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Communications Trend Radar 2022
Contact
Prof. Stefan Stieglitz
stefan.stieglitz@uni-potsdam.de
Prof. Ansgar Zerfaß
zerfass@uni-leipzig.de
About the research project
Team: Professor Stefan Stieglitz (University of Potsdam), Professor Ansgar Zerfass (Leipzig University), Sünje Clausen (University of Potsdam), Daniel Ziegele (Leipzig University)
Duration: January 2021 – February 2022
What trends will change companies and their communications departments in 2022? For the second year running, the universities of Leipzig and Duisburg-Essen independently and scientifically investigated this question. Five trends were identified as particularly significant: Language Awareness, Closed Communication, Gigification, Synthetic Media, and Cybersecurity.
The Communications Trend Radar assists communications managers in the early identification of critical developments beyond their own field. In particular, changes in the areas of society, management and technology are monitored and evaluated.
Professor Stefan Stieglitz“The interdisciplinary approach enables us to draw attention to developments that communication managers might otherwise only notice and evaluate later.”
The five trends for 2022:
Methodology
Professor Ansgar Zerfaß, Leipzig University“Typically, communications managers lack the time or resources to track trends consistently, especially those outside their own industry.”
The Communications Trend Radar systematically tracks changes across social, managerial, and technological disciplines that could impact corporate communications.
Screening:The research teams reviewed a variety of sources including scientific publications, conference proceedings, international trade journals, studies by management and technology consultancies, and systematic analysis of social media platforms. Over 100 sources were scrutinized for the 2022 edition of the Communications Trend Radar.
Trend descriptions: During the screening process, 15 trends were identified and subsequently described in more detail. The research team gauged the possible effects on: 1) Communication functions, such as leadership, objectives, and organizational structure 2) Communication processes, including formats, stakeholders, and platforms 3) Communication management, including content creation and costs
Scoring and selection: The pre-selected trends were assessed using a standardized scoring system to determine the five most pertinent trends. They comprised two trends each from the technology and management sectors and one trend from the social sector. The selection was then corroborated by communication managers from various companies.
