Social media engagement of stakeholders during COVID-19: an approach to crisis management in the maritime industry

Abstract

COVID-19 is causing major disruptions in the maritime industries. The disruptive nature of the disease has led many maritime companies into a state of crisis. Maritime companies are taking to social media as a form of crisis management and communication. However, not all social media posts generate the same amount of social media engagement, particularly in a state of a health crisis. Anchored on user gratification, media richness and protection motivation theories, this study aims to identify and investigate the social media posts’ contents and characteristics that influence higher stakeholder engagement in the maritime industry under the influence of an on-going health crisis. The study applies hierarchical regression analysis on data collected from COVID-19-related Facebook posts of eighteen different companies from four different maritime sectors. The study found that in relation to content type, informational, relational and entertaining content as well as self-efficacy, severity, and vulnerability-eliciting contents significantly influence stakeholder engagement rate. In terms of post characteristics, posts with higher vividness and fluency, characterised by providing external links significantly influences stakeholder engagement rates. This is the first study that investigates stakeholders’ motivation to engage with social media contents regarding COVID-19-related posts. The results are expected to assist maritime organisations to harness social media as a crisis management and communication tool.