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COMMUNICATIONS TREND RADAR 2023
Contact
Professor Stefan Stieglitz
stefan.stieglitz@uni-potsdam.de
Professor 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)
Project period: January 2022 – February 2023
Professor Ansgar Zerfass, Leipzig University“We want to help those responsible for communications to recognize important developments early on, especially trends outside their field.”
What are the most relevant trends that communication managers should consider for 2023? For the third year running, the Universities of Leipzig and Potsdam conducted an independent research project into trends that will influence communication practice in the near future. For 2023, these were State Revival, Scarcity Management, Unimagination, Augmented Workflows, and Parallel Worlds.
The Communications Trend Radar supports communication departments in identifying significant developments outside their discipline at an early stage. To this end, societal, management, and technology changes are observed and evaluated.
The five trends for 2023
Methodology
Professor Stefan Stieglitz, University of Potsdam“The trends were selected by our research team independently and on a scientifically sound basis.”
The Communications Trend Radar systematically monitors changes in the disciplines of society, management, and technology that may become relevant for corporate communications.
Screening: The research teams scanned scientific publications, conference proceedings, international trade journals, studies by management and technology consultancies, and systematic analysis of social media sites. More than 100 sources were evaluated for the Communications Trend Radar 2023.
Trend profiles: Fourteen trends were shortlisted during the screening process and subsequently described in more detail. The research team paid particular attention to the potential impact of each trend on the communication function (leadership, goals, structure), the communication processes (formats, stakeholders, platforms), and communication management (content creation, budgets).
Scoring and selection: The pre-selected trends were then evaluated using a fixed scoring scheme, and the five most relevant trends were selected. These include two trends from technology, two from management, and one societal trend.
