This page in Swedish

Joel Rasmussen

Position: Senior Lecturer School/office: School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences

Email: am9lbC5yYXNtdXNzZW47b3J1LnNl

Phone: +46 19 301402

Room: F2109

Research subject

Media and Communication Studies

Research environments

Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC)

About Joel Rasmussen

Joel is an Associate Professor (Docent) in Media and Communication Studies (2017) and was appointed Excellent Teacher in 2024. Since spring 2024, he is also Head of the School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences.

Research Areas

Joel’s research focuses on organizational communication about risk and safety, and its implications for organizational and professional identity, responsibility, and solutions. His work spans a broad range of contexts, from how risks are communicated and understood among employees and managers in chemical industry settings, to how organizations extend beyond traditional boundaries and are shaped and reshaped through their online presence. Particular attention has been given to the role of social media in shaping communication practices and understandings of risk in public organizations, with case studies related to counterterrorism and professional communicators.

His most recent and ongoing externally funded research project (MSB, 2024–2028) examines emergency response organizations and preventive measures against antagonistic use of hazardous substances in public environments. Other recently completed projects have focused on governmental strategies in the management of both the pandemic and nuclear accidents, as well as citizens’ responses to authorities’ handling of these situations and to the roles produced through such management.

Publications and commissions

Joel is the author and co-author of approximately thirty scholarly articles, book chapters, and reports. He was commissioned by the Swedish Corona Commission to contribute analyses of governmental communication; this work was published in 2022 as part of the Commission’s final report. Together with Gwen Bouvier, he also completed the monograph Qualitative Research Using Social Media (Routledge, 2022), with work on a new edition planned for during 2026.

One of his more recent research articles, in the journal Human Relations (2021), is about emergency services organizations' increasingly informal, promotional, personal, and multi-voiced communication on social media, and what it means for their organizational identity and ethos as bureaucracies. Joel has also given talks at NGOs as well as public and private organizations. He has conducted research with funding from the Competence Center for Energetic Materials (KCEM), the Swedish Association for Social and Mental Health (RSMH), the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), Handisam/Hjärnkoll, Formas, and the Norwegian Research Council.

Teaching

Joel teaches courses in strategic communication, communication theory, organizational theory, and risk and crisis communication, and supervises theses from undergraduate to master’s level. He has served as Programme Director for the Master's program in strategic communication and has had overall responsibility for the Media and Communication Studies programmes in Örebro at both undergraduate and advanced levels in his roles as Director of Division and Director of Studies.

Active projects

Completed projects

Research groups

Strategic Communication (SCOM)

Publications

Articles in journals

Rasmussen, J. (2025). Unpacking qualitative data in organizational trust research: An application to community appraisal of COVID-19 management in Scandinavia. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 20 (5), 21-40. [BibTeX]
Rääf, C. , Martinsson, J. , Eriksson, M. , Ewald, J. , Javid, R. G. , Hjellström, M. , Isaksson, M. , Rasmussen, J. & et al. (2023). Restoring areas after a radioactive fallout: A multidisciplinary study on decontamination. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 270. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. , Eriksson, M. & Martinsson, J. (2022). Citizens' Communication Needs and Attitudes to Risk in a Nuclear Accident Scenario: A Mixed Methods Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (13). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Wikström, P. B. (2022). Returning Home after Decontamination? Applying the Protective Action Decision Model to a Nuclear Accident Scenario. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (12). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Ewald, J. (2022). The Relation Between Socioeconomic Status and Risk Attitudes: A Nuclear Accident Scenario in Sweden. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, 6 (3), 541-555. [BibTeX]
Ihlen, Ø. , Just, S. N. , Kjeldsen, J. E. , Mølster, R. , Offerdal, T. S. , Rasmussen, J. & Skogerbø, E. (2022). Transparency beyond information disclosure: strategies of the Scandinavian public health authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Risk Research, 25 (10), 1176-1189. [BibTeX]
Offerdal, T. S. , Just, S. N. , Rasmussen, J. & Ihlen, Ø. (2022). “We Do Not Have Any Further Info to Add, Unfortunately”: Strategic Disengagement on Public Health Facebook Pages. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 16 (3), 499-515. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2021). Share a little of that human touch: The marketable ordinariness of security and emergency agencies' social media efforts. Human Relations, 74 (9), 1421-1446. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. , Ewald, J. & Sterner, T. (2020). Gender and life-stage dependent reactions to the risk of radioactive contamination: A survey experiment in Sweden. PLOS ONE, 15 (4). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2017). Recent research on the discursive construction of national identity . Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 12 (2), 181-187. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2017). ‘Welcome to Twitter, @CIA. Better late than never’: Communication professionals’ views of social media humour and implications for organizational identity. Discourse & Communication, 11 (1), 89-110. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2015). “Should each of us take over the role as watcher?”: Attitudes on Twitter toward the 2014 Norwegian terror alert. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 10 (2), 197-213. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2013). Governing the workplace or the worker?: evolving dilemmas in chemical professionals' discourse on occupational health and safety. Discourse & Communication, 7 (1), 75-94. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Kroon Lundell, Å. (2012). Understanding “communication gaps” among personnel in high-risk workplaces from a dialogical perspective. Safety Science, 50 (1), 39-47. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2011). Enabling selves to conduct themselves safely: safety committee discourse as governmentality in practice. Human Relations, 64 (3), 459-478. [BibTeX]
Höijer, B. & Rasmussen, J. (2007). Making sense of violent events in public spaces: citizens' cognitions and emotions of society and self in relation to mediated violence. Nordicom Review, 28 (1), 3-15. [BibTeX]

Articles, reviews/surveys

Rasmussen, J. & Ihlen, Ø. (2017). Risk, crisis, and social media: A systematic review of seven years' research. Nordicom Review, 38 (2), 1-17. [BibTeX]

Books

Ihlen, Ø. , Nørholm Just, S. , Kjeldsen, J. E. , Mølster, R. , Strand Offerdal, T. , Rasmussen, J. & Skogerbø, E. (2024). Navigating Pandemic Phases: Public Health Authority Communication during COVID-19 in Norway.. Nordicom, University of Gothenburg. [BibTeX]
Bouvier, G. & Rasmussen, J. (2022). Qualitative Research Using Social Media. London: Routledge. [BibTeX]

Chapters in books

Rasmussen, J. (2023). Combining governmentality and discourse analysis: An application on focus groups discussing radioactive decontamination. In: Annelie Ädel; Jan-Ola Östman, Risk Discourse and Responsibility (pp. 40-64). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. , Ihlen, Ø. & Kjeldsen, J. E. (2023). Strategic Covid-19 management in communicational practice: At the crossroads to remain open or not in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In: Bengt Johansson; Øyvind Ihlen; Jenny Lindholm; Mark Blach-Ørsten, Communicating a pandemic: Crisis management and Covid-19 in the Nordic countries (pp. 73-95). . Nordicom, University of Gothenburg. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2016). Governing safe operations at a distance: Enacting responsible risk communication at work. In: P. McIlvenny, J. Zhukova Klausen & L. Bang Lindegaard, Studies of Discourse and Governmentality: New Perspectives and Methods (pp. 179-207). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2015). The challenge of improving the public representation of mental illness: a case study of crime reporting and a call for radical change. In: Enric Ordeix, Valérie Carayol, Ralph Tench, Public relations, values and cultural identity (pp. 181-197). Bruxelles, Belgium: Peter Lang Publishing Group. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2014). Multimodal analys: att förstå det visuella varumärket. In: Åsa Thelander & Jörgen Eksell, Kvalitativa metoder i strategisk kommunikation (pp. 165-181). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2011). Discourses and identity positionings in chemical plant employees' accounts of incident reporting. In: Stig Arne Nohrstedt, Communicating risks: towards the threat society (pp. 197-222). Göteborg: Nordicom. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2007). Ideological horizons in the media: mental illness and violent crime. In: Birgitta Höijer, Ideological horizons in media and citizen discourses: theoretical and methodological approaches (pp. 95-117). Göteborg: Nordicom. [BibTeX]

Conference papers

Rasmussen, J. (2023). "Trusting the public authorities is imperative": The role of national newspaper editorials during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sweden. Paper presented at NEON-dagene, Trondheim, Norway, November 21-23, 2023. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2023). Unpacking qualitative data in organizational trust research: An application to community appraisal of Covid-19 management in Scandinavia. Paper presented at NEON-dagene, Trondheim, Norway, November 21-23, 2023. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2022). Communication and risks: Lessons for prompting protective behavior. Paper presented at One Health Sweden Scientific Meeting 2022: Pandemics and Preparedness, Uppsala, Sweden, March 29-30, 2022. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. , Ihlen, Ø. & Elmelund Kjeldsen, J. (2022). Strategic COVID-19 management in communicational practice: At the crossroads to remain open or not in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Paper presented at 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, One World, One Network‽, Paris, France, May 26-30, 2022. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2021). A scenario-based focus group study on attitudes toward returning or migrating in the aftermath of radionuclide decontamination. Paper presented at 17th International Pragmatics Conference, (Online conference), June 27 - July 2, 2021. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2016). Doing “Being” Responsible Risk Communicators at Work. Paper presented at The 66th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Communicating with Power, Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-13, 2016. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2016). “Welcome to Twitter, @CIA. Better Late Than Never”: Communication Professionals’ Views of Social Media Humor and Implications for Organizational Identity. Paper presented at The 66th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Communicating with Power, Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-13, 2016. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Ihlen, Ø. (2015). Risk, Crisis and Social Media: A Meta-Study of Six Years' Research. Paper presented at The 65th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Communication Across the Life Span, San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 21-25, 2015. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2013). Attitudes in risk discourse. In: Rhetoric in Society 4 Book of abstracts Copenhagen January 15-18, 2013. Paper presented at Rhetoric in Society 4, Contemporary Rhetorical Citizenship: Purposes, Practices, and Perspectives. Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication Section of Rhetoric University of Copenhagen, January 15-18, 2013.20). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2013). The challenge of improving the public representation of mental illness: A case study of crime reporting and a call for radical change. In: Strategic Public Relations. Public Values and Cultural Identity October 3-5, Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Paper presented at EUPRERA, October 3-5, Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2011). Deliberative communications ethics, its criticism, and proposal for research on attitudes as expressive acts in risk discourse. In: Risk, Uncertainty and Policy, European Sociological Association, 2011. Paper presented at Risk, Uncertainty and Policy, European Sociological Association, Östersund, 23-25 March, 2011. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2009). Incident reporting and employee identity: three cases of chemical manufacturers. In: 19th Nordic Conference on Media and Communication Research. Paper presented at 19th Nordic Conference on Media and Communication Research, Karlstad, Sweden, August 13-15, 2009. Nordicom. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2008). Communicating safety programs: the power in shaping occupational identities and risks. In: The IAMCR Congress of Media Research. Paper presented at The IAMCR Congress of Media Research, Stockholm, Sweden, July 20-25, 2008. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2007). Conflicting interpretations of workplace accidents: A critical communication perspective. Paper presented at The 12th International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries, May 22-24, 2007, Edinburgh, Scotland. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2007). Fact and fabrication in interviews: a response to radical constructionist critique. In: The 18th Nordic Conference for Media and Communication Research (NordMedia 2007). Paper presented at The 18th Nordic Conference for Media and Communication Research (NordMedia 2007), Helsinki, Finland, August 16-19, 2007. [BibTeX]

Doctoral theses, comprehensive summaries

Rasmussen, J. (2010). Safety in the making: studies on the discursive construction of risk and safety in the chemical industry. (Doctoral dissertation). (Comprehensive summary) Örebro: Örebro universitet. [BibTeX]

Manuscripts

Rasmussen, J. Governing the workplace or the worker? : Evolving dilemmas in chemical professionals naming conventions and in the negotiation of occupational health and safety. [BibTeX]

Reports

Rasmussen, J. (2022). Frågor om tydlighet och samstämmighet i den svenska riskkommunikationen om covid-19 under våren 2020: Underlagsrapport till SOU 2022:10 Sverige under pandemin.. Coronakommissionen. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2022). Medborgares attityder till risker och åtgärder vid en kärnkraftsolycka.. Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Ihlen, Ø. (2015). Lessons from Norwegian emergency authorities’ use of social media. Oslo: PRIO (PRIO Policy Brief 14). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2013). Mediebilden av psykisk ohälsa i samband med terrordåden i Norge 2011: En innehållsanalys av nyhetspressens rapportering.. Hjärnkoll. [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. (2007). Kommunikations- och tolkningsperspektiv på olyckor och tillbud i kemiska industrimiljöer. Karlstad: Räddningsverket (NCO-rapporter 2007: 2). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Höijer, B. (2005). Medborgare om våldsdåd: reaktioner efter mordet på Anna Lindh och andra dåd. Stockholm: Krisberedskapsmyndigheten (KBM) (KBM:s temaserie 2005:10). [BibTeX]
Rasmussen, J. & Höijer, B. (2005). Media images of mental illness and psychiatric care in connection with violent crimes: a study of Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet and Rapport. Stockholm: RSMH. [BibTeX]