Mid Sweden University

This article explores communication responsibility enacted by civil servants working with election administration and the challenges they experience when making decisions on strategic communication during different phases of an election process. Communication responsibility is understood as a boundless concept which needs to be limited in practice. In their work, the respondents encircle their communication responsibilities through decisions on communication related to their task. To explore the dynamic process of communication responsibility, a methodology of serial interviews with representatives responsible for election administration from five organizations was chosen. Interviews were conducted before, during and after the elections. The data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The findings show that civil servants enact an extensive communication responsibility that involves balancing organizational mandates and democratic values with the increased demands for communication in a rapidly changing media landscape and that they invest themselves by assuming responsibilities for communication. The study contributes to enhance research in strategic communication by analyzing communication behavior by ordinary organizational members who enact important communicative roles without formal communication training.

This study investigates the presence of Nordic communication values in seven Swedish organizations using a communication maturity survey instrument. From a sample of communication professionals, managers, and coworkers (N = 2,747), findings consistently supported a sixfactor solution akin to the purported values. Notably, members' understanding and interpretations of a communicative organization depended upon their role, with coworkers most strongly associating communicative leadership practices with perceptions of the communication climate. Managers' perceptions of communicative leadership practices were aligned with their own communication competence, whereas professionals most strongly linked communicative leadership practices with perceptions of communication climate and their communication department's functioning.

This project focuses on how strategic communication can enhance local-level action in climate change mitigation and adaptation, using research-based knowledge to support municipalities. The aim of this project is collaboration with municipalities to effectively engage in climate communication to mobilize public support and foster sustainable behavior.Climate change exemplifies a "wicked problem," characterized by its complexity, lack of a definitive formulation, and the absence of a clear stopping point (Incropera, 2015). This challenge is further complicated by differing stakeholder values, an indeterminate time horizon, and the fact that it often serves as a symptom of other underlying issues. As Roper and Hurst (2019) note, wicked problems like sustainability lack unique or optimal solutions. Rather than seeking a final resolution, the focus must shift to continuous learning and efforts to reduce unsustainability.  Effective communication is pivotal in addressing climate change, as it plays a crucial role in raising urgency, increasing awareness, fostering understanding, building trust, and encouraging engagement (Moser & Dilling, 2007). Communication challenges, such as for example a lack of resources, knowledge about effective strategies, and the fear of addressing controversial topics, can hinder progress (Moser, 2016).  Municipalities are at the forefront of fostering sustainable behavior by implementing policies, facilitating collaborations, and creating environments that support sustainable practices. Their local influence and ability to tailor initiatives to specific community needs make them indispensable in the global effort toward sustainability. In the local implementation of policies that support (Palm et al., 2019), influencing infrastructure (e.g. Zero-emission zones) that facilitate sustainable behavior (Salmi et al., 2022). Besides that, municipalities are crucial as intermediaries for participation and collaboration (Gustafsson & Mignon, 2020) and are instrumental in educating the public about sustainability (Björklund & Gustafsson, 2015). Communication departments play a crucial role for all of the above actions, from informing about policies, setting up campaigns to encourage sustainable behavior, facilitating public awareness, to build public support and encourage community participation (Aylett, 2015). But research in communication science that has a focus on organization, management and strategies has in the Western world a focus on private, big organizations, and lacks research into how communication departments within municipalities are dealing with these challenges.  This project underscores the importance of strategic communication in enhancing local-level action, with a particular focus on the urgent needs of municipalities for research-based knowledge on best practices. As Johansson et al. (2024) emphasize, communication research is vital for advocating sustainable development solutions and by improving communication, municipalities can better align their actions with their visions for sustainable development. The unpredictable nature of sustainability issues, such as climate change, however, requires adaptable and emergent solutions where knowledge and action are not treated as separate, and thus inadequate for addressing the wicked problems of sustainability. West et al. (2019) argue that conventional approaches, where knowledge is produced by researchers and then applied to action, are insufficient for addressing complex sustainability challenges and advocate for an approach that emphasizes knowledge as not merely applied to action but produced and used from within complex and dynamic situations. Krämer and Winkler (2024) suggests that the climate crisis has a profound impact on the institutional standing of academia, requiring it to transcend its traditional roles and become more involved in broader societal issues. This shift calls for a rethinking of strategic communication within academia, where consistency in communication and alignment with climate goals are crucial for maintaining credibility and legitimacy.  Not only in Sweden, but in general local municipalities are at the forefront of addressing the impacts of climate change and facilitating the transition to a sustainable future. The structural transformation including large green investments affects entire countries. The transition requires investments in infrastructure, transport, energy, housing, labor, and welfare activities (SKR, 2024). However, the role that municipalities have in strategic sustainability transitions is often ambiguous, leading to fragmented and unsystematic climate efforts (Rosvall et al., 2023). The substantial investments associated with the green transition for the municipalities in areas like electricity production, infrastructure, and housing adds new layers of complexity for municipalities, where public servants are already struggling with the pace of climate change (Iwami et al., 2020). The expansion necessary for the green transition intensifies the municipalities need for effective communication strategies to mobilize public support and action.  The project aimed to explore how action-based research can support and enhance municipalities’ climate communication activities. We employed an action-based approach situated within the complex realities of five municipalities in Sweden. This approach moves beyond implementing research-based knowledge and instead focuses on producing knowledge through active engagement co-production between researchers and practitioners.   Our findings show that there is a strong desire among municipalities to improve their visibility and effectiveness in climate communication. The need for strategic communication plans, targeted messaging for different audiences, and addressing resource limitations and climate skepticism. Results show that municipalities can benefit from integrating sustainability into their organizational structures and strategies.

Communication for Organizational Transformation Towards Climate Neutrality

Communication is critical for the climate transition and for reaching Viable Cities' mission of Climate Neutral Cities 2030. In this initiative, 48 Swedish cities and government agencies are working together to create ecologically, economically and socially sustainable cities. To succeed with the transformation towards climate-neutral cities, the involvement of local actors: citizens, businesses, academia and public organizations is crucial. This project focuses on one city, Örnsköldsvik, where the municipality aims for being climate neutral and energy efficient by 2030 and use the GHG (Green House Gases) protocol as a tool for mapping and analysis. Since business companies within the municipality are responsible for 85% of the local emissions, they are invited by the municipality to participate in the "climate dialogue" – where the purpose is to engage local businesses and support them to reduce their emissions. Dialogic interaction and sustainability competence are presented as key elements of achieving a transition towards sustainability in people, organizations and society as a whole (Wals & Schwarzin, 2012). Prerequisites for local communication for organizational transformation towards climate neutrality are discussed.

This book originated out of our concern that there is insufficient knowledge about rumors that affect crisis communication. We need more certainty on how to act when rumors and concerns arise. Our broader concern is consideration of how anxiety shapes the motivation for the spread of rumor, its acceptance, and how government agencies might contribute to moderate public anxiety.

This book is the result of a project that aimed to improve organi- zations’ crisis management and to change their crisis communication in connection with crises. To our knowledge, this is the first book on rumors and crisis communication that includes the mechanisms and phenomena behind rumors that can affect how crisis communication is designed during a crisis. This work is based on relevant research and scientifically proven methods.

Our main audience is students studying media and communication science at colleges and universities; professional journalists; and crisis managers and communication professionals in organizations, authorities, and municipalities. The overall purpose of this book is to increase students’ and professionals’ knowledge of and approach to rumors during concerns and crises. This publication can be used in courses on crisis communication, as well as in practice when planning and preparing for practical crisis communication work. It benefits several different actors in organizations from small to large municipalities/regions as well as all authorities and politicians. Because most actors ask for working methods in the area, there are opportunities to implement the results for practical use. The idea is that each actor, independently and in collaboration with others, should be able to benefit from the methods.

There are four parts to this book. The first part reviews various phenomena and mechanisms that can be the causes of the spreadingof rumors and public concern. We also discuss the difference between rumors, misleading information, and disinformation. The second part focuses on how crisis communication is affected by rumor spreading and how rumors can be managed during crises. This part is based on research but also contains practical cases. The third part is built around different scenarios, and provides recommendations and advice based56on scientific research and scientifically proven methods. Finally, the fourth part includes four scenarios that can be useful for training.

Due to the sad loss of Professor Lars Nord in August 2024, Catrin Johansson was invited to contribute to finish his work in part 2 on rumors and crisis communication.

We hope that the insights and experiences of rumors and crisis communication in this publication will be used by students as well as crisis managers and communication professionals. The content provides research-based knowledge as guidance for decision-makers tasked with crisis communication.

Gary, Henrik, Catrin, and Lars

Evanston, Stockholm, and Sundsvall, May 21, 2025

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) and automatic documentation have not been widely explored in crisis management, despite their potential utility in facilitating the transcription of speech recordings. Although documentation is widely recognized as essential for creating a common operational picture, there is often a lack of such documentation, which can hinder understanding of events during and after a crisis. The novelty of the research is to apply existing technology and evaluate the potential of ASR technology in the domain of crisis management. We present preliminary results of using OpenAI Whisper for automatic transcription and documentation. In Phase 1, the ASR software was tested with existing recordings from previous research. In Phase 2, data was collected from recorded meetings during a tabletop exercise. The results indicate that transcripts, combined with other AI technologies, can provide valuable information and support for crisis and emergency management in Emergency Operation Centers. 

Local climate work is important for Sweden to reach the long-term climate goalof net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 at the latest.Communication is important to increase awareness and engagement, inspire andmotivate action, change beliefs and implement sustainable change initiatives.Without the action of individuals and organizations, it is impossible to minimizethe effects of climate change.The purpose of the project "Communicate climate strategies" has been to producenew knowledge about how climate strategies and goals can best becommunicated at local level in municipalities so that they can be translated intoaction.The project has used action research as a method. This means that researchersand professionals jointly produce new knowledge. The goal is to bridge the gapbetween research and practice by promoting collaboration. The project has beencarried out in three phases 1) inventory 2) development and implementation ofresearch-supported communication activities and 3) evaluation and analysis.Research on climate communication is growing rapidly. The inventory of theresearch published so far has been compiled into ten scientific tips for effectiveclimate communication at the local level. These tips can be used bycommunicators and sustainability managers who work practically with climatecommunication.The project has been carried out in collaboration with six local municipalities inthe mid Sweden region: Sundsvall, Härnösand, Örnsköldsvik, Sollefteå,Nordanstig and Ånge. In each municipality, one or more communicationactivities have been designed according to researchers' recommendations.In this report, we present the current state of the art of climate communication,and which communication activities have been carried out in each municipality.We also present our evaluation and the conclusions of the project.

Det lokala klimatarbetet är viktigt för att Sverige ska nå det långsiktigaklimatmålet att utsläppen av växthusgaser ska vara netto noll senast år 2045.Kommunikation är viktig för att öka medvetenhet och engagemang, inspireraoch motivera till handling, förändra övertygelser och genomföra hållbaraomställningsinitiativ. Utan individers och organisationers agerande är detomöjligt att minimera effekterna av klimatförändringar.Syftet med projektet “Kommunicera klimatstrategier” har varit att ta fram nykunskap om hur klimatstrategier och mål på bästa sätt kan kommuniceras pålokal nivå i kommuner för att de ska kunna omsättas i praktisk handling.Projektet har använt aktionsforskning som metod. Det innebär att forskare ochyrkesverksamma gemensamt tar fram ny kunskap. Målet är att överbryggaklyftan mellan forskning och praktik genom att främja samarbete. Projektet hargenomförts i tre faser 1) inventering 2) utveckling och genomförande avforskningsstödda kommunikationsaktiviteter och 3) utvärdering och analys.Forskningen om klimatkommunikation växer snabbt. Inventeringen av denforskning som publicerats hittills har sammanställts i tio vetenskapliga tips föreffektiv klimatkommunikation på lokal nivå. Dessa tips kan användas avkommunikatörer och hållbarhetsansvariga som arbetar praktiskt medklimatkommunikation.Projektet har genomförts i samverkan med sex kommuner: Sundsvall,Härnösand, Örnsköldsvik, Sollefteå, Nordanstig och Ånge. I varje kommun haren eller flera kommunikationsaktiviteter utformats enligt forskningensrekommendationer.I den här rapporten redovisar vi det aktuella forskningsläget när det gällerklimatkommunikation, och vilka kommunikationsaktiviteter som genomförts irespektive kommun. Vi presenterar också vår utvärdering och de lärdomar ochslutsatser som vi fått genom projektet.