Communications Trend Radar

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Which trends will shape corporate communications in the future? Started in 2021, the Communications Trend Radar will publish the most relevant trends from management, technology and society on an annual basis. This enables communications managers to identify challenges and opportunities at an early stage, take a stand, address issues, and make decisions.

Research period: since January 2020
Project lead: Leipzig University & University of Duisburg-Essen
Results Communications Trend Radar 2021

Goals

The Communications Trend Radar identifies and selects trends from neighboring disciplines (e.g. information technology, sociology, strategy research) that could be relevant for corporate communications as well as topics emerging in business schools and among management consultants. The goals are:

To condense the vast number of new topics and emerging discussions into the most relevant trends for communication leaders.
To show the opportunities and risks for corporate communications which are not yet being discussed in the industry.
To identify relevant questions for research on corporate communications earlier than in the past.
To generate new ideas and valuable impulses for the international discussion on strategic communication.

Approach

By looking at scientific journals, conference proceedings, international journals, studies of management and technology consultancies, and by conducting a systematic analysis of social media, the research team will collect, select and systematize trends for corporate communication leaders. Based on this, the Trend Radar will be created.

Our corporate partners can use the content provided in various situations, e.g. in internal strategy workshops with the communication management team, at board presentations or industry events.

Specific trends may be further developed in in-depth publications, webinars and workshops. Our corporate partners will be actively involved in selecting the topics to be focused on. Thus, they will have the opportunity to shape the future of corporate communications research.

The Communications Trend Radar will identify trends from three areas whose developments and innovations have a particular influence on corporate communications:

Technology: technological developments that have a potential impact on corporate communications and whose significance is not yet discussed by communicators (e.g. robotics, blockchain and digital twins).

Management: trends in strategic management and organizational design in order to enable communication managers to follow current discussions with top management and management consultants as well as to assess their relevance (e.g. gig economy, continuous performance management and gamification).

Media/Communication: trends that emerge in public communication and opinion making and that lead to changing stakeholder and customer behavior (e.g. automated content, media platforms and non-linear media consumption).

Team

The Communications Trend Radar is headed by Leipzig University and University of Duisburg-Essen. Leipzig is focussing on management and society, whereas Duisburg-Essen analyses technological developments.

Leipzig University

University of Duisburg-Essen