Application of FMEA analysis to digital communication risk management in higher education institutions

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Institutional digital communication represents a critical vector of reputation management in public universities, while also generating new categories of operational and reputational risk. This study proposes the FMEA-DC framework (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis – Digital Communication), an original adaptation of the FMEA methodology to the digital communication flow of higher education institutions, grounded in the two-dimensional risk formula R = P × I (Probability × Impact), in accordance with ISO 31000:2018. The framework comprises 20 failure modes organized across six process stages: Planning and Brief, Content Creation, Internal Approval, Publication, Monitoring, and Analysis & Improvement, eight of which are original contributions absent from the prior FMEA literature. Empirical validation was carried out through a quantitative case study at a public university in Romania, with a sample of 540 respondents (academic staff, managers, administrative personnel, and students), using a 40-item Likert scale questionnaire (1–10). The internal consistency of the instrument was confirmed through Cronbach's Alpha (P scale: α = 0.72; I scale: α = 0.58). The results show that the Monitoring stage records the highest average risk score (R̄ = 49.22), with five failure modes concentrated at the upper boundary of the medium-risk band. The Pareto analysis identifies 16 of the 20 failure modes as critical, accounting for 80.87% of the total institutional risk. The study provides university decision-makers with a practical, replicable, and quantified instrument for the proactive management of digital communication risk.