Emotion as a predictor of crisis communicative behaviors: examining information seeking and sharing during Hurricane Florence*

ABSTRACT

Those affected by catastrophic events like hurricanes are burdened with the task of preparing for and responding to the threats of harm in addition to dealing with the emotionally taxing process of consuming and sharing disaster-related information. However, little is known about how threats and emotions during natural disasters impact media usage for information seeking and sharing. This study examined the relationship between the perceived threat of disasters (including disaster severity and involvement recognition), negative emotions, and information seeking and forwarding/sharing via different types of media. We surveyed over 600 adults in U.S. counties impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018. Our findings show that negative crisis emotions mediated the relationship between threat appraisals and information seeking and sharing behaviors. In our discussion, we suggest how disaster/emergency communication professionals can prepare and respond to disasters by knowing how emotions influence individuals’ communicative behaviors.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaster communication
• emotions
• information seeking
• information sharing

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University Research Council at the University of North Carolina under the 2018 Office of Research Development Pilot Grants and the Hussman School of Journalism and Media under the 2018–2019 Seed Grants.