Cited by 22Public Relations and Crisis CommunicationE-Government and Public ServicesCommunication and COVID-19 Impact

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 79 of the 79 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Does AI-Generated Care-Based Message Increase Trust in Government? The Pivotal Role of AI Knowledge in Government Crisis Response

Open access

Zhan, Emily S., Zheng, Qi, Dong, Chuqing, Thorson, Esther·2025·International Journal of Strategic Communication

DOI 10.1080/1553118x.2025.2471527

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) presents new opportunities for governments to respond to crises with greater efficiency. However, current studies have paid limited attention to AI’s role in crisis communication and its potential impact on public perceptions of government trust when crisis communication strategies vary. In this study, we conducted a 2 (Disclosure of AI usage: No, Yes) by 3 (Crisis Response Strategies: Instruction-based, Care-based, Integrated) online-between-subject experiment to explore how AI and crisis response strategies influence trust in government. Additionally, we tested the moderating role of AI knowledge to see if the diffusion of AI influenced people’s trust in government in the crisis context. The results reveal that among the crisis response strategies, the integration of instruction-based and care-based approaches elicited the highest level of trust in government. A three-way interaction showed that a higher level of AI knowledge elevated trust for those who saw messages incorporating a care-based approach by generative AI.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1080/1553118x.2025.2471527

Cites

79 of 79 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Diffusion of innovations
Valente, T. W. (2003) · Genetics in Medicine · doi:10.1097/01.gim.0000061743.67794.c4 · Cited by 13,723
An integrative model of organizational trust
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/258792 · Cited by 10,736
Trust in Automation: Designing for Appropriate Reliance
Lee, J. D., & See, K. A. (2004) · Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/hfes.46.1.50_30392 · Cited by 6,605
Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis: The Development and Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory
Coombs, W. T. (2007) · Corporate Reputation Review · doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049 · Cited by 2,790
Political Trust and Trustworthiness
Levi, M., & Stoker, L. (2000) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.3.1.475 · Cited by 2,190
The impact of initial consumer trust on intentions to transact with a web site: a trust building model
Harrison McKnight, D., Choudhury, V., & Kacmar, C. (2002) · The Journal of Strategic Information Systems · doi:10.1016/s0963-8687(02)00020-3 · Cited by 2,164
Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(2020) · doi:10.1145/3313831 · Cited by 1,951
The Political Relevance of Political Trust
Hetherington, M. J. (1998) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.2307/2586304 · Cited by 1,539
Data quality in online human-subjects research: Comparisons between MTurk, Prolific, CloudResearch, Qualtrics, and SONA
Douglas, B. D., Ewell, P. J., & Brauer, M. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0279720 · Cited by 1,532
Understanding perception of algorithmic decisions: Fairness, trust, and emotion in response to algorithmic management
Lee, M. K. (2018) · Big Data & Society · doi:10.1177/2053951718756684 · Cited by 1,338
In AI we trust? Perceptions about automated decision-making by artificial intelligence
Araujo, T., Helberger, N., Kruikemeier, S., & de Vreese, C. H. (2020) · AI & SOCIETY · doi:10.1007/s00146-019-00931-w · Cited by 1,038
Best Practices in Crisis Communication: An Expert Panel Process
Seeger, M. W. (2006) · Journal of Applied Communication Research · doi:10.1080/00909880600769944 · Cited by 917
Trust and compliance to public health policies in times of COVID-19
Bargain, O., & Aminjonov, U. (2020) · Journal of Public Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104316 · Cited by 917
Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(2024) · doi:10.1145/3613904 · Cited by 896
The Origins and Consequences of Public Trust in Government
Chanley, V. A., Rudolph, T. J., & Rahn, W. M. (2000) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1086/317987 · Cited by 881
Rise of Machine Agency: A Framework for Studying the Psychology of Human–AI Interaction (HAII)
Sundar, S. S. (2020) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmz026 · Cited by 871
Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity
Ulmer, R. R., Sellnow, T. L., & Seeger, M. W. (2006) · Cited by 672
Online panels in social science research: Expanding sampling methods beyond Mechanical Turk
Chandler, J., Rosenzweig, C., Moss, A. J., Robinson, J., & Litman, L. (2019) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-019-01273-7 · Cited by 668
AI and the Economy
Furman, J., & Seamans, R. (2019) · Innovation Policy and the Economy · doi:10.1086/699936 · Cited by 483
Should Machines Express Sympathy and Empathy? Experiments with a Health Advice Chatbot
Liu, B., & Sundar, S. S. (2018) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2018.0110 · Cited by 447
The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research
Coombs, W. T. (2015) · Business Horizons · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2014.10.003 · Cited by 438
Communicating through Crisis: A Strategy for Organizational Survival
Sturges, D. L. (1994) · Management Communication Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0893318994007003004 · Cited by 390
Machine Heuristic: When We Trust Computers More than Humans with Our Personal Information
Sundar, S. S., & Kim, J. (2019) · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300768 · Cited by 347
Are government internet portals evolving towards more interaction, participation, and collaboration? Revisiting the rhetoric of e-government among municipalities
Sandoval-Almazan, R., & Gil-Garcia, J. R. (2012) · Government Information Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.giq.2011.09.004 · Cited by 339
Readers’ perception of computer-generated news: Credibility, expertise, and readability
Graefe, A., Haim, M., Haarmann, B., & Brosius, H.-B. (2018) · Journalism · doi:10.1177/1464884916641269 · Cited by 315
The Government Communication Decision Wheel: Toward a Public Relations Model for the Public Sector
Liu, B. F., & Horsley, J. S. (2007) · Journal of Public Relations Research · doi:10.1080/10627260701402473 · Cited by 274
Strategies for building and communicating trust in electronic banking: A field experiment
Yousafzai, S. Y., Pallister, J. G., & Foxall, G. R. (2005) · Psychology & Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.20054 · Cited by 245
Social Responses to Media Technologies in the 21st Century: The Media are Social Actors Paradigm
Lombard, M., & Xu, K. (2021) · Human-Machine Communication · doi:10.30658/hmc.2.2 · Cited by 225
Public administration challenges in the world of AI and bots
Agarwal, P. K. (2018) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.12979 · Cited by 208
COVID‐19, ethics of care and feminist crisis management
Branicki, L. J. (2020) · Gender Work and Organization · doi:10.1111/gwao.12491 · Cited by 200
Fear of Autonomous Robots and Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from National Representative Data with Probability Sampling
Liang, Y., & Lee, S. A. (2017) · International Journal of Social Robotics · doi:10.1007/s12369-017-0401-3 · Cited by 197
AI-Mediated Communication: How the Perception that Profile Text was Written by AI Affects Trustworthiness
Jakesch, M., French, M., Ma, X., Hancock, J. T., & Naaman, M. (2019) · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300469 · Cited by 190
Emotionally Intelligent Chatbots: A Systematic Literature Review
Bilquise, G., Ibrahim, S., & Shaalan, K. F. (2022) · Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1155/2022/9601630 · Cited by 190
Crisis Communication in Public Organisations: Dimensions of Crisis Communication Revisited
Olsson, E. (2014) · Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management · doi:10.1111/1468-5973.12047 · Cited by 186
A Study on Dialogic Communication, Trust, and Distrust: Testing a Scale for Measuring Organization–Public Dialogic Communication (OPDC)
Yang, S.-U., Kang, M., & Cha, H. (2015) · Journal of Public Relations Research · doi:10.1080/1062726x.2015.1007998 · Cited by 172
When AI moderates online content: effects of human collaboration and interactive transparency on user trust
Molina, M. D., & Sundar, S. S. (2022) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmac010 · Cited by 170
A Robot Wrote This?: How perceived machine authorship affects news credibility
Waddell, T. F. (2018) · Digital Journalism · doi:10.1080/21670811.2017.1384319 · Cited by 169
Working With AI to Persuade: Examining a Large Language Model's Ability to Generate Pro-Vaccination Messages
Karinshak, E., Liu, S. X., Park, J. S., & Hancock, J. T. (2023) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3579592 · Cited by 167
Virtuous Responses to Organizational Crisis: Aaron Feuerstein and Milt Colt
Seeger, M. W., & Ulmer, R. R. (2001) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1023/a:1010759319845 · Cited by 165
Cultural variance as a challenge to global public relations: A case study of the Coca-Cola scare in Europe
Taylor, M. (2000) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/s0363-8111(00)00048-5 · Cited by 161
What governs attitudes toward artificial intelligence adoption and governance?
O’Shaughnessy, M. R., Schiff, D. S., Varshney, L. R., Rozell, C. J., & Davenport, M. A. (2022) · Science and Public Policy · doi:10.1093/scipol/scac056 · Cited by 155
Bots vs. humans: how schema congruity, contingency-based interactivity, and sympathy influence consumer perceptions and patronage intentions
Lou, C., Kang, H., & Tse, C. H. (2021) · International Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/02650487.2021.1951510 · Cited by 149
Ethics of Justice and Care in Corporate Crisis Management
Simola, S. K. (2003) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1023/a:1025607928196 · Cited by 144
Algorithmic Knowledge Gaps: A New Dimension of (Digital) Inequality
Cotter, K., & Reisdorf, B. C. (2020) · International journal of communication · Cited by 116
How Well Do They Manage a Crisis? The Government's Effectiveness During the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Mizrahi, S., Vigoda‐Gadot, E., & Cohen, N. (2021) · Public Administration Review · doi:10.1111/puar.13370 · Cited by 114
What is There to Fear? Understanding Multi-Dimensional Fear of AI from a Technological Affordance Perspective
Zhan, E. S., Molina, M. D., Rheu, M., & Peng, W. (2023) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2023.2261731 · Cited by 114
Self-citation
Is Public Trust in Government Associated With Trust in E-Government?
Horsburgh, S., Goldfinch, S. F., & Gauld, R. D. C. (2011) · Social Science Computer Review · doi:10.1177/0894439310368130 · Cited by 104
Trust, but verify: social media models for disaster management
Mehta, A. M., Bruns, A., & Newton, J. (2016) · Disasters · doi:10.1111/disa.12218 · Cited by 94
Machine Authorship In Situ: Effect of news organization and news genre on news credibility
Liu, B., & Wei, L. (2018) · Digital Journalism · doi:10.1080/21670811.2018.1510740 · Cited by 94
AI-mediated apology in a multilingual work context: Implications for perceived authenticity and willingness to forgive
Glikson, E., & Asscher, O. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107592 · Cited by 94
The Hollywood Robot Syndrome media effects on older adults' attitudes toward robots and adoption intentions
Sundar, S. S., Waddell, T. F., & Jung, E. H. (2016) · 2016 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) · doi:10.1109/hri.2016.7451771 · Cited by 92
AI-Mediated Communication: Language Use and Interpersonal Effects in a Referential Communication Task
Mieczkowski, H., Hancock, J. T., Naaman, M., Jung, M., & Hohenstein, J. (2021) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3449091 · Cited by 91
Ethical Rationality: A Strategic Approach to Organizational Crisis
Snyder, P. J., Hall, M., Robertson, J., Jasinski, T., & Miller, J. S. (2006) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-005-3328-9 · Cited by 85
Exploring effective crisis response strategies
Park, H. (2017) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.12.001 · Cited by 78
Can ChatGPT replace humans in crisis communication? The effects of AI-mediated crisis communication on stakeholder satisfaction and responsibility attribution
Xiao, Y., & Yu, S. (2024) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2024.102835 · Cited by 74
One AI Does Not Fit All: A Cluster Analysis of the Laypeople’s Perception of AI Roles
Kim, T., Molina, M. D., Rheu, M. (., Zhan, E. S., & Peng, W. (2023) · Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3544548.3581340 · Cited by 68
Self-citation
Restoring trust through transparency: Examining the effects of transparency strategies on police crisis communication in Mainland China
Zheng, Q. (2023) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102296 · Cited by 67
Self-citation
Does Food Safety Risk Perception Affect the Public’s Trust in Their Government? An Empirical Study on a National Survey in China
Han, G., & Yan, S. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16111874 · Cited by 63
Communicating crisis: how culture influences image repair in Western and Asian governments
Low, Y. S., Varughese, J., & Pang, A. (2011) · Corporate Communications An International Journal · doi:10.1108/13563281111156880 · Cited by 61
What do we know about government public relations (GPR)? A systematic review of GPR in public relations literature
Dong, C., Zheng, Q., & Morehouse, J. (2023) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102284 · Cited by 61
Self-citation
Government public relations when trouble hits: exploring political dispositions, situational variables, and government–public relationships to predict communicative action of publics
Chon, M. (2019) · Asian Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/01292986.2019.1649438 · Cited by 58
Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)
Coombs, W. T. (2022) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119678953.ch14 · Cited by 58
Toward a caring government: Advancing ethical government public relations with a care-based relationship cultivation model
Dong, C., & Morehouse, J. (2022) · Journal of Public Relations Research · doi:10.1080/1062726x.2022.2119978 · Cited by 53
Self-citation
Instruction in crisis situations: Targeting learning preferences and self-efficacy
Frisby, B. N., Sellnow, D. D., Lane, D. R., Veil, S. R., & Sellnow, T. L. (2013) · Risk Management · doi:10.1057/rm.2013.7 · Cited by 44
Application of two under-researched typologies in crisis communication: Ethics of justice vs. care and public relations vs. legal strategies
Tao, W., & Kim, S. (2017) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.06.003 · Cited by 44
Image Restoration Theory
Benoit, W. L. (2015) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781405186407.wbieci009.pub2 · Cited by 41
The influence of accountability for the crisis and type of crisis communication on people’s behavior, feelings and relationship with the government
Bakker, M. H., van Bommel, M., Kerstholt, J. H., & Giebels, E. (2018) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.02.004 · Cited by 39
Measuring success: Explications and measurement scales of instructing information and adjusting information
Page, T. G. (2020) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101952 · Cited by 37
Do instructing and adjusting information make a difference in crisis responsibility attribution? Merging fear appeal studies with the defensive attribution hypothesis
Zhang, X., & Zhou, Z. (2020) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101979 · Cited by 37
Reimagining Government with the Ethics of Care: A Department of Care
FitzGerald, M. (2020) · Ethics and Social Welfare · doi:10.1080/17496535.2020.1746819 · Cited by 33
Crisis Communication in the Age of AI
Cheng, Y., Lee, J., & Qiao, J. (2024) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781032619187-9 · Cited by 30
The reputational benefits of instructing information: The first test of the revised model of reputation repair
Page, T. G. (2022) · Public Relations Review · doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2022.102256 · Cited by 25
Government Communication and Political Public Relations
Sanders, K. (2019) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781351053143-8 · Cited by 23
“People are More than Just a Statistic”: Ethical, Care-based Engagement of Marginalized Publics on Social Media
Place, K. R. (2021) · Journal of Media Ethics · doi:10.1080/23736992.2021.1937175 · Cited by 23
Responsibility Finds A Way: A Typology and Framework Development Approach Towards Public Sector Crisis Management
Chandrasekar, K., Selvanayagam, K., & Rehman, V. (2021) · International Journal of Strategic Communication · doi:10.1080/1553118x.2021.1872081 · Cited by 14
Civic Trust and Governance in Armenia
Shakaryan, A. (2007) · Demokratizatsiya The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization · doi:10.3200/demo.15.2.261-267 · Cited by 4
The Impact of Organizations' Ethical Approaches in Times of Crisis
Kim, S., Hwang, J., & Zhang, X. (2016) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315646503-8 · Cited by 4
Care Ethics as a Challenge to the Structural Oppression Surrounding Care
Kim, H. (2021) · Ethics and Social Welfare · doi:10.1080/17496535.2020.1867877 · Cited by 4
Ethos in COVID-19 crisis communication: evidence from Oman
Al-Rubai’ey, F., & Al-Sharafi, A. G. (2023) · Journal of Risk Research · doi:10.1080/13669877.2023.2230983 · Cited by 4

Research works printed but not linked: 1

Chiancone, C. (2023). Smart government: Practical uses for artificial intelligence in local government. Independently published.

Can AI Chatbots Support Me as Human Agents? Exploring the Roles of Governmental Agent Type and Person-Centered Communication Strategies During Natural Disasters
Zheng, Q., Zhan, E. S., Dong, C., Thorson, E., & Hu, J. M. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2025.2537789 · Cited by 6
Self-citation
When AI pushes back: The impact of AI dissent on user knowledge innovation in online knowledge communities
Jiaxuan, L., Han, M., & Yuan, Q. (2026) · Electronic Markets · doi:10.1007/s12525-026-00872-5 · Cited by 2
Tracking Public Sentiment on Poverty in Indonesia through AI-Based Social Media Analysis
Santoso, R. B., Wulandari, M. P., & Saleh, A. M. (2026) · Komunikator · doi:10.18196/jkm.v18i1.30582 · Cited by 1
Human Nature, Technology, and Changes in Propaganda: Insights from US Army Psychological Operations Veterans
Yaworsky, W., & Varbelow, S. J. (2025) · International Journal of Strategic Communication · doi:10.1080/1553118x.2025.2575979
Crisiscommunicatie onder woorden gebracht: De rol van taal in crisisboodschappen van organisaties
Fannes, G. (2025) · Lirias (KU Leuven)

See all 22

Authors: Zhan, E. S., Zheng, Q., Dong, C., & Thorson, E.
Affiliations: Michigan State University (US)
Corresponding author: Zhan, Emily S.
ORCID: Zhan, Emily S.
Zheng, Qi
Dong, Chuqing
Thorson, Esther
Venue: International Journal of Strategic Communication
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2025-03-15
Volume: 19
Issue: 2
Pages: 176-199
ISSN: 1553-118X (ISSN-L)
1553-1198
DOI: 10.1080/1553118x.2025.2471527
OpenAlex: W4408609600
Semantic Scholar: 77a614b6439505885edf20a3aaacf9772112c8bb
Cited by: 22
References: 79
Citations by year: 2026: 19 · 2025: 3
FWCI: 22.81
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: cc-by-nc-nd
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (vor)
Locations: International Journal of Strategic Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders: School of Journalism
MichiganState University
Topics: Social Sciences › Communication › Public Relations and Crisis Communication
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › E-Government and Public Services
Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
Keywords: generative AI, crisis communication, public trust in government, AI knowledge, AI disclosure, crisis response strategies, public perception of government

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.

Does AI-Generated Care-Based Message Increase Trust in Government? The Pivotal Role of AI Knowledge in Government Crisis Response

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Related

Metadata

Record

About these checks

Data sources