MA in Tourism 2021 Aalborg University Copenhagen AGENDA-SETTING DURING CRISIS Agenda-setting and persuasive communication in entertainment and education sector during COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark Authors: Inga Marika Adamska (20196593) and Ance Zake (20191085) Supervisor: Martin Trandberg Jensen Number of keystrokes (pages): 252 056 (105 pages) Key words: agenda-setting; persuasion; persuasive communication; persuasion in crisis; crisis communication; tourism communication Date: 31st May 2021 Ance Zake and Inga Adamska Acknowledgements This project could not be possible without the participation and help of so many people. Though we cannot list them all, their contribution is greatly appreciated. We want to thank at least some of them for their support while writing this thesis. First of all, we would like to thank Aalborg University Copenhagen for the opportunity to conduct this project within the MA in Tourism program. They have provided us with the knowledge and thrive to pursue our interests behind this project. Secondly, we would like to thank our supervisor, Martin Trandberg Jensen, who had given us insights into what is necessary to fulfill our goals for this project. We greatly appreciate the guidance through the whole process of project writing. We want to thank all the companies that collaborated with us in this research: JyllandsAkvariet, Kronborg Castle, Danish Architecture Center, Thorvaldsen’s Museum, Glyptotek, and Christiansborg Palace. We appreciate the time they spent giving us all the necessary information and their interest in this project. Naturally, we could not do this research without each other, so we would like to express our gratitude for our support toward each other. Writing a thesis during a pandemic was challenging and required us to keep ourselves accountable and overcome any problems, either personal or professional, together. Lastly, we would like to appreciate our friends and family who supported and cheered for us throughout the process. We love and appreciate you all. ~ Inga and Ance ~ 2 Ance Zake and Inga Adamska Abstract Agenda-setting is a theory created by mass communication scholars and widely applied in other disciplines (Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, & Weaver, 2009). Several studies have explored agenda- setting within politics and media. However, there is limited research using persuasion in marketing to understand how the agendas are fulfilled. It is also not common to implement this framework in the tourism industry and the setting of social networking sites. Zakharova (2020) explains that persuasion is always present in communication. The author introduces persuasive communication elements and the related techniques from Cialdini (2001). The research explores the possibilities of combining these concepts and applying them to analyze communication in the tourism industry during a worldwide crisis. With this approach, the researchers aspire to fill in both research and knowledge gaps about how or if persuasive marketing changes throughout the crisis in the tourism industry. As a result, the research presents how chosen cases respond differently to the changes due to the crisis. The researchers conducted a qualitative study of six cases closely related to the tourism industry to analyze their approach to agenda-setting and persuasive communication throughout the pandemic. Netnography with social media analysis was the primary approach used to understand how the companies are using both concepts in their communication. The results showed that all the companies use more than one agenda in their communication. Almost always, there is a promotional aspect of the communication. Moreover, there is a clear link between the pandemic phases and the switch in the use of particular agendas. There is also a link between agenda-setting theory and persuasive communication tools. The tools are highly affected by the changes in the pandemic phases and the fluctuations in agenda-setting where the tools are adapted to serve the chosen agenda best. Furthermore, the researchers proved that both of them could and are used in the tourism aspect successively. This research is vital as it introduces agenda-setting and persuasive communication in tourism even more than it was done beforehand. It might be found significant in the times following this year when the pandemic subdues. The researchers believe that understanding these techniques can help in preparing the most sufficient and efficient communication. Moreover, further research areas that researchers found interesting to pursue in the future are present at the end of this project. 3 Ance Zake and Inga Adamska Table of contents INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 CASE DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY AND PROBLEM FORMULATION .......................................................................................................... 6 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................... 10 PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY APPROACH .............................................................................................................................. 10 RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES ...................................................................................................................................... 16 RESEARCH QUALITY ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 DELIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................... 26 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................................ 28 ONLINE MARKETING IN TOURISM..................................................................................................................................... 28 PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION ....................................................................................................................................... 31 COMMUNICATION DURING CRISES ................................................................................................................................... 41 SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 46 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................................... 48 AGENDA-SETTING DURING CRISIS .................................................................................................................................... 48 PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION AS AN APPROACH ............................................................................................................... 69 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 109 FURTHER RESEARCH .......................................................................................................................................... 110 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................... 112 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................................................................... 117 4 Ance Zake and Inga Adamska Introduction Although the use of language is a significant aspect of communicating clear and specific messages to the audience, several scholars have highlighted that there is limited research done about the promotional media in tourism with a focus on the role of language (Salim, Ibrahim, & Hassan, 2012, p. 138; Raluca, 2013, p. 944). It is confirmed by Fomukong that language indeed has power over people, their actions, and thoughts (2016, p. 105). Moreover, persuasion used in a marketing communication to influence the audience can make a reflective and lasting change (Salim et al., 2012, p. 139). There are many ways to influence the audience; however, a framework to reach the desired effect is necessary. One of the approaches to do so is presented in the context of political studies in Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, & Weaver’s work about agenda-setting (2009). They explain that it is often studied through analyzing the words; moreover, they suggest implementing agenda-setting on social networking sites as further research. Though they do not implement or suggest using the framework in the tourism industry specifically, it is an interesting topic to pursue. Thus, the researchers want to adopt the framework and determine whether it is possible to analyze it within the tourism industry. Applying specific attributes and tone to the messages is relevant to fulfill the agenda (Coleman et al., 2009), which is what persuasive communication