope ........................................................................................ 21
1.3.2 Conceptual and methodological approach ............................................... 22
1.3.3 Contribution ............................................................................................ 23
1.3.4 Dissertation outline ................................................................................. 25
1.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 2: Crisis: A multi-faceted social construct ......................................................... 29
2.1 The nature of organisation crisis ..................................................................... 29
2.1.1 Defining crisis ......................................................................................... 30
2.1.2 Classifying crises .................................................................................... 34
2.2 Crisis management ......................................................................................... 39
2.2.1 Responsibilities to crisis stakeholders ...................................................... 40
2.3 Crisis communication ..................................................................................... 43
2.3.1 Situational crisis communication theory .................................................. 45
2.4 Conclusions from this chapter ........................................................................ 49
Chapter 3: Stakeholders and an organisation-in-crisis ................................................... 51
3.1 The stakeholder approach ............................................................................... 51
3.1.1 Stakeholder approval, reputation and legitimacy ..................................... 55
3.1.2 Defining and describing stakeholders ...................................................... 57
3.1.3 Stakeholder networks and issue arena ...................................................... 62
3.2 The Mitchell et al. (1997) model of stakeholder salience ................................ 64
3.2.1 Power as a salience attribute .................................................................... 66
3.2.2 Legitimacy as a salience attribute ............................................................ 69
3.2.3 Urgency as a salience attribute ................................................................ 72
CONTENTS
3.2.4 Broadening the stakeholder salience model for crisis ............................... 74
3.3 Conclusions from this chapter ........................................................................ 78
Chapter 4: News media framing of organisation crisis .................................................... 79
4.1 Media effects approaches ............................................................................... 80
4.1.1 Media agenda setting and framing compared ........................................... 81
4.2 Framing of news in media stories ................................................................... 83
4.2.1 Media frame ............................................................................................ 85
4.2.2 Individual frame ...................................................................................... 87
4.3 Media framing of organisation crisis situations ............................................... 89
4.3.1 News frames in media coverage of crises ................................................ 91
4.4 Conclusions drawn from the literature review ................................................. 97
Chapter 5: Conceptual framework and methodological approach ............................... 100
5.1 Conceptualising crisis stakeholder salience .................................................. 103
5.1.1 Framework of crisis stakeholder salience .............................................. 105
5.2 Case study based on the SQ006 accident ...................................................... 114
5.3 Mixed methods approach ............................................................................. 117
5.4 Content analysis methods ............................................................................. 120
5.4.1 Data collection and sampling................................................................. 124
5.4.2 Coding and analysis procedures ............................................................ 128
5.4.3 Intercoder reliability assessment ............................................................ 132
5.4.4 Inference quality ................................................................................... 135
5.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 137
Chapter 6: Case study of the Singapore Airlines SQ006 accident ................................. 138
6.1 The SQ006 accident ..................................................................................... 139
6.2 Content analysis results ................................................................................ 144
6.2.1 Quantitative examination of stakeholder newsworthiness ...................... 147
6.2.2 Qualitative examination of stakeholder salience .................................... 155
6.3 Conclusions from the SQ006 case study analysis.......................................... 188
Chapter 7: Discussion: Towards a framework of crisis stakeholder salience ............... 190
7.1 Stakeholder salience through media frames .................................................. 192
7.1.1 Newsworthiness and salience: convergence and divergence .................. 193
7.1.2 Assessing stakeholders’ overall salience ................................................ 195
7.2 Revisiting the crisis stakeholder salience characteristics ............................... 197
7.2.1 Power .................................................................................................... 199
7.2.2 Legitimacy ............................................................................................ 201
7.2.3 Urgency ................................................................................................ 203
7.2.4 Proximity .............................................................................................. 204
CONTENTS
7.2.5 Severe hurt ............................................................................................ 206
7.3 Limitations of the study ................................................................................ 207
7.4 Contribution and implications ...................................................................... 208
7.5 Concluding reflections ................................................................................. 212
Chapter 8: Conclusion .................................................................................................... 213
Appendix A Definitions of crisis ..…………………………..…………….……..… 215
Appendix B Definitions of stakeholder……………………………..…….………….217
Appendix C Coding protocol..………………………………………….…..…......... 218
Appendix D Timeline of SQ006 crisis…………………………………….…..…... 223
Bibliography ………………………………………………………….…...….…… 224
Supplementary bibliography: Articles analysed for case studies ……………… 278
CONTENTS
List of Tables

Table 5.1 Stakeholder salience dimensions adapted from SCCT ............................... 107
Table 5.2 Stakeholder salience dimensions drawn from the MAW model and critiques
................................................................................................................................... 109
Table 5.3 Stakeholder characteristics derived from media frames ............................. 110
Table 5.4 Comparison of derived crisis stakeholder salience dimensions .................. 111
Table 5.5 Operationalising the crisis stakeholder salience characteristics ................... 113
Table 5.6 Identification attributes of sampled texts .................................................... 129
Table 5.7 Summary of variables coded in quantitative analysis ................................. 130
Table 5.8 Intercoder reliability assessments .............................................................. 134
Table 6.1 Frequency of articles by week ................................................................... 146
Table 6.2 Findings of newsworthiness and valence in The Straits Times’ coverage (110
articles) ...................................................................................................................... 154
Table 6.3 Findings of newsworthiness and valence in Central News Agency’s coverage
(48 articles) ................................................................................................................ 154
Table 6.4 Findings of newsworthiness and valence in The China Post’s coverage (17
articles) ...................................................................................................................... 154
Table 6.5 Summary of salience framing (SIA) .......................................................... 156
Table 6.6 Summary of salience framing (On board) .................................................. 160
Table 6.7 Summary of salience framing (Cabin crew) ............................................... 162
Table 6.8 Summary of salience framing (Pilots) ........................................................ 164
Table 6.9 Summary of salience framing (Families) ................................................... 167
Table 6.10 Summary of salience findings (EMS) ...................................................... 169
Table 6.11 Summary of salience framing (CAA) ...................................................... 170
Table 6.12 Summary of salience framing (ROC govt) ............................................... 173
Table 6.13 Summary of salience framing (Pilots ass) ................................................ 176
CONTENTS
Table 6.14 Summary of salience framing (Spore govt) .............................................. 177
Table 6.15 Summary of salience framing (Spore public) ........................................... 178
Table 6.16 Summary of salience framing (ROC Pres) ............................................... 179
Table 6.17 Summary of salience framing (ROC public) ............................................ 180
Table 6.18 Summary of salience findings in The Straits Times’ coverage (N = 110
articles) ...................................................................................................................... 184
Table 6.19 Summary of salience findings in Central News Agency’s coverage (N = 48
articles) ...................................................................................................................... 185
Table 6.20 Summary of salience findings in The China Post’s coverage (N = 17
articles) ...................................................................................................................... 186
Table 6.21 Legend of variables ................................................................................. 187
CONTENTS
List of Figures

Figure 3.1 Freeman’s basic stakeholder map of a large organisation (Midttun, 2007) .. 63
Figure 3.2 Salience classification of stakeholders (Mitchell et al., 1997) ..................... 65
Figure 5.1 Foundation of the crisis stakeholder salience model ................................. 106
CHAPTER 1: IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM: PERCEPTIONS OF CRISIS STAKEHOLDER SALIENCE

Chapter 1: Identifying the problem: Perceptions of
crisis stakeholder salience

When an organisation experiences a crisis, it is expected to respond effectively and
appropriately to address the needs of affected stakeholders. Past crises have consistently
demonstrated that a key determinant of how much damage an organisation-in-crisis
sustains to its reputation, image, legitimacy and future viability is how fairly and
empathetically it is judged to have addressed the needs of the parties most affected.

This research project developed from the concept, widely supported in the crisis
literature, that effective crisis management requires an objective assessment of the
salience of affected stakeholders and their often-competing claims on the focal
organisation of a crisis. Understanding stakeholders’ disparate perspectives of the
situation and their expectations of the organisation may be vital to developing crisis
response strategies that are seen as appropriate and fair, make the best use of available
resources, and protect the organisation and its stakeholders from being further harmed by
the crisis.

This thesis connects research in stakeholder theory, crisis management and
communication, and media studies to facilitate insight into perceptions of crisis
stakeholder salience. The study draws from these disciplines to introduce a novel
conceptual framework of crisis stakeholder salience. This thesis accepts the premise that
media frames in news coverage of a crisis may influence audiences’ perceptions of the
situation and affected stakeholders. Thus, the study applies the crisis stakeholder
salience framework to examine how stakeholders involved in the October 2000 crash of

SQ006: MEDIA FRAMING OF CRISIS STAKEHOLDER SALIENCE
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CHAPTER 1: IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM: PERCEPTIONS OF CRISIS STAKEHOLDER SALIENCE
Singapore Airlines’ flight SQ006 are framed as salient in sampled media coverage, to
answer the research questions:

RQ1: What does the manifest content of the media coverage reveal about the three
media sources’ depiction of the newsworthiness of each crisis stakeholder?
(a) What is the extent, frequency, prominence and valence of mentions of each
stakeholder?
(b) Is the newsworthiness of each stakeholder depicted differently in the different
media platforms?

RQ2: How does the coverage of the crisis in the three media sources frame each
stakeholder as salient?
a) To what extent is each stakeholder framed as possessing the identified crisis
stakeholder salience characteristics?
(b) What framing devices are employed by the media sources to depict stakeholder
salience?
(c) How does the salience framing of each stakeholder differ across the three media
platforms?

In investigating these research questions, three broad and intertwined analytical themes
are identified: the conceptual challenges in understanding the multi-faceted social
construct that is a crisis; stakeholders and the organisation-in-crisis; and news framing in
media coverage of an organisation crisis. This chapter provides an account of the
significance of these three themes to the research problem and how they contributed to
shaping the conceptual framework introduced to answer the research questions.

1.1 Background: Crisis, organisations, stakeholders and the media

Crisis has become an inevitable and prominent feature of the modern business
environment; every organisation at some time will face crisis situations that can disrupt

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