Date of Conferral

4-11-2025

Date of Award

April 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Celeste Fenton

Abstract

The problem was that while impact and problems of crisis communication have been identified in the literature, little is known about the perspectives of leaders in higher education when facing communication issues in times of crisis. Guided by crisis communication theory and leadership theory, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore higher education leadership team members’ perspectives of communication challenges in times of crisis. Four research questions guided the study on the perspectives of higher education leadership team members about (a) how their own leadership and communication changed during a crisis, (b) how internal communications evolved during a crisis, (c) how external communications evolved during a crisis, and (d) the communication challenges experienced during a crisis. Fifteen members of varying leadership teams at a major university in Canada were recruited through purposive sampling to participate in semistructured interviews. All participants were involved in managing or contributing to the decision-making or response to a higher education crisis while in their leadership positions. Data were analyzed using content and inductive analysis, followed by structural coding. Results highlighted the need to define a crisis, along with the need for communication planning, training, and preparation. Results also emphasized the need to acknowledge mini crises amid a larger crisis, and the evolving leadership traits that emerge. Universities and similar organizations may use the insights from this study to drive positive social change by adopting new strategies, processes, technologies, and policies that benefit both internal and external stakeholders of the university community.

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