A comparative study of Twitter utilization in disaster management between public and private organizations

• Author: Panom Gunawong,Caitlin C. Ferreira,Narongsak Thongpapanl
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1932
• Date: 01 November 2019
• Published date: 01 November 2019

ACADEMIC PAPER

A comparative study of Twitter utilization in disaster

management between public and private organizations

Panom Gunawong

1

|Narongsak Thongpapanl

2,3

|Caitlin C. Ferreira

4,5

1

School of Public Administration, Faculty of

Political Science and Public Administration,

Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

2

Goodman School of Business, Brock

University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

3

Research Administration Center (RAC),

Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai,

Thailand

4

Department of Business Administration,

Technology, and Social Sciences, Luleå

University of Technology (LTU), Luleå,

Sweden

5

Red & Yellow Creative School of Business,

Cape Town, South Africa

Correspondence

Narongsak Thongpapanl, Goodman School of

Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON

L2S 3A1, Canada.

Email: tek@brocku.ca

Funding information

Faculty of Political Science and Public Admin-

istration, Chiang Mai University, Grant/Award

Number: R000010471

Twitter has become a commonly used platform by both public and private organiza-

tions to assist with the dissemination of information related to disaster management.

This research makes use of a mixed‐method approach in determining the extent and

manner in which Twitter is used to disseminate disaster management information by

both public and private organizations. This research found that public organizations

are bound by strict regulations resulting in a lower volume and smaller variety of

disaster‐related information being disseminated. The nature of an organization

and the processes of decision making therein are suggested to influence the ability

of an organization to successfully use Twitter as an effective tool for disaster

management. Organizations in Thailand currently underutilize Twitter for disaster

management, as neither public nor private organizations use Twitter as a multidirec-

tional communication disaster management tool.

1|INTRODUCTION

In the age of the Internet of Things (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015),

social media has become a popular tool in both politics and public

administration. Many studies have examined the role that social media

plays in these fields, for instance, those of Dini, Sæbo, and Wahid

(2018), Hamajoda (2016), and Kasadha (2018). Twitter is a well‐known

social media application that has gained tremendous popularity

(Statista, 2018), growing rapidly since its inception in March 2006.

Statistics from Twitter indicate that in the third quarter of 2017, there

were more than 330 million globally active monthly users. With offices

spanning more than 35 countries around the globe, Twitter's mission

is to provide an online platform that allows for the creation and spread

of ideas and information without any barriers (Statista, 2018;

Twitter, 2017).

Twitter's functionality allows one to form a close network of users

while also allowing for mass communication to a wide audience through

the intricate linking nature of “hashtags.”The use of Twitter by the

private sector is largely focused on using the platform for marketing

purposes, for example, public relations departments using the

platform to gather information (Liu, Burns, & Hou, 2017). Bhattacharjya,

Tripathi, and Ellison (2016) and Taecharungroj (2017) find the private

sector's use of Twitter in marketing and public relations, logistics,

and customer relations, respectively, resulting in a two‐way communi-

cation between high‐level management and those operating arms.

The public sector makes use of Twitter for a number of reasons,

such as stakeholder communication and the sharing of information

(McInnes & Hornmoen, 2018), calls to action (Al‐Aama, 2015),

networking (Gao, 2018; Khan, Yoon, Kim, & Park, 2014),

citizen engagement (Haro‐de‐Rosario, Sáez‐Martín, & del Carmen

Caba‐Pérez, 2018), or disaster management (Chatfield & Reddick,

2015). Another study by Eom, Hwang, and Kim (2018) shows that

Twitter can enhance public service and improve government respon-

siveness. Twitter can also be used as a source of big data for analysis

or prediction. For example, Signorini, Segre, and Polgreen (2011) stud-

ied the use of Twitter to monitor the spread of influenza in the United

Received: 26 November 2018 Revised: 21 January 2019 Accepted: 23 February 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1932

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1932.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1932

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of11