Cultural impact on risk communication: a comparative multimodal study of institutional discourse from tight and loose cultures

Understanding how cultural dimensions shape risk communication is critical for effective crisis management. The role of tight versus loose cultures, characterised by the rigidity or flexibility of social norms, has remained underexplored. This study applies discourse analysis informed by social semiotics to examine how leading universities in China and America communicated COVID-19 risks through their webpages. Findings suggest that Chinese universities, as representatives of tight cultures with rigid social norms, employed a university-centric and authoritative communicative approach that foregrounded social regulation. They framed pandemic messaging alongside campaigns for collective action, and reinforced compliance through multimodal strategies such as highlighting the sacrifices of medical staff, employing collective imagery, and using modal verbs of obligation. In contrast, American universities, reflecting loose cultural norms, adopted a more reader-oriented and flexible discourse style. They framed the pandemic as regular activities, highlighting individual responsibility for health management. They encouraged personalised and informed decision-making through multimodal strategies, including prominent webpage designs to highlight resources for self-protection, individualised portrayals of social actors, and the use of modal verbs of probability. These differences highlight how tight-loose cultural norms shape institutional discourse and reveal the value of a multimodal, discourse-informed approach to cross-cultural risk communication.