School of Communication

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Browsing School of Communication by Author "Achieng, Omollo Maureen"

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    Influence of Crisis Response Strategies on Corporate Reputation: A Case Study of Kenya Power and Lighting Company on Twitter
    (Daystar University, School of A thesis presented to the School of Communication, 2023-10) Achieng, Omollo Maureen
    ABSTRACT The study sought to determine the influence of crisis response strategies employed by KPLC on Twitter on its reputation during the January 11, 2022, crisis. Specifically, the study sought to evaluate the perception of KPLC on Twitter, examine the effect of the crisis response strategies employed by KPLC on its reputation, and analyse the effectiveness of Twitter use in crisis communication by KPLC. Based on the Social-Mediated Crisis Model, the study used a descriptive research design. The population of the research was the 924 comments/tweets on @KenyaPower_Care on Twitter. Based on the Yamane formula, a total of 90 comments were sampled. Both qualitative and quantitative data approaches were used, where subjects were purposely hand-picked by the researcher as they were informative and held the vital characteristics for the research. To analyze the responses, content analysis was used. The findings of the study revealed a mixed perception of KPLC on Twitter, with a dynamic spectrum of both positive and negative sentiments. The dominant sentiment was user complaints, constituting 63.3% of the responses and criticism (17.8%). The majority of responses were user complaints, reflecting dissatisfaction and concerns about persistent power outages, service disruptions, and poor customer service. The study also identified a range of emotional reactions, with anxiety (58.9%) and frustration (22.2%) being the most prevalent among users in response to KPLC’s tweets. The study highlighted KPLC’s practice of replying to a significant majority (93.3%) of user comments, reflecting a proactive engagement strategy to maintain open communication with customers. The study recommends that KPLC should consider incorporating proactive measures to prevent recurring disruptions and improve overall service quality to mitigate the negative impact of power outages on its reputation.