Cultivating Communication Resilience as an Adaptive-Transformative Process During a Global Pandemic: Extending the Purview of the Communication Theory of Resilience

Abstract

The continuing devastation caused by COVID-19 requires that leadership at global, regional, and national levels communicate in a resilient manner to their populations to encourage adherence to safety measures and protective behaviors to mitigate the pandemic’s effects. For national leaders, it requires communicating effectively for resilience among other measures to curb the spread. However, the process by which national leaders cultivate effective communication for resilience is largely unknown. By addressing this research gap, this study utilizes the communication theory of resilience (CTR) and community resilience as theoretical frameworks to content analyze the Ghanaian president’s speeches on the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest that although the president’s communication has been empathic with actionable processes, approaches to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, though ingenious, are more adaptive than transformative. This study has implications for theory, practice, and policy as it extends the purview of the CTR by proposing a revised process of communication for cultivating national resilience during pandemics.