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Digital corporate communication and hostile hijacking of organizational crises

Johansson, Sofia ; Nothhaft, Howard LU and Fjällhed, Alicia LU (2023) p.208-221
Abstract
Social media and digital communication not only provide ways for organisations to engage stakeholders in new and more dialogic ways but have also opened a historically unprecedented Pandora’s box of disinformation techniques. Conventional crisis communication is well prepared to engage critical stakeholders, but its routines are ill-adapted to exploitative actors who employ deceptive or malicious tactics. This chapter draws attention to the ‘hostile hijacking’ of organisational crises by disinformation operators. Hostile hijacking occurs when ideologically motivated operators catalyze and amplify public outrage against organizations to make a point about the organisation’s country of origin or similar countries. Four potential tell-tale... (More)
Social media and digital communication not only provide ways for organisations to engage stakeholders in new and more dialogic ways but have also opened a historically unprecedented Pandora’s box of disinformation techniques. Conventional crisis communication is well prepared to engage critical stakeholders, but its routines are ill-adapted to exploitative actors who employ deceptive or malicious tactics. This chapter draws attention to the ‘hostile hijacking’ of organisational crises by disinformation operators. Hostile hijacking occurs when ideologically motivated operators catalyze and amplify public outrage against organizations to make a point about the organisation’s country of origin or similar countries. Four potential tell-tale signs of a crises hijack are singled out: contribution to common disinformation narratives, logical incoherence and link by association, victimisation and mask-slipping, and conspiracy logic. The patterns are discussed and a roadmap for future directions is provided. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
conspiracy theory, crisis communication, disinformation, hostile narratives, hostile hijacking, risk awareness
host publication
Handbook on Digital Corporate Communication
editor
Louma-aho, Vilma and Badham, Mark
pages
14 pages
publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85176425693
ISBN
978 1 80220 195 6
978 1 80220 196 3
DOI
10.4337/9781802201963.00025
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0c1dafe5-40b2-42fa-95c4-ccaccae72584
date added to LUP
2023-06-05 14:48:40
date last changed
2024-04-30 06:17:22
@inbook{0c1dafe5-40b2-42fa-95c4-ccaccae72584,
  abstract     = {{Social media and digital communication not only provide ways for organisations to engage stakeholders in new and more dialogic ways but have also opened a historically unprecedented Pandora’s box of disinformation techniques. Conventional crisis communication is well prepared to engage critical stakeholders, but its routines are ill-adapted to exploitative actors who employ deceptive or malicious tactics. This chapter draws attention to the ‘hostile hijacking’ of organisational crises by disinformation operators. Hostile hijacking occurs when ideologically motivated operators catalyze and amplify public outrage against organizations to make a point about the organisation’s country of origin or similar countries. Four potential tell-tale signs of a crises hijack are singled out: contribution to common disinformation narratives, logical incoherence and link by association, victimisation and mask-slipping, and conspiracy logic. The patterns are discussed and a roadmap for future directions is provided.}},
  author       = {{Johansson, Sofia and Nothhaft, Howard and Fjällhed, Alicia}},
  booktitle    = {{Handbook on Digital Corporate Communication}},
  editor       = {{Louma-aho, Vilma and Badham, Mark}},
  isbn         = {{978 1 80220 195 6}},
  keywords     = {{conspiracy theory; crisis communication; disinformation; hostile narratives; hostile hijacking; risk awareness}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  pages        = {{208--221}},
  publisher    = {{Edward Elgar Publishing}},
  title        = {{Digital corporate communication and hostile hijacking of organizational crises}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781802201963.00025}},
  doi          = {{10.4337/9781802201963.00025}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}