Examining Southwest Airline's Paradoxical Communicative Response to the December 2022-2023 Crisis

Abstract

This study examines the crisis through the lens of Rhetorical Arena Theory to understand how Southwest’s paradoxical messaging and limited engagement in stakeholder dialogue worsened the situation. The research focuses on communications from December 21, 2022, to January 3, 2023, analyzing Southwest’s social media activity, stakeholder responses, and corporate statements. I found that there was a direct shift in the messaging as Southwest attempted to align themselves with the weather crisis. Through the investigation of platforms such as Twitter and the Southwest Community forum, conversations between publics made stakeholder frustrations clear. The lack of trust studied in this crisis were able to be directly tracked through conversations across arenas. My analysis focused on connecting the ideas of Rhetorical Arena Theory with the ideas of paradoxical messaging in order to understand the lasting impact that crisis has on the stakeholder.