Exploring internal crisis communication and information sharing in Sri Lanka’s hospitality industry: a multi-level qualitative study

This research aims to explore internal crisis communication and information sharing in the Sri Lankan hospitality industry. It looks into the current status and the mitigating factors that assist information sharing in conducting effective internal crisis communication in the hospitality industry. The existing literature mainly focuses on external crisis communication and the perspective of the executive management, so the research aims to focus on internal crisis communication from the employee perspectives at different hierarchical levels within an organisation.
The research employs a qualitative methodology that uses a semi-structured interview approach, based on the thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke. From a total of 36, the research findings reveal that there are various understandings of a crisis from different perspectives. According to the operational managers, a crisis means business risks and losses, whereas front-line employees refer to it as an individual emergency or suffering. Such diverse understandings may cause barriers in internal communication during a crisis.
Findings depict a systematic difference in how operational managers and front-line employees understand a crisis. Operational managers prioritise the organisational risk and stability, while the front-line employees differentiate crises based on personal safety and emotional impact. This created hierarchical and cognitive barriers by misleading information sharing and delaying communication.
By combining and enhancing crisis communication theories like Collaborative Governance Theory (CGT), Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), and Organisational Information Processing Theory (OIPT), the research contributes to the understanding of internal crisis communication. By enhancing the theories, it provides a multi-level framework that describes how governance structures interact to influence internal crisis communication.
Furthermore, the research contributes to the understanding of internal crisis communication by providing information about the need for inclusive, consistent, and emotional information sharing. It also gives practical guidance to leaders and policymakers to develop a more resilient communication framework. These insights are highly relevant for the hierarchical, service-oriented hospitality industry.