Presenter : HyeonJu Jeong Ph.D Candidate

1. IAMCR, Stockholm, Sweden July. 25th. 2008 Digital divide, how to control inequality to information access in the process of crisis management: The case study on oil spill crisis in South Korea Presenter : HyeonJu Jeong Ph.D Candidate in Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea)

2. Contents 1 Introduction 2 Literature Review 3 Research Questions 4 Methodology 5 Results 6 Discussion and Conclusion

3. Introduction • Organizations are always facing more crisis situations than ever before. • As the Internet emerged as a tool that organizations could use to communicate with media and publics, in the crisis situation, the Internet is being incorporated into the crisis response. • One of the drawbacks the Internet has is the inequality in the access to the digital media. • Especially, core public, that is, victims and their family in a crisis, falls into the category of the Internet have-nots Objectives : To explore crisis communication responses by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and whether they work well or not, searching for an alternative way for crisis management on Internet have-nots

4. Literature Review I Crisis Management Crisis Management through the Internet II III Digital Divide

5. Crisis Management • a five-category model of message strategies. (Coombs, 1995) 1) Nonexistence Strategies : to deny crisis’s existence 2) Distance Strategies : to weaken the link between the crisis and organizations 3) Ingratiation Strategies : to gain public approval 4) Mortification Strategies : to gain forgiveness and acceptance 5) Suffering Strategies : To draw sympathy from the public 6) Silence Strategies 7) Endorsement of an outside expert

6. Crisis Management through Internet • The usefulness of the Internet for crisis management (Perry, Taylor, & Doerfel, 2003) 1) It can help organizations scan environment to plan response for a crisis. 2) It can help organizations quickly communicate their decisions to main stakeholders.

7. Digital Divide • Digital Divide : differences between individuals, households, companies, or regions related to the access to and usage of ICT (OECD, 2001). • Fundamental Causes of Digital Divide : Cullen (2001) - historical, socioeconomic, geographic, educational, behavioral, or generation factors, physical incapability of individuals Vehovar et al. (2006)- differences in age, gender, the level of education, religious belief, social status, monthly income of household, and the level of urbanization.

8. Research Questions RQ1. What kinds of crisis communication responses did the Samsung Heavy Industries, Co. make during a crisis? RQ2. In a crisis, how did the Internet have-nots access to the information associated to the disaster and make their decision? RQ3. Did the Internet have-nots properly accept the crisis responses the Samsung Heavy Industries, Co. made?

9. Content Analysis : - to analyze online news articles and the website of the Samsung Heavy Industries Co. From Dec 7th. to Jun. 18th in 2008. - to divide three periods based on conspicuous change in the company’s position. i) 1st period : From Dec 7th to Jan 21st ii) 2nd period : From Jan 22nd (Apology) to Feb 29th iii) 3rd period : From Mar 1st ( fund for development) to Jun 18th (Judicial Decision) In-depth Interview - interview with residents in Tae-an province Methodology

10. Online Crisis Responses 1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Results Mortification Strategies, Distance Strategies, & Suffering Strategies Mortification Strategies & Silence Strategies Distance Strategies & Silence Strategies

11. Results • Internet Have-nots’ decision making process • Mass Media, • Inter-personal • communication with • their neighbors, • the county office. Sources “We don’t have time to access any kind of media because we have to work just to survive.” “If a passerby says something, they can know it. There are no other sources from which to get information.

12. Results • Internet Have-nots’ Awareness of Crisis responses Attitude Awareness Don’t Know Dissatisfaction They wish for the company to take unlimited responsibility to provide pecuniary compensation Most of them aren’t aware of the crisis responses through online by Samsung

13. Thank You !