Crisis Communication Strategy During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Literature Review

The covid-19 pandemic has proven to be a disruptive force in public communication between governments and the public across the globe. Government confusion over the unprecedented description of covid-19, coupled with limited reliable data and information, has fuelled public expectations of clear and timely information from the government. The slow release of official information has led the public to seek information from third parties. Ironically, much of the information, which is invalid, irresponsible, and has unclear sources, is actually more trusted by the public. Amidst increasingly chaotic public communications, government leaders in many countries are using a variety of different crisis communication practices, some of which are effective but many of which fail in their implementation. To achieve this, a scientometric review was conducted based on quantitative mixed methods using Vosviewer and Nvivo 12 Plus to analyze a database collected from Scopus of 808 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2020-2025. This further supported by an analysis of similar applied case studies from relevant literature based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). The findings suggest that selecting appropriate crisis communication strategies has the potential to accelerate improvements in public communication channels, increase public trust, and build sustainable communities. This article also outlines future research directions and highlights key benefits and challenges. Furthermore, this article contributes to existing knowledge by bridging the gap between crisis communication practices during the covid-19 pandemic and sustainable practices through the proposal of holistic framework that incorporates the SDGs and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Another framework maps crisis communication strategies before and after the widespread implementation of covid-19 vaccination policies worldwide.