Swift and decisive? Evaluating the effectiveness of MINDEF’s crisis communication efforts in building public trust

• Main Authors: Chai, Daniel, Koh, Gregory
• Other Authors: Wu Wei (SSS)
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication; DRNTU::Humanities::History::Asia::Singapore::Politics and government
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76693
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In a world where trust in governments is on the decline, we seek to understand the effects of government crisis communication efforts on public trust levels. Most government organisations all over the world are facing a decline in public trust. One key reason for this problem is that these organisations have poor crisis and communication management in times of crisis. A crisis can have a negative impact on an organisation’s reputation. Organisations therefore adopt crisis management strategies and crisis communication efforts in order to mitigate the negative externalities associated with the crisis and restore stakeholder trust. This research paper studies MINDEF’s crisis communication efforts surrounding the death of National Serviceman Full-Time (NSF) Dave Lee. This research revealed some insights on the perceived effectiveness of MINDEF’s crisis communication efforts on the National Servicemen (NSmen) population. Through a questionnaire, our research discovers that despite the presence of a comprehensive crisis communications plan, MINDEF is perceived to be lacking in areas of integrity and transparency, particularly around younger NSmen and NSmen in non-command positions, making adjustments to existing crisis communication efforts necessary.