Crisis communication: Perspectives of stakeholders in the housing crisis

Angelica G Ruvarac, Purdue University

Abstract

The housing crisis is one of the most significant social problems the United States has faced since the recession of the early 1990s, and indeed has been called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. American homeowners faced this cataclysmic crisis which changed the landscape of homeownership in the United States. The 2006-current housing crisis forced many homeowners to walk away from their homes or consider foreclosure, thus exposing various communities to unwanted vulnerability such as blight, vandalism, and loss of property value. Previous scholarship has explored crisis communication stages—pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis—and their implications for organizations. This study builds on that literature and investigates the thoughts, perceptions, and communication tactics of housing stakeholders whose constituencies were negatively affected by the 2006-current housing crisis. Most published and recent data uncovered has dealt with national foreclosures and little has been offered in the way of data that focus on how the housing crisis directly affects Central Indiana communities and stakeholders' interactions with constituencies. The implications of crisis communication on the housing industry crisis are an area understudied. This research presents key concepts of social constructionism as a general framework for describing crisis communication. The study examines social construction from a crisis communication worldview in which reality is socially constructed through language with their constituency. Utilizing a descriptive case study approach, open-ended interviews, documentation, and archival records were used to investigate crisis communication tactics as an essential component of stakeholder's communication thoughts and perceptions. This study contributes to scholarship by: (a) generating a further understanding of the housing crisis, (b) examining participants' crisis communication perceptions of crisis prevention and management, (c) identifying different communication strategies that housing stakeholders might implement when dealing with the foreclosure pain and suffering their constituencies endure, and (d) contributing towards the possible prevention of similar crisis situations in the future. The results of this study suggest stakeholders were clearly not prepared to prevent, manage, or resolve the magnitude of the housing crisis. Chasing the American Dream can become a futile activity as America is becoming a country of renters.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Webb, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Communication

COinS