Project Design
Based on the research objective, the key research questions of this research will be:
- What is the current use of social media by Australian banks, for crisis communication?
- What are the customer perceptions about the existing Australian banks’ social media communication during crises?
- What are the successful social media crisis management strategies suitable for the banking sector to enhance public trust?
To answer these three research questions, it is proposed to conduct mixed research. This will help the researcher and readers to gain an empirical and comprehensive understanding of the role of social media in supporting the crisis management strategy of Australian Banks. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a social media crisis management strategy for Australian banks. For this, the research will be divided and conducted into three phases: collecting data from primary and secondary sources, conducting thematic analysis, by understanding the best practices of other banking sectors and linking it to data collected, and proposing/identifying suitable strategies for the Australian banks, based on best practices and data analyzed.
Phase 1: Data Collection
This study will use both primary and secondary data sources (Bell, & Waters, 2018). The Primary data will be collected through surveys and interviews with customers, managers, and other stakeholders of selected Australian banks. The survey questionnaire will be designed to gather data related to customer experiences during past/existing crises. Also, the survey will analyze their perceptions of the banks' efforts in terms of their social media communication, and their expectations from the banks, in future crisis management situations. Furthermore, interviews/surveys will be conducted with different bank managers/social media managers to gain insights about their banks' current crisis management strategies, goals, and challenges, etc. Additionally, the research will include external and secondary information, available in academic journals, peer reviews, case studies, reports (industry and banks), websites, etc.
Phase 2: Conducting thematic analysis from a diverse set of data
The question analysis in mixed method research is essential, which require to analyze different type of data. Thematic analysis is usually used in qualitative research but research supports the usage of diverse sets of data to analyze different themes (Schniederjohann, 2021). This method is called the hybrid thematic approach. This will use qualitative and quantitative data to conduct inductive or deductive thematic analysis (Proudfoot, 2023), which makes it suitable for this research proposal. To conduct this thematic analysis, the research will analyze external literature and case studies of financial institutions that have successfully managed crises through social media. Also, different expert reports and best practice policies will be examined. These external reports and material will help to identify effective strategies and common challenges faced by banks and the financial sector of different countries/markets. Additionally, stakeholder’s responses (managers and customers) will be used to develop meaningful links between the quantitative data and qualitative data, in the form of themes.
Phase 3: Identification of suitable crisis communication strategies to enhance public trust
Based on the thematic analysis and responses received, the research will identify and recommend suitable crisis communication strategies for banks in Australia. The strategy will focus on enhancing transparency, timely communication, and customer engagement during crises. Also, the strategies will help to strengthen the bank’s social media communication strategy, and brand image and enhance public trust.
