
Associate Professor, Program Coordinator, Corporate Communication
Business Building, 111
Penn State Scranton
120 Ridge View Drive
Dunmore, PA 18512
120 Ridge View Drive
Dunmore, PA 18512
Biography
Discipline Focus
Crisis communication and risk and health communication; teaches undergraduate mass communication and Corporate Communication courses.
Awards and Recognition
- 2021 Five-Year Service Award, Penn State Scranton.
- 2020 Dr. Richard J. & Sally Matthews Award for Scholarly Activity, Penn State Scranton.
- 2017 Faculty Endowed Research Award, Penn State University Alumni Association.
- 2016 Risk/Health Communication Fellow, College of Communication and Information, University of Kentucky.
- 2016 Risk/Crisis Communication Fellow, College of Communication and Information, University of Kentucky.
Training and Certifications

Research Interests
Research Interests
- Crisis communication
- Health risk communication
- New media studies
- Media affordances
Research Affiliation
- Post-Graduate Fellow, Communication & Social Robotics Laboratory, Western Michigan University, 2016 – present.
Publications
Refereed Journal Articles
- Lin, X., Lachlan, K. A., & Spence, P. R. (2022). “I thought about it and I may follow what you said”: Three studies examining the effects of elaboration and source credibility on risk behavior intentions. Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 5(1), 9-28. https://doi.org/10.30658/jicrcr.5.1.2
- Lin, X., Kaufmann, R., Spates, S. A., Lachlan, K. A., & Spence, P. R. (2022). Exploring students’ perceptions of identity and helper heuristics in the online classroom discussion board. Communication Education, 71(2), 108-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2021.1957138
- Spates, S. A., Kaufmann, R., Lin, X., Lachlan, K. A., & Spence, P. R. (2020). I don’t care about who you are, but what you are doing for me? Examining perceptions of helpful comments and identity in user-generated content. Southern Communication Journal, 85(3), 155-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2020.1770319
- Spence, P. R., Lin, X., Lachlan, K. A., & Hutter, E. (2020). Listen up, I've done this before: The impact of self-disclosure on source credibility and risk message responses. Progress in Disaster Science, 7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2020.100108
- Edwards, C., Edwards, A., Stoll, B., Lin, X., & Massey, N. (2019). Evaluations of an artificial intelligence instructor's voice: Social Identity Theory in human-robot interactions. Computers in Human Behavior, 90, 357-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.08.027
- Lachlan, K. A., Spence, P. R., Seeger, M., Gilbert, C., & Lin, X. (2019). Crisis communication in context: History and publication trends. Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, 38 (2), 39 - 56.
- Lin, X., Kaufmann, R., Spence, P. R., & Lachlan, K. A. (2019). Agency cues in online comments: Exploring their relationship with anonymity and frequency of helpful posts. Southern Communication Journal, 84(3), 183-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2019.1584828
- Lin, X., & Spence, P. R. (2019). Others share this message, so we can trust it? An examination of bandwagon cues on organizational trust in risk messages. Information Processing and Management, 56(4), 1559-1564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2018.10.006
- Spence, P. R., Lachlan, K. A., Lin, X., Westerman, D., Sellnow, T. L., Rice, R. G., & Seeger, H. (2019). Let me squeeze a word in: Exemplification effects, user comments and response to a news story. Western Journal of Communication, 83(4), 501-518. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2019.1591495
- Edwards, C., Edwards, A., Spence, P. R., & Lin, X. (2018). I, teacher: Using artificial intelligence (AI) and social robots in communication and instruction. Communication Education, 67(4), 473-480. doi:10.1080/03634523.2018.1502459
- Lin, X., Rainer, A., Lachlan, K. A., & Spence, P. R. (2018). Don't sleep on it: An examination of storm naming and potential heuristic effects on Twitter. Weather, Climate, and Society, 10(4), 769–779. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-18-0008.1
- Lin, X., & Spence, P. R. (2018). Identity on social networks as a cue: Identity, retweets, and credibility. Communication Studies, 69(5), 461-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2018.1489295
- Spence, P.R., Lachlan, K.A., Westerman, D., Lin, X., Gentile, C. J., Sellnow, T.L., & Sellnow-Richmond, D.D. (2017). Exemplification effects: Responses to perceptions of risk. Journal of Risk Research, 20(5), 590-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2015.1100658
- Lachlan, K. A., Spence, P. R., Lin, X., Najarian, K., & Del Greco, M. (2016). Social media and crisis management: CERC, search strategies, and twitter content. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 647-652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.05.027
- Lin, X., Lachlan, K. A., & Spence, P. R. (2016). Exploring extreme events on social media: A comparison of user reposting/retweeting behaviors on Twitter and Weibo. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 576-581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.032
- Lin, X., Spence, P. R., & Lachlan, K. A. (2016). Social media and credibility indicators: The effect of influence cues. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 264-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.002
- Lin, X., Spence, P. R., Sellnow, T. L., & Lachlan, K. A. (2016). Crisis communication, learning and responding: Best practices in social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 601-605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.080
- Spence, P. R., Lachlan, K. A., Lin, X., & Del Greco, M. (2015). Variability in Twitter content across the stages of a natural disaster: Implications for crisis communication. Communication Quarterly, 63(2), 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2015.1012219
- Spence, P.R., Lachlan, K.A., Lin, X., Sellnow-Richmond, D.D., & Sellnow, T.L. (2015). The problem with remaining silent: Exemplification effects and public image. Communication Studies, 66(3), 341-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2015.1018445
- Lachlan, K. A., Spence, P. R., & Lin, X. (2014). Expressions of risk awareness and concern through Twitter: On the utility of using the medium as an indication of audience needs. Computers in Human Behavior, 35, 554-559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.02.0295
- Lachlan, K.A., Spence, P.R., Lin, X., & Del Greco, M. (2014). Screaming into the wind: Examining the volume and content of tweets associated with hurricane sandy. Communication Studies, 65(5), 500-518. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2014.956941
- Lachlan, K.A., Spence, P.R., Lin, X., Najarian, K.M., & Greco, M.D. (2014). Twitter use during a weather event: Comparing content associated with localized and nonlocalized hashtags. Communication Studies, 65(5), 519-534. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2014.956940
- Westerman, D., Spence, P.R., & Lin, X. (2014). Telepresence and exemplification in health messages: The relationships among spatial and social presence and exemplars and exemplification effects. Communication Reports, 28(2), 92-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2014.971838
- Spence, P. R., Lachlan, K. A., Spates, S. A., & Lin, X. (2013). Intercultural differences in responses to health messages on social media from spokespeople with varying levels of ethnic identity. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 1255-1259.
- Spence, P. R., Lachlan, K. A., Spates, S. A., Lin, X., Shelton, A. K., & Gentile, C. J. (2013). Exploring the impact of ethnic identity through other-generated cues on perceptions of spokesperson credibility. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, A3-11.
Book Chapters
- Spence, P. R., & Lin, X. (2023). Social media methods and research in crisis communication. In M. M. Skoric & N. Pang (Eds.), Research handbook on social media and society. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Spence, P. R., Westerman, D., & Lin, X. (2018). A robot will take your job. How does that make you feel? Examining perceptions of robots in the workplace. In A. Guzman (Ed.), Human machine communication (pp. 185-200). Peter Lang.
- Lachlan, K.A., Spence, P.R., & Lin, X. (2017). Natural disasters, Twitter, and stakeholder communication: What we know and directions for future research. In L. Austin & J. Yan (Eds.), Social media and crisis communication (pp. 296-305). Routledge.
- Lin, X., Xu, Z., Rainer, A., Rice, R., Spence, P. R., & Lachlan, K. A. (2016). Research in crises: Data collection suggestions and practices. In Eiras, J. R. (Ed.), Data collection: Methods, ethical issues and future directions (pp. 49-64). Nova Science.
- Spence, P. R., Lachlan, K. A., & Lin, X. (2014). Using the right cues: Directions and implications for communication of health-related information through social media. In M. Eaves (Ed.), Applications in health communication: Emerging trends (pp. 205-215). Kendal Hunt.
- Lachlan, K.A., Spence, P.R., & Lin, X. (2012). Self-efficacy and learning processes associated with the elderly during disasters and crises. In B. Raskovic & S. Mrdja (Eds.), Natural disasters: Prevention, risk factors and management (pp. 327-338). Nova Science.
Education
- Ph. D., Communication Studies, University of Kentucky.
- M.A., Communication Studies, Western Michigan University.
- B.A., Advertising, Xiamen University.