Commentary—Space is Hard: Using Social Media for Selective Investigative Disclosure as a Multi-faceted Crisis Communication Strategy to Achieve Technical Transparency

Abstract

In this commentary, we note that situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) provides useful guidelines for an organization to protect its reputation during a crisis. However, when a high reliability organization (HRO) faces a crisis, openness often supersedes reputation management as a priority as maintaining the public’s trust is paramount. Unfortunately, SCCT in its present form does not account for this distinction. With the present research, we seek to extend SCCT by offering additional crisis response options for HROs which further explicate the evolving role of social media in providing an effective crisis response. A content analysis of 18 tweets and eight website updates, released by a private spaceflight corporation, allows us to offer investigative disclosure as a new crisis response category and technical transparency as a new crisis response objective. We propose a nuanced view that situates investigative disclosure as an antecedent to corrective action.