Year
2023
Season
Summer
Paper Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
College of Education and Human Services
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Department
Education
NACO controlled Corporate Body
University of North Florida. Department of Leadership, School Counseling & Sports Management
First Advisor
Dr. David Hoppey
Second Advisor
Dr. Amanda Pascale
Third Advisor
Dr. Laura Boilini
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Lee Anderson-Louy
Department Chair
Dr. Kristi Sweeney
College Dean
Dr. Jenifer Kane
Abstract
This exploratory mixed methods case study examined internal stakeholder’s perceptions of internally distributed COVID- 19 related crisis communication during the three stages of crisis (Coombs, 2019): pre-crisis (January to March 2020), crisis event (March 2020 to May 2021), and post-crisis (June 2021 to March 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic was an unforeseen crisis with yet unknown lasting impacts on institutions of higher education. Internal stakeholder perception of leaderships’ communication competence during a crisis event, and the leadership communication challenges during a world-wide pandemic are new areas of research (Bohn, 2022; Çelebi, et al., 2018; Coombs, 2010; Jong, 2020) It was important examine perceptions because the preponderance of literature had been written about requisite skills for engaging in quality leadership (Argyris & Schön, 1974; Bass, 1990; Maxwell, 1998; Northouse, 2010; Spillane, 2006) and about the qualities, such as openness, supportiveness, honesty, consistency, transparent, etc., that demonstrate leadership communication competence (Arokiasamy, et al., 2019; Bouilloud, et al., 2019; Johansson, et al., 2013; Üstüner & Kiş, 2014; Veil, et al., 2017). This study sought to contribute additional knowledge on internal stakeholder perceptions of leadership crisis communication competence and the challenges inherent in developing and delivering quality crisis communication not only during a pandemic, but in the midst of whatever crisis du jour affects a college campus (Coombs, 2000; Gigliotti, 2020; Talu & Nazarov, 2021)
Suggested Citation
Kuhn-Hancock, Lori Ann, "Truth and Consequences: Internal Stakeholder Perception of Higher Education Leadership Crisis Communication Competence During the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2023). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 1213.
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/1213