IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-04285-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying university opinion leaders during the global crisis: information communication on official websites

Author

Listed:
  • Xin Guo

    (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

  • Zhuolin Feng

    (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

Abstract

This study investigates the news articles about the global crisis published by university official websites, aiming to identify opinion leaders from world-class universities. Based on the characteristics of opinion leaders, content analysis is used to analyze the case of COVID-19. The professionalism of all information is assessed through qualitative analysis, and activity and centrality are quantified by descriptive statistics and social network analysis, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that these three criteria can be used to assess universities. University opinion leaders show the characteristics of high professionalism, high activity and high centrality. Influenced by the institutional traits of world-class universities, university opinion leaders are divided into different types. Playing a comprehensive and multidimensional role may enable the public to quickly recognize their contributions through multiple channels, thereby gaining wide recognition. Moreover, extensive information sharing facilitates effective coordination of crisis management activities with global institutions. Some iconic brand achievements enhance their overall influence, producing a halo effect. This study is one of the first exploratory attempts to identify university opinion leaders, integrating communication theory with practical application in higher education.

Suggested Citation

  • Xin Guo & Zhuolin Feng, 2024. "Identifying university opinion leaders during the global crisis: information communication on official websites," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-04285-7
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-04285-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-04285-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-04285-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-04285-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.