Communicating COVID-19: Analyzing Higher Education Institutional Responses in Canada, China, and the United States

• In Event: Accepting Responsibility for Unearthing Emerging and Persistent Organizational Realities

Abstract

The study aims to examine how higher education institutions (HEIs) in three countries responded to the challenges of COVID-19 over a six-month period at the outbreak of the global pandemic. Employing document analysis, we examine publicly available communications from 27 HEIs in Canada, China and the United States. Through the theoretical frameworks of critical communications and new institutionalism, we compare and highlight the role HEIs play in shaping policy responses within their specific social and political contexts. The findings of the study shed light on the motivations and contours of crisis communications and help HEIs prepare for the next crisis.

Authors

• Michael O'Shea, University of Toronto

• Leping Mou, University of Toronto

• Lu Xu, The University of Pennsylvania

• Ross D Aikins, University of Pennsylvania