No Time, No Willingness, or Just ‘No’? Government Leaders’ Attitudes Toward Involvement in Risk and Crisis Communication Research

Government communication during crises is a well-researched field, with the COVID-19 pandemic alone generating a plethora of studies. However, the willingness of government actors to participate in crisis communication research has received little attention, despite the need for evidence-based evaluation. The same is true for methodological reflections in comparative crisis communication research. Using a case study approach, this study addresses this gap by analyzing the experiences in the recruitment phase of a seven-country comparative study on pandemic risk and crisis communication, in which we sought to interview key crisis response actors across different functions and levels of government. We found that the governments in some countries appear to be far more open to participating in research than others, which can be seen within the context of science-related populism. Methodological considerations, recruitment strategies, and other challenges were also discussed, as well as recommendations for future comparative studies using the same approach. The paper thus serves as both a methodological reflection and a discussion of the challenges of fostering academia-government collaboration (government actors as respondents) in crisis communication research.