危機處理被認為是公司形象遭遇重大威脅時「顧面子」的手段。 這也難怪對於倚賴良好聲譽才能成功營運的航空公司而言如此重要。
這份研究試圖了解，日益興盛的網路社群媒體和隨之而起的通訊革命，如何對航空產業行之有年的危機處理程序產生影響，並進一步，了解航空產業危機處理部門對社群媒體的看法。
研究發現，社群媒體改變了危機狀況被報導的方式，因而影響危機處理的執行手段。社群媒體使得新聞傳播更快且更全球化，所以公司的回應必須跟上腳步。案例研究和調查結果顯示，航空產業尚未新建立可以普遍採用的危機處理機制。以下提出幾個改變這個狀況的建議；在危機管理計畫中應涵蓋社群媒體，將危機管理計畫容納在企業培訓中，建立清楚的社媒體守則，並同步公司網頁與社群媒體平台上的訊息。

Crisis management is considered as the process of “saving company’s face” after the major event that threatens to harm the company’s image. It is no wonder that this process is very important in the aviation industry, where the good name and the good reputation are necessary to successfully run the operations.
This study tries to find the question if the crisis management procedures the aviation industry has been using for years are affected by the recent rise of the social media and the revolution in communication the social media bring. Then, what is the opinion of the aviation industry’s crisis managers about the social media.
The research of this thesis shows, the social media change the way the crisis situations are reported and as a result it changed the way the crisis management should be carried. They make the news spread faster and become truly global, thus the company crisis response needs to be readjusted to this new situation. Yet, the case study and the survey suggests the industry did not create the new crisis management procedure that can be commonly used. To change this situation the several recommendations are proposed: include the social media in the crisis management plan, include the crisis management plan as a part of the corporate learning, create the clear policy of using the social media and make the company’s websites and social media platforms consistent.

Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………1
1.1 Research Background……………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Research Objectives………………………………………………..…………………….3
1.3 Research Procedure……………………………………………………..………………..4
Chapter 2 Literature Review…………………………………….…………..………………6
2.1 Crisis Management…………………………………..……………………………………6
2.2 Social Media………………………………………..……………………………………10
2.3 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………13
Chapter 3 Methodology…………………………………………………………………….14
3.1 Survey………………………………………………………………………………….14
3.1.1 Survey’s Methodology………………………………….……………………………14
3.1.2 Survey’s Limitations…………………………………………………………………16
3.1.2 Survey’s Design………………………………………………………………………16
3.2 Interviews………………………………………………………………………………17
3.3 Case Study………………………………………………………………………………17
Chapter 4 Analysis and Findings…………………………………………………………20
4.1 Survey Findings…………………………………………………………………………20
4.1.1 Respondents……………………………………..……………………………………21
4.1.2 Companies and Crisis Management………………..…………………………………25
4.1.3 Companies and Social Media………………………..………………………………..29
4.1.4 Respondents Opinions on Crisis Management and Social Media……….……………32
4.1.5 Survey Conclusions…………………………………………….……………………..46
4.2 Interviews Findings……………………………………………….…………………….47
4.3 Case Study Analysis…………………………………………………………..………….50
4.3.1 Key Players………………………………………………………………….…………50
4.3.2 Airline (Asiana Airlines)……………………………………………………………….51
4.3.3 Airport (SFO)……………………………………………………………….………….53
4.3.4 Aircraft Manufacturer (Boeing)………………………………………….…………..…54
4.3.5 Passenger Reporting……………………………………………………………………54
4.3.6 National Safety Board………………………………………………………………….55
4.3.7 Case Findings…………………………………………………………………………..56
4.3.8 Case Findings Summary……………………………………………………………..…62
4.3.9 Case Study Conclusions……………………………………………..…………………65
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations………………………….………………..68

References……………………………………………………………....……………72
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………77

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