Date of Award
Spring 2026
Language
English
Embargo Period
4-27-2027
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School/Department
College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity
Program
Information Science
First Advisor
Jeannette Sutton
Committee Members
Brandon Behlendorf, J. Ramon Gil-Garcia
Keywords
risk communication, crisis communication, alerts and warning, organizational response
Subject Categories
Communication
Abstract
In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are used to notify the public of imminent threats and hazards via geotargeted mobile broadcast technology. Over 30 years of empirical research on alerts and warnings has established best practices for writing these messages; however, the real-world messaging practices of Alerting Authorities (AAs) rarely conform to this guidance. In this dissertation, I explore the use and effects of a type of information not recommended by warning literature: organizational response information, which describes official efforts to address or mitigate the effects of the hazard. Guided by risk and crisis communication theory, I conduct a content analysis of WEAs to establish the prevalence and historical use of organizational response information (Chapter 2), analyze experimental survey data to determine the effects of organizational response information on message receiver and organizational perception outcomes (Chapter 3), and conduct interviews with emergency managers to understand their rationale behind including this information in WEAs (Chapter 4). The findings of this dissertation contribute to the literature on risk and crisis communication by establishing the scenarios in which organizational response information may be beneficial to include in WEAs and outlining future research to further explore these effects.
License
This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.
Recommended Citation
Cain, Lauren B., "What to Do, and What We're Doing: Assessing the Use of Organizational Response Information in Wireless Emergency Alerts" (2026). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 396.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/396