Mind the gap, exploring the expectation gap in political leadership in disasters: An Australian case study

Abstract

AbstractThis article uses expectation gap theory to explore news coverage of the leadership performance of a national political leader in a major bushfire disaster in Australia. It does so to identify the types of behaviors and leadership that leader enacted and embodied during these events and what fire‐affected communities expected that politician to do in that disaster. Using a case study approach to the Black Summer bushfires that occurred in Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, it highlights the way Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison engaged with affected individuals and communities during and after that disaster. We draw on news media coverage as the disaster unfolded and in the months that followed to analyze his leadership and what others expected of him in those events. We find that in this disaster there was a significant gap between the Australian Prime Minister's leadership and community expectations of that leadership. Our article highlights how the expectation gap played out in news coverage of the fires and why the expectation gap matters.