Relational constellations in disasters: Theorizing multiparty relationships through ethnographic research

ABSTRACT

Relationships are essential for a fully functioning society. Through a multi-sited rapid ethnography, we show how the U.S. National Weather Service achieves its mission through a relational constellation of organizational partners (i.e., emergency managers and broadcast media) and active publics in the context of disasters. The findings provide insights into relational tensions that occur in organization-public relationships (OPRs) and how communication can address those relational tensions. In doing so, we answer calls for broadening the methodologies to examine OPRs and to examine multiparty, rather than just dyadic, OPRs.

KEYWORDS:

• National Weather Service
• relationship management theory
• tornadoes

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Dr. Erich Sommerfeldt, the Journal of Public Relations Research editorial team, and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions about our work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Disclaimer statement

The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NA17OAR4590194].