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Communications Trend Radar
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Environmental conditions are changing like never before. It’s essential for communication leaders to recognize such developments, understand how they influence their organizations and their work, and seize the opportunities they offer.
Therefore, a research team from Leipzig University and University of Duisburg-Essen has been observing emerging trends in society, technology and management, that will have an impact on corporate communications and offer new opportunities for communicators to position themselves as thought leaders.
The five trends for corporate communications 2022
The five trends for corporate communications 2021
About the Communications Trend Radar
The Communications Trend Radar is a annual research project focusing on trends that impact corporate communications. It has been conducted by Leipzig University and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The overarching goal of the Communications Trend Radar is to help communication leaders prepare for trends that have the potential to influence their work. Therefore, the following fields were observed:
- Society: Trends emerging in different domains of public communication, opinion formation, and values that might change people’s attitudes and behavior, and affect expectations regarding businesses, their activities, and their communication.
- Management: Trends in strategic management and organizational design that communication professionals should be aware of.
- Technology: Technological developments that could either impact corporate communications or be used by communication professionals.
Methodology
- Sources & screening: First, information sources which provide relevant insights into the professional discourse in the areas of management, technology, and society are monitored and screened. These sources primarily include recent publications from scientific journals and conferences in the respective domains, but also selected newspapers (e.g., Economist Science and Technology), magazines (e.g., Harvard Business Review, Wired), social news sites (e.g., Reddit Science), blogs and websites (e.g., ReadWrite, The Next Web), whitepapers, and corporate trend reports.
- Trend profiles: Each potential trend is systematically documented in a trend profile consisting of a brief description and several criteria estimating the trend’s relevance to corporate communications. Specifically, we assess the impact of the trend on the corporate communications function, processes and management.
- Scoring: Based on the criteria detailed in the trend profiles, a scoring method is developed that is used to rate each of the trends.
- Selection: These trends are then discussed among the Communications Trend Radar team during a workshop. Each team member votes individually for the top trends in the areas of management, technology, and society.
- Reflection: These trends are examined further and are discussed during an (online) workshop.
- Report: All trends are analyzed and described in more detail in our publication - the Communications Trend Radar
Research team
The current research team of the Communications Trend Radar consists of scientists of the Leipzig University and the University of Duisburg-Essen.
from left to right:
- Stefan Stieglitz is Professor for Digital Communication and Transformation Professional at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
- Daniel Ziegele, M.A. is a research associate at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University, Germany.
- Sünje Clausen, M.Sc. is a research associate at the chair of Digital Communication and Transformation at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
- Ansgar Zerfass is Professor and Chair of Strategic Communication at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at Leipzig University, Germany.
Contact:
c/o Leipzig University
Nikolaistraße 27-29
04109 Leipzig, Germany
info@akademische-gesellschaft.com
Phone: +49 (0)341 97350-52
