doi:10.1111/disa.

12351

The Syrian refugee crisis: how local

governments and NGOs manage their
image via social media
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics
and Business, University of Almería, Spain, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario Associate
Professor, Department of Economics and Business, University of Almería, Spain,
and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez Professor, Public Management Sector, and
General Manager, University of Almería, Spain

This study, based on situational crisis communication theory and set in the context of the Syrian
refugee crisis, seeks first to conduct a comparative analysis of the management of online citizen
engagement by local governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Second, it aims
to examine the relationship between certain factors pertaining to the types of responses submitted
by citizens via the social media of the aforementioned actors. The sample is composed of sev-
eral Spanish local governments and NGOs belonging to Red de Municipios de Acogida de
Refugiados (Local Government Network for Refugee Allocation). The main findings are that
NGOs’ online engagement with citizens is more than that of local governments. Notably, NGOs
are much more active on their Facebook pages than are local governments. The two actors con-
verge, though, in terms of disseminating instructive information and paying less attention to ‘basic
crisis response options’. Moreover, the factors ‘content type’, ‘reputation’, and ‘woman’ affect the
type of response messages sent by citizens.

Keywords: Facebook, interactions, non-profit sector, public sector, response

Introduction
The European Commission called for a more global approach to refugee manage-
ment in May 2015, including the implementation of two emergency plans to relocate
some 160,000 refugees in the European Union (EU). After months of debate within
the EU, this recommendation led to the establishment of quotas on the number of
refugees to be distributed among member states.
Spain was assigned a quota of 14,931 refugees in September 2015, the third highest
in the EU after Germany (31,443) and France (24,031). This followed some major non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) that work with refugees, such as Amnesty
International and the Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR) (Spanish
Commission for Refugee Aid), denouncing, in 2014, the international response to
the Syrian refugee crisis as shameful, highlighting the poor role that Spain had played
in it: the Spanish government had offered to receive only 130 refugees—an offer that
has yet to be met (European Commission, 2015).

© 2019 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2019

Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Another milestone in Spain was the voluntary initiative at the local government
level called Red de Municipios de Acogida de Refugiados1 (Local Government Net-
work for Refugee Allocation). A group of local governments along with the Spanish
divisions of notable NGOs involved in refugee management, such as Amnesty Inter-
national, La Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados (ACNUR), the Asociación
Comisión Católica Española de Migración (ACCEM), CEAR, and the Red Cross,
publicly declared their commitment to coordinate efforts to receive Syrian refugees
in Spain.
All of these decisions do not mean that the citizenry has remained impassive, as
governments and NGOs are increasingly being held responsible for resolving the
refugee crisis (Carrera et al., 2015). In fact, it has been difficult for EU member states
to manage polarised public opinion: a high level of support for refugees and, simulta-
neously, emerging anti-immigration sentiment (Havlová and Tamchynová, 2016).
Governments and NGOs cannot always satisfy the needs and wishes of citizens
in crisis situations. However, the achievement of civic engagement is a key ingredient
for building trust in such actors and, consequently, for fostering benevolence and
support for their decisions (Harvey, 2013). To realise civic engagement, the use of an
adequate crisis response communication strategy is crucial, as it allows citizens to:
(i) understand the actions taken by such entities (Sciulli, 2018); (ii) respond to their
decisions (Nussbaum, 2011); and (iii) collaborate with them to enhance the manage-
ment of disasters (Pyles et al., 2017).
Few studies have addressed how social media (SM) has managed to foster civic
engagement, or, more specifically, to cope with the crisis communication encountered
by governments and NGOs when taking part in humanitarian action in conflict
settings. Most public sector analyses have examined the use of SM in emergency man-
agement during natural disasters (Al-Saggaf and Simmons, 2015; Graham, Avery,
and Park, 2015; Simon, Goldberg, and Adini, 2015). However, there are very lim-
ited evaluations of the crisis response strategies of governments to deal with public
opinion during long crises (Cooley and Jones, 2013), such as conflicts. There are even
fewer that focus on the local government level.
Apropos of the non-profit sector, previous works have assessed the crisis response
strategies of NGOs through an appraisal of media coverage, specifically newspapers
(Sisco, 2012a), or by examining the public’s stated intention to engage with an NGO
after the employment of crisis response strategies (Sisco, 2012b). Nevertheless, there
is little understanding of the role that SM can play in improving civic engagement
in the crisis communication decisions taken by NGOs. Moreover, in general, there
is a lack of comparative research on SM management in conflict situations; the lim-
ited comparisons identified are between the corporate and public sectors (Kim and
Liu, 2012).
This research, therefore, has two objectives:

• to compare, in a Spanish context, SM management of citizen engagement by

local governments and NGOs in relation to the Syrian refugee crisis, specifically
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

with regard to (i) messages sent, (ii) responses received from citizens to messages
disseminated, and (iii) interactive conversations generated; and
• to examine the relationship between certain factors in the type of response mes-
sages of citizens submitted via SM with respect to the Syrian refugee crisis.

An effective communication strategy is crucial for ensuring that local govern-

ments and NGOs acquire first-hand knowledge of citizens’ needs and expectations
(Heaselgrave and Simmons, 2016), to guarantee the legitimacy of their actions (Ingenhoff
and Koelling, 2009; Ting-Lee and Hemant-Desai, 2014). The findings concerning
the first objective above illustrate to what extent SM affects the engagement of citi-
zens in the decision-making process, revealing the usefulness of SM in building and
maintaining an online reputation. The insights related to the second objective will
help practitioners to understand better which characteristics should be borne in mind
when mitigating negative online responses to the information disseminated via SM.
The remainder of the paper is divided into six sections: section two addresses the
concept of online civic engagement in crisis communication; section three outlines
the theoretical framework and the hypotheses; section four sets out the methodology
applied and the sample utilised; section five explains the results obtained; and section
six presents the main conclusions and implications.

Online civic engagement in crisis communication

The role of local governments and NGOs in refugee crisis situations
The rise in migration to the EU in recent years has provoked much public concern
about the degree to which member states should apply a generous, meaningful, and
humane approach to asylum seekers (Stevens, 2017). Local governments as conveners
of local problem-solving are fundamental to the execution of the state’s migration
policy, including issues related to refugees. In Spain, aside from adhering to the central
government’s migration policy, the Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias
(FEMP; Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces) created the Local Gov-
ernment Network for Refugee Allocation in 2016 with the aim of facilitating better
allocation of resources to meet the needs of an increasing number of people seeking
asylum. These resources include: accommodation; assistance with administrative
procedures; counselling and social assistance; direct economic aid to help asylum
seekers meet immediate expenses; and orientation and intermediation vis-à-vis voca-
tional training and integration into the labour market.
In a time of conflict, however, states still demonstrate an inability and/or unwill-
ingness to fulfil their responsibilities to protect and assist their citizens and/or those
in their territory. NGOs have taken the lead, therefore, in covering any deficiencies
of the state in terms of the humanitarian aid needed in such a situation (Harvey,
2013). In this regard, Garkisch, Heidingsfelder, and Beckmann (2017) identify four
principal functions of migration engagement by third sector organisations:
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

• the direct provision of basic services and social welfare;

• migrant-oriented capacity development;
• system-oriented advocacy; and
• complementary research activities.

Public institutions and NGOs cannot always provide a quick social response owing
to bureaucratic procedures, complex partisan negotiations, and regulations. Citizen
solidarity becomes a powerful alternative tool. Consequently, both entities require
the approval and support of citizens. To obtain it, dialogue and interaction between
citizens and institutions is essential ( Jung and Moro, 2014; Houston et al., 2015;
Álvarez-Jiménez and Padrós-Cuxart, 2017).

Online citizen engagement and managing the crisis communications of

local government and NGOs
The strategies that governments and NGOs employ to take control of and to structure
their messages to reassure the public about a crisis are crucial and more challenging
than those of private sector corporations (Kim and Liu, 2012; Sisco, 2012b). With
regard to government, the public interprets crisis response in terms of the extent to
which governments prioritise the public good (Lee, 2009). Hence, to conserve
legitimacy and political engagement, governments need to confront the increasingly
complex issue of deciding what information to share and how to do so (Kim and
Liu, 2012).
NGOs, meanwhile, conduct their work with the support of the public and the pri-
vate funds that they receive, as well as the altruistic help of volunteers (Burger and
Owens, 2010; Gugerty, 2010; Taylor and Doerfel, 2011). When trying to formulate
an adequate crisis response strategy, therefore, they need to take account of a wider
variety of stakeholders than do for-profit entities, including beneficiaries, media, per-
sonnel, society, supporters, and volunteers. This is very challenging: if an NGO fails in
its communication strategy, public confidence can vanish, resulting in not only a loss
of reputation, but also a decrease in financial support (Sisco, Collins, and Zoch, 2010).
Governmental organisations and NGOs should be proactive in monitoring SM
to foster civic engagement both during and after a crisis. In general terms, digital
engagement occurs when organisations and stakeholders interact with one another on
a SM platform (Yang and Saffer, 2018). For governments, this implies rapid, two-way
communication in a manner that enables them to be more responsive to citizens,
who in turn may feel more empowered (Douai and Nofal, 2012). For NGOs, this
implies building relationships with key stakeholders such as the media and volun-
teers, making them champions of non-profit causes and providing physical and
reputational support during a crisis (Liu et al., 2012).
‘A proper understanding of engagement must consider who (organization vs. stake-
holders) initiates engagement’ (Yang and Saffer, 2018, p. 6). Hence, the process of
engagement starts with the ‘message sent’ by the organisation and is followed by the
‘message response’ from its stakeholders.
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

There are three levels of ‘message response’:

• Level 1—this is when little time and effort is needed; only a ‘click’ is required to
complete the interaction (Luarn, Lin, and Chiu, 2015), such as the ‘liking’ and
‘sharing’ actions on Facebook.
• Level 2—this corresponds to the text comments generated by the post sent. Here,
participation is greater; more effort is needed, specifically, supplying positive or
negative comments on the actions taken by the organisation (Bonsón, Royo, and
Ratkai, 2015; Ott and Theunissen, 2015). Moreover, one should examine, too,
attributes such as the sex of the user (Lachlan et al., 2016) and the number or com-
mentators per post (Phethean, Tiropanis, and Harris, 2015).
• Level 3—this refers to conversational interactions that embrace replies to a comment
made. This action is highly interactive and is evidence of a strengthened relation-
ship (Phethean, Tiropanis, and Harris, 2015).

In addition, one should also consider how quickly engagement occurs or the
‘moment of participation’. Ureña, Herrera-Murillo, and Rodríguez-Martínez
(2014) underscore the usefulness of identifying whether the response happens during
the week or on a weekend and the level of coincidence between posts published and
interactions received.
Given that governmental organisations and NGOs have their ‘own’ place in the
Syrian refugee crisis and have different motives for engaging with citizens via SM,
one would expect there to be differences in the way that they manage such tools in
the process of citizen engagement.

How to manage response messages

Situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) (Coombs, 2007a) is one of the most
widely used theoretical frameworks for analysing communication strategies aimed
at enhancing an organisation’s reputation in crisis situations (Stephens, Malone, and
Bailey, 2005; Cooley and Cooley, 2011; Thiessen and Ingenhoff, 2011; Sisco, 2012b;
Coombs, 2016). SCCT highlights the importance of negative emotions in crisis situ-
ations and shares the belief that the right communication protects against further
negative reactions to an event (Coombs, 2004). To this end, response strategies are to
be selected according to the perceived acceptance of responsibility for a crisis by an
organisation (Coombs, 2006).
This framework was originally developed for blogs and websites, as the main
discussion venues on the internet, in addition to traditional mass media and direct
contacts (Zhang et al., 2016). However, the theory needs to be refined and expanded
(Sisco, Collins, and Zoch, 2010) by adapting it to current communication tech-
nologies (Gurman and Ellenberger, 2015). In this respect, SM has gained greater
relevance as a tool for crisis management, given that organisations seriously need to
enhance the manner in which they monitor stakeholders’ perceptions by evaluating
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

online conversations and acting on possible misunderstandings (Romenti, Murtarelli,

and Valentini, 2014). Likewise, little attention has been paid to empirical studies of
the factors that calm negative emotions and even less to large sectors such as the
public or NGOs.
This study aims to advance the application of SCCT in the context of SM man-
agement. In particular, it seeks to do so with an analysis of the variables that have an
influence on the type of messages sent by citizens, with regard to the Syrian refugee
crisis, via the SM of local governments and NGOs. To this end, it is worth men-
tioning that SCCT establishes a set of factors that shape reputational threats, such as
the content type of the message (Coombs, 2007a), as well as the stakeholders’ per-
ception of the organisation’s responsibility, which in turn could be based on their own
characteristics or the preconceived relational reputation of the organisation (Coombs,
2011). In addition, one should consider the quality of engagement via conversational
interactions (Romenti, Murtarelli, and Valentini, 2014).
This study, in line with Laswad, Fisher, and Oyelere (2005), does not look to
assess all of the factors studied in the literature, just some of the relevant ones that
match the objectives of this analysis. Thus, based on SCCT, the following factors
are examined: ‘content type of the messages sent’; ‘characteristics of citizens’; ‘fluency
of communication’; ‘reputation’; and ‘conversational interaction’.

Content type of the messages sent

In accordance with Coombs (2006), two message content types are identified:

• ‘instructing information’; and

• ‘basic crisis response options’.

The ‘instructing information’ is fundamental to managing stakeholders’ responses as

it represents what they need and want to know after a crisis occurs. It is composed
of three types: (i) basic crisis information; (ii) protection; and (iii) correction. The
‘basic crisis response options’ are discretionary and supplement the instruction infor-
mation with the aim of repairing the organisation’s reputation. In this respect, three
categories of crisis response strategies are noted, depending on the crisis responsibility
type attributed to the organisation: (i) deny strategy (for victim crisis type); (ii) dimin-
ish (for accidental crisis type); and (iii) rebuild (for preventable crisis type). Lastly,
bolstering strategies to supplement ‘instructing information’ and ‘basic crisis response
options’ are also recommended (Coombs, 2007b).
Sisco (2012b) reveals that citizens, in the victim scenario, would be more likely to
engage with an NGO when the deny strategy is implemented. Kim and Liu (2012)
report that governments are more active in using SM to send messages with instruct-
ing information than are private sector corporations. In addition, they highlight that
when there is little attribution of responsibility, adopting bolstering strategies helps to
establish positive connections between the organisation and stakeholders. Moreover,
Cooley and Jones (2013) emphasise that when there is minimal responsibility, the
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

Twitter accounts of governmental agencies are used to send messages that blame them-
selves. However, the effect of such a strategy on citizen engagement is not evident.
In a routine context, Bonsón, Royo, and Ratkai (2015) note the impact of the con-
tent type of the governments’ messages on the development of online relationships
and engagement between the public sector and its citizens. Consequently, in keeping
with SCCT and the literature, the content type of the messages sent is key to influ-
encing the positive or negative character of the responses from citizens.
In view of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1 —the content type of the messages sent via the SM of local governments and
NGOs influences the type of response messages from citizens with regard to the
Syrian crisis.

Characteristics of citizens
SCCT states that organisations in crisis situations should consider the profile of their
stakeholders and their concerns before choosing the most appropriate response strat-
egy. In addition, it establishes the ‘frame in thought’, involving the cognitive struc-
tures people utilise, such as scripts or schema, when interpreting information (Coombs,
2011). In this respect, women tend to be more supportive than men of government
initiatives pertaining to aid programmes (Atkeson and Rapaport, 2003). In addition,
previous studies concerning emergencies have pointed out that women have greater
confidence in the trustworthiness of the information disclosed by authorities (Major,
1999) and news media (Arlikatti, Lindell, and Prater, 2007).
Moreover, an increasing proportion of the population of Europe is composed of
migrants from diverse backgrounds, and a crucial question is whether or not Euro-
pean countries can succeed in integrating these people (Röder and Mühlau, 2011).
Voicu and Tufiş (2017) underline that immigrants do not build their confidence in
institutions in a vacuum, but rather, within the context defined by the culture of
political trust that characterises the country in which they live. It is worth noting
here that there is general distrust among European citizens of humanitarian action
by their governments and NGOs (Havlová and Tamchynová, 2016). Furthermore,
Röder and Mühlau (2011) state that migrants are more likely to feel that they belong
to a group that is suffering discrimination, and perceived discrimination is associated
with lower confidence in public institutions.
Hence, the personal characteristics of citizens can influence comprehension of
the messages and the subsequent response, concerning how local governments and
NGOs manage the Syrian refugee crisis.
In view of these findings, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H2 —(a) women decrease the level of negativity in citizens’ responses to the SM of

local governments and NGOs with regard to the Syrian crisis.
H 2 —(b) immigrants increase the level of negativity in citizens’ responses to the
SM of local governments and NGOs with regard to the Syrian crisis.
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Fluency of communication
In the initial crisis response guidelines, three points are seen as basic to the flow of
communication: (i) speed; (ii) accuracy; and (iii) consistency. This is very important
as while many crises begin by having a negative impact on the reputation of organi-
sations, effective crisis management can minimise the damage, and in some cases, can
allow an organisation to emerge stronger than before the event (Coombs, 2007b).
Effective crisis management also implies, therefore, that managers and practition-
ers are struggling to manage and control the flow of messages in the viral landscape
(Coombs, 2007a). Among the key aspects of the flow of messages is the fluency of
communication, which can be defined as the fast mobilisation of information from
the moment the message is sent and the response is obtained (Bird, Ling, and Haynes,
2012). Charlwood (2012) notes that the speed of SM commentary is a crucial vari-
able in SM monitoring. In light of the above, analysis of SM posts and responses over
time has great significance, and can be linked to the type of response of citizens.
In view of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H3 —fluency of communication reduces the negativity of citizens’ responses via the

SM of local governments and NGOs with regard to the Syrian crisis.

Reputation
Prior relational reputation can affect negative judgements of decisions taken by organi-
sations in crisis situations (Coombs, 2007a). In this respect, immigration policies are
by no means a recent phenomenon; EU member states had been under great public
scrutiny prior to the Syrian crisis (Irrera, 2016). Currently, most of the work related
to immigration is handled at the local level and thus local governments have respon-
sibility for aligning national policies and confronting the reactions of the local popu-
lation, often weakening their own legitimacy (Lidén and Nyhlén, 2014). It is worth
noting, too, the recent unrest among Spanish citizens about local government cor-
ruption (Araujo and Tejedo-Romero, 2016).
NGOs, meanwhile, are considered to be key social actors with respect to assis-
tance of immigrants at all levels. Over the years, NGOs have played a pivotal role
in developing aid programmes and as a result are intrinsic partners of governments
in matters related to humanitarian aid (Irrera, 2014). Thus, in general terms, there is
an underlying belief that these entities are ‘good’ and the local population is more
likely to consider their decisions as consensual (Schneiker, 2015). It is logical to expect,
therefore, that the prior relational reputation of local governments will be worse
than that of NGOs and that the actions taken by local authorities will be prone to
triggering negative prejudices among citizens. Consequently, in an online environ-
ment and in comparison to NGOs, one might expect local governments to be more
likely to receive negative response messages on SM.
In view of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H4 —the reputation of local governments fosters greater negativity in response mes-

sages from citizens than from NGOs via their SM with regard to the Syrian crisis.
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

Conversational interaction
There is no doubt that communication must serve to identify and manage stake-
holders’ perceptions of organisational decisions (Coombs, 2007a). To this end, it needs
to be more personal, requiring not only sensitivity to allow stakeholders to express
their needs, but also the ability to convey organisational involvement in addressing
their particular concerns (Thiessen and Ingenhoff, 2011). Hence, not only are organi-
sations well advised to employ a coherent crisis communication strategy and provide
relevant information on their SM, but also they need to understand and value the
benefits of generating conversational interaction, as this will reduce negative feelings
among stakeholders about the organisation (Romenti, Murtarelli, and Valentini,
2014; Ott and Theunissen, 2015). Engaging stakeholders in dialogue will influence
how an organisation’s image is perceived and construed, creating an excellent strat-
egy for building a positive long-term reputation (Theunissen, 2014).
In view of these findings, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H5 —conversational interaction reduces the negativity of citizens’ response mes-

sages via the SM of local governments and NGOs with regard to the Syrian crisis.

Methodology
Comparative analysis: local government versus NGOs
A content analysis was performed to fulfil the first objective set out above: a com-
parison of SM management of citizen engagement by local governments and NGOs
in relation to the Syrian refugee crisis. It was based on a deductive approach so that
the information was codified into the established categories outlined in sections two
and three. This approach is considered appropriate in studies of the use of SM in
crisis and emergency situations (St. Denis, Anderson, and Palen, 2014).
The data coding scheme has two main categories, ‘message sent’ and ‘response’,
which are divided into several subcategories. Specifically, the message sent has three
subcategories that gather information on the type of content, which in turn can
include instructions and basic crisis response options, as well as information on the
format and moment of dispatch. The response, meanwhile, is divided into the three
levels of SM engagement specified earlier, which, in turn, are subdivided into cat-
egories that identify the type of content of the response and the subsequent reply,
the moment of response and reply, and the attributes of the responders (see Tables 2,
3, and 4). The ‘immigrant’ attribute was detected on the basis of country of origin.
Although the type of analysis implemented is mainly deductive, the content of
the responses and the subsequent replies are assessed using an inductive approach.
Thus, these are evaluated in an open code manner, since it is considered better to
classify the themes according to the information found (Heverin and Zach, 2012).
In addition, the classification is exclusive, implying that each message, response, or
reply is assigned just one theme (Lachlan et al., 2016). The information was hand
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

coded by three coders who worked independently following a previous dialogue among
them, ensuring an agreed procedure of scoring (Graneheim and Lundman, 2004).
The large amount of data required the ad hoc development of software for this
research, both for extraction and subsequent aggregation. It is composed of four
modules. The extraction module is responsible for retrieving data available from
Facebook pages using queries based on Power Query M formula language. The
analysis module, based on data analysis expressions (DAX) language, is responsible
for developing a star analytic model for multidimensional exploitation of extracted
information, calculating the different items defined in this study. The visualisation
module uses Microsoft Power View technology to represent graphically the results
for a dynamic analysis of the information. Lastly, the content analysis module, based
on machine learning technology, examines and classifies different topics previously
parameterised—the content of the Facebook posts.

Explicative analysis: influencing factors in online responses

A multivariate regression model was employed to investigate the relation between
certain factors in the responses of citizens via SM with regard to the Syrian refugee
crisis, in line with other similar analyses of SM in the public sphere (Haro de Rosario,
Sáez-Martín, and Caba-Pérez, 2016). With respect to the second objective set out
above, the dependent variable selected was the type of response message. Table 3 shows
the second level of SM engagement and categorises the type of response of citizens

Table 1. Independent variables

Hypothesis Independent variable Measure Expected

relation

H1 Content type of the messages sent According to the contents types previously +/-
identified in the content analysis, four dummy
variables were generated:
- Type: Informative;
- Type: Action;
- Type: Collaboration; and
- Type: Denounce.

H2 Characteristics of citizens - Woman: dummy variable; -

women=1, men=0.

- Immigrant: dummy variable; +

immigrant=1, national=0.

H3 Fluency of communication Dummy variable; sending of the message -

and receipt of the response occurs on the
same day=1, at least one day of delay=0.

H4 Reputation Dummy variable; message sent by a local +

government=1, message sent by an NGO=0.

H5 Conversational interaction Number of replies per response where -

NGOs/local governments have participated.

Source: authors.
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

as negative (critical of the war, local government/NGO actions, Islam, and govern-
ments and international organisations) or positive (solidarity and support for the
actions taken by the local government/NGO). Thus, a dichotomous system was used
to implement the dependent variable, abbreviated as TMR (type of message response):
negative =1; positive = 0.
The most commonly used model to analyse dichotomous or binary dependent vari-
ables was selected for the regression: the Probit model (Cakmakyapan and Goktas,
2013). It models the inverse standard normal distribution of probability as a linear
combination of the predictors. Table 1 shows each independent variable, as well as
its measurement and expected relation.
All statistical calculations were performed using STATA Version 14.2 The calcu-
lation applied for the model is given by the following expression:

TMR: = α + β1 Type: Informative + β2 Type: Action + β3 Type: Collaboration

+ β4 Type: Denounce + β5 Woman + β6 Immigrant + β7 Flow + β8 Reputation +
β9 Replies + µ

Where α is the constant term, βj is the vector coefficient to be calculated, and µ is

the random error, assumed to be independent and identically distributed, with a mean
value of 0.

Sample
Two samples of local governments and NGOs from Spain were selected for pri-
mary data gathering, as it is via local governments that most important interactions
between citizens and governments happen (Araujo and Tejedo-Romero, 2016). These
primary samples were obtained using the criterion of membership of, or collabora-
tion with, the Local Government Network for Refugee Allocation. All entities that
participate in this initiative—77 Spanish local governments and 5 NGOs (ACCEM,
ACNUR, Amnesty International, CEAR, and the Red Cross)—were considered.
In total, 82 Facebook pages were assessed.
All data related to messages containing the word ‘Syria’ sent by local governments
and NGOs via Facebook were extracted during the analysis period (1 May 2015–
31 December 2016). Facebook was chosen because it is the most suitable application
for online citizen engagement (Haro-de-Rosario, Sáez-Martín, and Caba-Pérez, 2016).
The following items were treated in the content analysis:

• 179 messages;
• 1,845 responses;
• 354 replies;
• 67,673 likes;
• 9,672 emoticons; and
• 40,490 shares.

A dataset of 18,450 was scrutinised.

María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Results and discussions

Local governments versus NGOs
This section focuses on the results of the comparative analysis of citizens’ reactions
to and engagement with the SM of Spanish local governments and NGOs with
regard to the Syrian refugee crisis. As indicated in the introduction, the first objec-
tive is broken down into the following three aspects: (i) messages sent; (ii) responses
received from citizens to messages disseminated; and (iii) interactive conversations
generated among local governments/NGOs and citizens.

Messages sent
It is worth mentioning first that, during the analysis period, NGOs sent double the
number of messages about the Syrian refugee crisis, both in terms of volume and
in comparison to local governments. Regarding the type of content, Spanish local
governments and humanitarian NGOs converge in sending mainly ‘instructing
information’, rather than ‘basic crisis response options’ (see Table 2). The majority
is basic information providing updates to citizens on how the war is evolving, such
as new attacks and number of deaths, as well as information on initiatives by other
organisations or the reporting of stories of heroism. To a lesser extent, both entities
disseminate messages containing protection information, reporting favourable action
taken by local governments to grant asylum to Syrian citizens in their municipalities,
or in their reception centres in the case of NGOs (see the examples of messages in
the annexe).
To a certain extent, local governments report on their collaborations with NGOs
and other actors (11.86 per cent), whereas this type of information is almost never
published by NGOs (0.83 per cent). NGOs generally send more messages than local
governments with respect to the diminish strategy, conveying minimal responsibility
for the refugee crisis or inability to control the events that triggered it. Both send
messages that denounce or blame the refugee crisis on EU member states, the govern-
ment of the United States, and international organisations such as the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN). The latter finding is
consistent with previous studies that detect overuse of diminish strategy in the NGO
sector (Sisco et al., 2010). In similar circumstances, however, the public sector has
used diminish (Cooley and Jones, 2013) and bolstering (Kim and Liu, 2012) strategies.
In most cases, local governments complement their posts with photographs (54.24
per cent), whereas NGOs prefer to add links (46.66 per cent). In addition, one should
note that there was much less implementation of videos among local governments
(3.39 per cent) than NGOs (14.17 per cent).
During the 20-month period of review, 4 September 2015 was the day when local
governments uploaded the most posts. This could be because in the days prior to
9 September 2015, the date of the official announcement of the EU refugee quota
assigned to Spain, the Spanish government was debating the need to negotiate with
Brussels on the numbers of refugees that the country was in a condition to receive,
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

Table 2. Comparative analysis: messages sent

Local governments NGOs

Sent messages 59 120

Content types
Instructing information

Basic information
Information on Syrian refugee context 44.07% 56.67%

Protection
Actions taken on behalf of refugees 27.12% 19.17%
Collaborations with NGOs/local governments 11.86% 0.83%

Basic crisis response options

Diminish strategy
Denouncement of EU and US governments and 6.78% 7.50%
international organisations

Other 10.17% 15.83%

Format

Text 10.17% 2.50%

Text and link 32.20% 46.66%

Text and video 3.39% 14.17%

Text and photograph 54.24% 36.67%

Moment of sending

Most frequent date of post (mode) 4 September 2015 16 March 2016

During the week 96.61% 81.67%

Weekend 3.39% 18.33%

Average hour of the post sent (median) 11:00 11:00

Within working hours 76.27% 68.33%

Source: authors.

instead of simply accepting ‘orders’ (El Mundo, 2015). For NGOs, this date was 16 March
2016, which coincided with multiple protests on Spanish streets led by NGOs belong-
ing to the Local Government Network for Refugee Allocation, demanding further
involvement of the government in the Syrian refugee issue (RTVE, 2016). Despite
the difference in dates, the majority of the posts by local governments and NGOs
were published during the week, at around 11:00 on average.

Responses received from citizens to messages disseminated

There is a substantial difference in the level of response obtained, with NGOs witness-
ing greater online engagement by citizens on their Facebook pages. In both cases,
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

though, citizens were more likely to interact via ‘clicking’ (Level 1) than through ‘text
comments’ (Level 2) or ‘conversational interactions’ (Level 3) (see Table 3). Delving
further into the Level 1 responses, the interactions mostly were to demonstrate sup-
port, with the selection of the ‘like’ button. Use of emoticons, however, was very low.

Table 3. Comparative analysis: Levels 1 and 2 responses

Response Local governments NGOs

Level 1 interactivity—‘clicking’

Total likes 1,927 65,746

No likes per post (mean) 32.66 547.88

Total number of emoticons 57 9,615

No emoticons per post (mean) 0.97 80.13

Total shares 886 39,604

No shares per post (mean) 15.02 330.03

Level 2 interactivity—‘text comments’

Total comments 185 1,660

Total number of commentators 122 1,376

Content type of the response

Positive
Solidarity 1.08% 21.75%
Support for the actions taken by local governments and NGOs 46.49% 37.89%

Negative
Critical of the war 2.16% 12.77%
Critical of local government/NGO actions 40.00% 13.37%
Critical of Islam 0.54% 2.23%
Critical of governments and international organisations 0.54% 4.88%

Other 9.19% 7.11%

Moment of the response

During the week 88.65% 79.82%

Weekend 11.35% 20.18%

Average hour of the comment (median) 14:00 16:00

Coincidence (post sent and response on same day) 82.16% 59.82%

Delay in the response (at least one day) 17.84% 40.18%

Attributes of responders

Men 44.32% 37.17%

Women 54.06% 61.57%

Immigrant 1.62% 10.90%

Organisation 1.62% 1.26%

Source: authors.
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

As for Level 2, pertaining to the content type of the response, among the seven
themes identified, citizens sent positive responses to actions taken by local govern-
ments and NGOs slightly more often. One should note, though, that citizens used SM
far more frequently to criticise the actions of local governments than those of NGOs.
NGOs received more responses expressing solidarity (see examples in the annexe).
In any case, local governments received fewer online comments than NGOs about
the Syrian refugee crisis (185 versus 1,660, respectively).
Women were more active in using SM to engage with the information posts of
local governments and NGOs. However, a greater number of responses were iden-
tified from immigrant citizens on the Facebook pages of NGOs. It is worth noting,
too, that citizens tended to respond quickly to messages sent, often on the same day
as information was posted, especially in the case of local governments (82.16 per
cent)—the proportion for NGOs was 59.82 per cent. Yet, the time of response dif-
fers on average, in that citizens respond sooner on the SM of local governments than
on that of NGOs.

Interactive conversations generated among local governments/NGOs and citizens

Conversations were more often among citizens than between local governments/
NGOs and citizens (see Table 4). The replies of citizens focused, therefore, on sup-
porting or criticising other replies by citizens. Consequently, local governments and

Table 4. Comparative analysis: Level 3 response

Level 3 interactivity—‘conversational interaction’ Local governments NGOs

Conversations by citizens 113 233

Conversations by local governments/NGOs 0 8

Content type of the reply

Among citizens
Support for the comments made by citizen 42.48% 36.19%
Criticism of the comments made by citizen 46.90% 40.00%
Response to a request made by a citizen 3.54% 13.81%

Between local governments/NGOs and citizens

Response to a criticism of the local government/NGO 0.89% 3.33%
Critical of local government/NGO 6.19% 6.67%

Moment of the reply

During the week 77.00% 75.42%

Weekend 23.00% 24.58%

Average hour of the comment (median) 16:00 16:00

Coincidence (response sent and reply on same day) 70.80% 61.41%

Delay in the reply (at least one day) 29.20% 38.59%

Source: authors.
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

NGOs demonstrated a low level of con-

Replies
cern with monitoring SM and in provid-
ing feedback to the comments made by

1
citizens. Lastly, the conversations were
fluid, as replies generally appeared on the

Reputation

0.164***
day on which the response was published,
that is, on a weekday.

Notes: * Significant at the 0.10 level (two-tailed); ** Significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); *** Significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
-0.138***
Fluency
Factors influencing the response

0.023
messages of citizens via SM with

1
regard to the Syrian refugee crisis

Immigrant

-0.093***
Prior to the explanatory phase, the rela-

-0.004
-0.023
tionships between the independent vari-

1
ables that influence the response messages

0.098***
-0.050**
sent by citizens via Facebook were ana-
Women

0.044*
0.001
lysed. Table 5 shows the Pearson correla-

1
tion matrix obtained. Several significant
Type: Denounce

but low-grade correlations were found

among the explanatory factors, (around
0.1), which do not affect the regression. In

-0.011
0.008
0.023
0.024

0.010
addition, a medium correlation was dis-
1

covered between the factors ‘Type:

Type: Collaboration

Collaboration’ and ‘Reputation’. It was

lower than 0.8, though, which is not
indicative of multicollinearity problems
0.080***
0.585***
0.073***

0.076***
-0.043*

-0.093*

(Neter et al., 1996).

1

After confirming the initial hypotheses

of the model, Probit regression analysis
Type: Action

-0.123***
-0.114***

was conducted to respond to the second

0.167***
0.155***
0.021

0.018
0.011

objective (see Table 6). The resulting

1

model was statistically significant (Like-

Type: Informative

lihood Ratio Chi-Square =120.35***).

Table 5. Pearson correlation matrix

Regarding the significance of the explan-

-0.065***
-0.365***

-0.139***
-0.129***

atory factors for the TMR dependent

-0.131***
0.083***

0.004
0.016

variable, the regression analysis indicates

1

that the following variables were signi­fi­

cant: ‘Type: Informative’; ‘Type: Action’;
Type: Collaboration

‘Type: Collaboration’; ‘Woman’; and

Type: Informative

Source: authors.
Type: Denounce

‘Reputation’.
Type: Action

Reputation
Immigrant

Hence, the expected influence of H1

Fluency
Women

Replies

(content type) was confirmed. In particu-

lar, when basic information is disseminated
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

in the Syrian context (Type: Informative), there is a reduction in the number of nega-
tive online reactions from citizens. Furthermore, the findings indicate that protection
information is useful for managing the reduction of negative online response mes-
sages from citizens. Specifically: reporting on actions taken (Type: Action) by the
local government to welcome refugees to the municipality as well as to the NGO
centres. Likewise, demonstrated collaboration among local governments and NGOs
(Type: Collaboration) in performing supportive activities in favour of refugees also
diminishes the number of negative online sentiments of citizens. These outcomes are
in line with those of Coombs (2007b), who highlights the importance of instructing
information, as stakeholders must be very well informed by any type of crisis com-
munication management.
H 2 is partially supported. In particular, the variable ‘women’ was shown to have
predictive power in the type of response messages of citizens. However, the expected
relation is not supported, since significant results indicate that women are more likely
to criticise or doubt the information disseminated by authorities. Consequently, this
result is not shared by previous studies that posit that women have greater trust in the
action of authorities (Major, 1999, Arlikatti, Lindell, and Prater, 2007). Moreover, no
empirical evidence of the explicative power of the immigrant variable was found.

Table 6. Regression analysis

TMR model

Likelihood Ratio Chi-Square (9) 120.35***

Content types of the sent messages

H1 Type: Informative -2.53 (-0.1960793)**

Type: Action -3.56 (-0.3094810)***

Type: Collaboration -1.73 (-0.3469583)*

Type: Denounce 0.98 (0.1447532)

Characteristics of citizens

H2 (a) Women 9.08 (0.5706533)***

H2 (b) Immigrant 1.40 (0.1415746)

Fluency of communication

H3 Fluency -1.20 (-0.0784385)

Type of organisation

H4 Reputation 3.32 (0.4340083)***

Conversational interaction

H5 Replies 0.50 (0.0119725)

Notes: * Significant at the 0.10 level (two-tailed); ** Significant at the 0.05 level (t-tailed); *** Significant
at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
Source: authors.
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Hence, although the perceived discrimination of migrants is associated with lower

confidence in public institutions (Röder and Mühlau, 2011), it seems that there is no
significant lack of trust in the online disclosure of information by local authorities
about the asylum of refugees.
As for H3, the study did not produce any conclusive findings on the effect of ‘flu-
ency’, thus not reflecting the results of previous work on fluency of communication
as a driver of adequate monitoring of communication via SM (Bird, Ling, and Haynes,
2012; Charlwood, 2012).
Significant statistical results were obtained for H 4 . The relational reputation of
local governments vis-à-vis the refugee crisis fosters a greater number of negative
response messages from citizens via SM than is the case for NGOs. This finding is
in line with previous studies that highlight that local governments are under greater
public scrutiny than NGOs. Primarily this is because they are responsible for align-
ing government immigration policies and the different expectations of citizens for
the issue (Irrera, 2014, 2016; Lidén and Nyhlén, 2014).
With respect to H5, the influence of ‘conversational interaction’ on the type of
messages from citizens’ via SM was not confirmed. Hence, this study cannot confirm
that generating a conversational interaction enhances or restores an organisation’s
reputation, as noted by authors such as Romenti, Murtarelli, and Valentini (2014).
Nevertheless, the results should be treated with caution as local governments and
NGOs were not involved much in providing feedback or replying to the online com-
ments of citizens about the Syrian refugee crisis.

Conclusions and implications

There are differences in citizen’s online engagement with local governments and
humanitarian NGOs involved in Syrian refugee management in Spain. NGOs receive
more online comments than do local governments. Hence, while previous research
posits that citizens’ engagement with local governments (Bonsón, Royo, and Ratkai,
2015) and NGOs (Saxton and Waters, 2014) is low, this study shows that this is also
the case with respect to crisis communication, with citizen’s engagement with local
governments being less than with NGOs.
The reason for these different results could be because of their different ways of
managing their SM, and more specifically, their Facebook pages. NGOs are much
more active on Facebook than are local governments. Consequently, it seems that
although local governments are more active in crisis situations than private sector
corporations (Kim and Liu, 2012), they are less active than NGOs. This could be
because NGOs use their communication strategies as a driver of public confidence in
their commitment to their social mission, which in turn is crucial for their financial
support (Sisco, Collins, and Zoch 2010).
Local governments and NGOs converge when it comes to message content type,
disseminating instructing information and paying less attention to using ‘basic crisis
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media

response options’ to reinforce their legitimacy. Both are clear, therefore, about the
importance of informing citizens well when managing their image. In particular,
they appease negative responses by reporting on what has happened and how the
local government and NGOs are dealing with asylum seekers in their local context.
In addition, it seems that both the public and NGO sectors are less focused than
private sector corporations on developing complementary strategies for reputation
management (Kim and Liu, 2012).
NGOs use the ‘basic crisis response options’ strategy slightly more than local gov-
ernments, although evidence is scarce in both cases. Based on citizens’ responses,
the attribution of responsibility to both entities is, in general terms, low. It appears,
therefore, that both are following SCCT, where the diminish strategy is the most
appropriate course when one is unable to control the events that triggered the refu-
gee crisis. In particular, local governments claim that the central governments of
EU member states are responsible for the failure of refugee asylum policies, whereas
NGOs attribute blame to public authorities in general. In looking to conserve legiti-
macy and political engagement, local governments may be opting to make clear
that they are doing their best for the public good (Lee, 2009), but underlining that
the issue is beyond their control. According to Harvey (2013), NGOs could use these
types of messages to reinforce the idea that they are still crucial in covering the
failings of the state in crisis situations. Moreover, although previous studies with
similar attributions of responsibility identify greater use of basic crisis response options,
within government (Cooley and Jones, 2013) and NGOs (Sisco, Collins, and Zoch,
2010), this paper supports past findings regarding common use of the diminish strat-
egy in both sectors.
Romenti, Murtarelli, and Valentini (2014) note that Spanish local governments
and NGOs prefer a generative dialogue strategy: they ‘leave’ citizens to exchange
opinions, instead of getting directly involved by replying to comments. In this vein,
this study advances the debate by indicating that organisations in the public and
non-profit sectors seem not to have an interest in engaging in genuine dialogue with
citizens, supporting results outlined by Ott and Theunissen (2015) with respect to the
corporate sector.
Regarding the explanatory factors that affect the type of response messages sent
by citizens, in accordance with SSCT (Coombs, 2007a), those that contain basic and
protection information for crisis situations enhance the image of local governments
and NGOs. In addition, the findings demonstrate that certain personal character-
istics of stakeholders affect their perception of the image of an organisation during
a crisis. In particular, while previous studies show that women have greater trust
in the goodness of initiatives of authorities in emergency situations (Atkeson and
Rapaport, 2003), this research adds that women are not a supportive element in the
loss of reputation via SM.
Reputation has also been a determining factor in the type of sentiment of citizens
concerning the Syrian refugee context. As a result, citizens are apparently more
predisposed to criticising public sector actions than those of the third sector pertaining
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

to immigration issues. Prior relational reputation can thus affect the negativity of
judgements of decisions taken by organisations (Coombs, 2007b). This is a signifi-
cant factor to take into account when managing crisis situations via SM.
This study, then, has several academic and managerial implications. From an
academic standpoint, the paper covers the lack of comparative studies of SM man-
agement in crisis communications and between public and third sector entities. In
this respect, it advances the need for studies focused on wider analysis of the process
of online engagement, including the highest levels of online engagement, that is,
responses and interactive conversations. Moreover, despite the existence of a wide
range of literature on exploring SSCT theory (Kim and Liu, 2012; Sisco, 2012a,
2012b; Cooley and Jones, 2013), this paper expands on the scant amount of knowl-
edge of the use of SSCT in the realm of SM. In particular, it helps to address the lack
of explanatory analysis of factors that determine the type of response messages sent
by citizens via SM.
From a managerial perspective, the deep analysis of the different levels that com-
prise online engagement could help community managers by making them more
aware of the possibility of the high level of true interaction that can be achieved. It
can also help them to understand under which conditions they can foster the genera-
tion of these interactions.
Furthermore, the study findings could provide relevant information to local gov-
ernments and NGOs on the extent that they differ in their SM management and
the levels of engagement achieved in the context of a refugee crisis. In this respect,
local governments should recall that their legitimacy is based on citizens’ percep-
tions and hence should demonstrate a greater ‘predisposition’ for SM management.
Considering that citizens respond more negatively to the information/decisions of
local governments than of NGOs, local governments perhaps should not only increase
the volume of messages regarding diminish strategy, but also should add other con-
tent messages that could help them to rebuild their legitimacy and enhance their
political engagement.
To monitor the type of reactions to migration policies via SM, it is important to
provide information on the problem and on the involvement of the local govern-
ment or NGO. Likewise, community managers need to pay special attention to
male commentators, as they are more likely to react negatively to the information
posted. In addition, local governments must remain conscious of the fact that there is
a high level of public scrutiny of their immigration policies; thus, they need to invest
extra effort in their SM management.
This study has several limitations that provide direction for further research. It
addresses the differences between local governments and NGOs, but it could be
fruitful to carry out a wider comparison that includes private sector corporations.
What is more, this study is based in Spain; what is happening in other countries that
also are under public scrutiny with regard to Syrian refugees, remains unexplored.
Moreover, it analyses citizens’ responses, which are divided into two main types:
positive and negative. Future work could advance knowledge of how to manage
 The Syrian refugee crisis: how local governments and NGOs manage their image via social media
citizens’ responses, specifically by addressing sentiment analysis to separate them
into further categories and detect expressions such as ‘irony’. Finally, this paper
calls for research that contributes to advancing the evaluation of factors that facilitate
better understanding of how to use SM to foster or recover an organisation’s image
in a crisis situation.
Annexe
Examples of sent messages and responses
Content type of sent messages Local governments
Actions taken on behalf of refugees ‘Pedrera raises the creation of a
register of families that offer shelter
to refugees of the war in Syria’
(Pedrera City Hall).
Information on Syrian refugee context ‘Inauguration of the IX Conference
on Security, Defense and Coopera-
tion. Highly topical issues will be
addressed, such as the wave of
refugees that flock to the European
coast, the war in Syria and jihadist
terrorism’ (Málaga City Hall).
Denouncement of EU and US govern- ‘Saucejo considers that the pre-
ments and international organisations agreement that the European Union
has reached with Turkey to expel
Syrian refugees is an inadmissible
pact that violates human rights
and international laws’
(Saucejo City Hall).
NGO/local government collaborations ‘Málaga City Hall, CEAR, Red Cross,
ACCEM and Cáritas maintain a meet-
ing to continue coordinating refugee
aid actions’ (Málaga City Hall).
Content type of responses Local governments
Positive ‘Ole!!!!!!! Yes!!!! Proud of my
mayor and my city. We have to
help them’.
Negative ‘Rescue the citizen from here! If
my wife puts on a veil and goes with
a Syrian passport, does she have
more preference than the families
of Malaga?’.
Source: authors.
NGOs
‘Red Cross reinforces its shipments of
humanitarian aid to Syria. This week
they send around 5,000 cooking kits’
(Red Cross).
‘Although Russia claims that its air
strikes in Syria have only “terrorist”
targets, they have killed hundreds
of civilians and caused massive
destruction in residential areas’
(Amnesty International).
‘Of the almost 16,000 people that
Spain promised to bring from the
makeshift camps of Italy and Greece
six months ago, only 18 have arrived
(official data). Nobody gives us an
explanation’ (ACCEM).
‘Thanks to all the institutions that
have joined today for the symbolic
blackout in solidarity with the inno-
cent population now trapped in
Aleppo and with the millions of
people who have had to flee Syria
in almost six years of cruel conflict’
(CEAR).
NGOs
‘Thanks for your work!’.
‘To Amnesty International, do you
have eyes to see? El Asad is not
doing this. The human garbage that
you defend is doing this’.
María del Mar Gálvez-Rodríguez, Arturo Haro-de-Rosario, and María del Carmen Caba-Pérez

Correspondence
Dr Carmen Caba Perez, Carretera de Sacramento, Almeria 04120, Spain.
Telephone: +34 950 015175; e-mail: ccaba@ual.es

Endnotes
1
See http://www.femp.es/comunicacion/noticias/red-de-municipios-de-acogida-de-refugiados-
de-la-femp for more information (last accessed on 5 March 2019).
2
See https://www.stata.com/stata14/ for more information (last accessed on 7 March 2019).

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