How CEOs are Responding During Economic, Health, and Social Upheaval
Lance Lambert,
Fortune
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This study examined how businesses and executive leadership are reacting to and changing in the middle of economic, health, and social upheaval.
Fortune surveyed 222 CEOs in collaboration with Deloitte between June 8 and 12, 2020.
Some key findings include:
- 62% of CEOs plan policy changes in response to the social unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
- 30% of CEOs say revenues have already recovered or never dropped. 21% of CEOs expect their revenues to return to pre-crisis levels between now and January 2021, while a more pessimistic 45% expect that recovery to occur between January 2021 and June 2022. 4% say it won't recover in the foreseeable future.
- CEOs estimate 43% of their workforce will continue working remotely through January 2021 and 36% in January 2022 (see image above).
- 77% of CEOs say their company's digital transformation was significantly accelerated during the economic crisis. 40% are spending more on IT infrastructure/platforms.
- 41% of CEOs say their company furloughed or laid off employees or reduced employees pay in response to the crisis.
- 35% of CEOs reduced executive pay in response to the crisis.
Read more to learn how CEOs are addressing working from home, hiring processes, digital transformation, and more.
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In Search for the Truth, "Meaning" Matters Most: Delving Deeper into COVID-19 and Racial Inequity
Gary Grates, IPR Trustee, W2O Group
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Following the first two Institute for Public Relations and Peppercomm COVID-19 studies —which focused on initial understanding of the organizational responses and employee perceptions of the pandemic —the third installment (that will be released next week) is a collection of qualitative assessments from the perspectives of communications leaders on where we are and what’s next. In addition, the current racial unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd, the world is in search of truth, justice, and respect.
As a global marketing and communications firm specializing in the health care sector with analytics and insights at the core of our client partnerships, W2O has been engaged in the COVID-19 situation and improving racial equality from aggregator, supporter, counselor, critical voice, to client partner.
As such, we have experienced the pandemic and the injustice witnessed from multiple angles. In each case, the measure of our learning stems from a thirst for truth but in seeking such wisdom the only thing worth knowing is meaning. The why behind the what, where, and how.
Read the rest of Gary Grates' blog to find out key insights meant to increase our knowledge of the role of communications during such a tumultuous, uncertain time.
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Social Care and Professional Standards: Developing an Ethical Decision-Making Model
Carolyn Mae Kim, Ph.D., APR, Biola University, and Karen Freberg, Ph.D., University of Louisville
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Carolyn Mae Kim, Ph.D., APR, and Karen Freberg, Ph.D., examined how
social care — the practice of providing key insights into trends and issues that may arise using social media as the channel — was being applied by organizations. For social care to be effectively leveraged, organizations must be willing to listen and make sense of the information they are receiving from stakeholders.
The researchers used a multi-phase approach using a case study including 10 interviews with General Motors employees who worked with social care, 15 interviews with social media marketing experts, and a national survey of 703 participants.
Some of the ethical and decision making characteristics that are needed to be successful in social care include:
- Transparency: Brands who engage in social care should do so with the intention of serving the client, rather than ultimately for motives about profit or personal gain. In other words, the intention of social care should be authentically focused on the stakeholder’s needs.
- Respectfulness and empathy: Brands should recognize the innate value of each individual by communicating in a manner that humanizes individuals through social media and cultivates an inviting environment online.
- Immediacy: Social care should bridge the gap between key stakeholders and a brand by bolstering the perceptions of proximity, closeness, and relationship.
Read the full study and to learn more about the other ethical and decision making characteristics needed to be successful in social care.
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The Business Imperative for Social Justice Today
Porter Novelli
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Porter Novelli fielded a
PN View: 360 Survey to gather people’s insights regarding purpose-driven companies and social justice. The survey of 1,004 U.S. adults was fielded online between June 10-12, 2020.
Some of the key findings include:
- 64% say it’s no longer acceptable for companies to be silent on social justice issues.
- 56% say companies that do not talk about social justice issues in their marketing or communications are out of touch.
- 80% are more willing to listen to a company that acknowledges past mistakes or biases, than a company that shares a standard message of support without acknowledging the past.
- 71% want to know what their employer is doing to make their workplace more inclusive, and 63% wish their company would be more open about its DE&I journey – and where it needs to improve.
- 79% say companies must address social justice issues by making changes internally, and 66% say companies should push for federal, state or local policy changes.
- 76% are more likely to believe a company is being authentic when talking about social justice issues if they have heard the company speak on similar topics in the past.
- 83% say a company doesn’t have to be perfect when talking about social justice issues, but it should be open and honest.
Read more to learn the full findings of the study and discover how companies are expected to engage with social justice issues.
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How a Fake News Game Can Help Fight Against Online Misinformation
Jon Roozenbeek, Ph.D., and Sander van der Linden, Ph.D., University of Cambridge
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Jon Roozenbeek and Sander van der Linden, Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge designed a psychological intervention in the form of an online browser game to test whether it had an impact on the spread of misinformation. Using inoculation theory, this game introduced players to a weakened version of a misleading argument in the hopes that by preemptively refuting this argument the players would develop resistance against persuasion attempts.
"In the game, players take on the role of a fake news producer and learn to master six documented techniques commonly used in the production of misinformation: polarisation, invoking emotions, spreading conspiracy theories, trolling people online, deflecting blame, and impersonating fake accounts."
Researchers conducted a large-scale evaluation of the game with approximately 15,000 participants in a pre-post game-play design.
Some key findings include:
- The process of active inoculation through playing the Bad News game significantly reduced the perceived reliability of tweets that embedded several common online misinformation strategies.
- Participants who were most susceptible to fake news headlines at the outset (pre-test) also benefited the most from the inoculation treatment. In other words, this inoculation process may help those audiences at greatest risk of misinformation.
- Both liberals and conservatives improved in their ability to detect fake news following gameplay.
Read more to learn how the Bad News game influenced players' ability to detect fake news online.
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