Sean C. Herring, Editor
The following articles on technical communication have appeared recently in other journals. The abstracts are prepared by volunteer journal monitors. If you would like to contribute, contact Sean Herring at SeanHerring@MissouriState.edu.
“Recent & Relevant” does not supply copies of cited articles. However, most publishers supply reprints, tear sheets, or copies at nominal cost. Lists of publishers’ addresses, covering nearly all the articles we have cited, appear in Ulrich’s international periodicals directory.
Audience analysis
Running a double-blind true social experiment with a goal-oriented adaptive AI-based conversational agent in educational research
Cingillioglu, I., Gal, U., & Prokhorov, A. (2024). International Journal of Educational Research, 124, 102323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102323
“This study introduces an innovative AI-facilitated interview-like survey system generating a combination of qualitative and quantitative data insights for higher education research. We employed a goal-oriented adaptive AI-based Conversational Agent (AICA) which collected data directly from 1223 participants globally and ran a double-blind true social experiment online. During interviews, the AI established strong rapport with the participants, offering them personalized guidance while fostering comfort, ownership, and commitment to the study. In this entirely automated experiment, we empirically tested 8 hypotheses related to students’ university selection. The results confirmed 5 of these hypotheses while refuting 3 factors previously identified in the literature. The study showcases the potential of AICAs to efficiently collect and analyze data from substantial sample sizes in real-time, fostering a streamlined and harmonious research process producing results that are not only statistically reliable and bias-free but also broadly generalizable.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Communication
Beyond policy: What plants and communities can teach us about sustainable changemaking
Ledbetter, L., & Neelis, A. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(3), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592367.3592370
In this paper the authors incorporate conversations occurring over a two-year period that “shed light on the informal and less-recognized ways that humans forge trust as they design communication to help each other survive as communities in times of scarcity.” The authors’ particular interest is in legitimizing “the communication pathways and resource exchange that [they] believe make for a sustainable food system centered around abundance rather than deficit… [so as to] start a greater conversation on how communities build trust and communication nimbly and quickly in times of crisis as policymaking often lags behind the needs of the community.” The authors examine ways “ad hoc communities” met food needs during COVID-19 when formal policies and infrastructures (such as the US Department of Agriculture) failed to bridge the gap. The authors describe the inspiration they took “from the plants around us, farmers, scientists, community members, and the individuals and mutual aid groups that came together during the food crisis to build trust and dialogue as the first (and often most responsive) step towards sustainable food systems.”
Lyn Gattis
Design
An exploratory study evaluating the influence of taller stripe patterns on reading comfort using ranking tests, readings tests, EEGs, and eye tracking
Renckens, M. (April 2024). Visible Language, 58 (1), 6-37. https://doi.org/10.34314/w29ewx38
“The Latin script has a vertical stripe pattern in it, which is known to cause visual discomfort. This study started from the hypothesis that a lower stripe pattern could result in better visual comfort than a taller stripe pattern. I evaluated this hypothesis with several letterforms and their correlating stripe patterns, tested in four independent tests: a ranking test, reading progression, measuring neurological response, and measuring eye movements. The results provide some indications that taller stripe patterns are less comfortable, but those results were mostly outside the range of common letter sizes for reading texts. Also, results for letterforms and plain stripe patterns differed. The results suggest that multiple design parameters influence reading comfort simultaneously, and that ‘the number of design details per surface’ is a design parameter that could play an important role in determining reading comfort. This needs to be evaluated in further studies.”
Diana Fox Bentele
“Infographing” dementia prevention: A co-design approach
Martinez Escobedo, I., Doherty, K., Eccleston, C. (2024). Health Communication. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2350257
“Designing effective public health messages is challenging, particularly when communicating complex and relatively new health messages such as dementia risk prevention which are still largely unfamiliar to the public. The accessibility of these messages, especially for individuals who speak English as an additional language, remains uncertain in large scale educational interventions. A key strategy to enhance the communication of evidence-based information is to co-design infographics that optimize the accessibility and impact of visual health messages. This paper reports on the co-design process of infographing dementia prevention messages. Qualitative data were analyzed using reflective thematic analysis to generate three themes reflecting the message design preferences of participants: “all hands on deck,” “charting the course,” and “get on board.” This work supports the crucial need to engage the target audience via co-design when creating visual messages as meaningful and accessible educational tools that will resonate with the intended audience. Doing so may help health communicators navigate the creation of visual messages across diverse health domains and populations.”
Walter Orr
Diversity
Making change happen: Exploring the change discourse of managers in a CSR context
Haas, A., & De Rozario, P. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 314-335. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420978601
“Diversity managers bear the responsibility of developing and implementing diversity policies. Despite advances in the legislation to fight discrimination, they often encounter resistance and need to generate change and to influence behaviors in the firm. Hence, they develop strategies to implement diversity within the organization. Based on the structuration approach developed by Giddens, and Barley and Tolbert, this research examines the discourse of diversity managers to generate change and institutionalize diversity. Based on a series of 37 in-depth interviews with diversity managers and experts in France, [the authors] identified eight scripts for diversity management in organizations. Whereas some scripts have the potential to generate change, others foster a ‘business as usual’ vision of diversity and are in fact non-diversity scripts. This research sheds light on the role of discourse in promoting diversity in firms. To disrupt organizational practices, discourse needs to unveil hidden prejudice, and to be embedded in legislation, time, and space.”
Katherine Wertz
Veteran contempt for civilian communication scale: Development and validation
Howe, W.T. & Bisel, R.S. (May 2024). Management Communication Quarterly, 38 (2), 249-278. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231186149
“This paper reports on the development and validation of a communication measure designed to assess how military veterans feel toward civilian communication. Specifically, we theorize that some veterans experience a mild negative moral emotion (i.e., contempt) toward civilians’ communication habits. The emotion is likely a consequence of intense professional socialization and membership in a totalistic organization. Veterans who served in the military since September 11, 2001 (N = 215) responded to items, which were factor analyzed. Then, in a second study, the scale was validated using another sample of post-9/11 veterans (N = 466). Together, these studies contribute an original communication measure that could help identify whether a veteran will have difficulty reintegrating into civilian work life. The scale could be useful in developing interventions to aid veterans in successful reintegration. Ultimately, the measure holds the potential to promote workplace diversity through the successful inclusion of more veterans in the workforce.”
Diana Fox Bentele
Education
The CCCC outstanding dissertation award in technical communication, 2004-2022: Doctoral research topics, methods, and implications for the field
Tham, J. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 200–226, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2229382
“This study extends the retrospective analysis of entries for the CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication (1999–2003) by Stuart Selber in 2004, focusing on the subsequent two decades (2004 to 2022), to identify the topical research areas and methodologies in technical and professional communication (TPC) via the winning entries of the award. Through descriptive content analysis of 29 dissertations and corresponding summary statistics, this study reports on TPC disciplinary emphases and growth based on the sponsoring institutions on these dissertations, featured topics and their research methods or methodologies, and projected implications for the field. Accordingly, this study reveals the state of TPC graduate research through the lens of the imminent award and what it means for doctoral researchers, their advisors, and programs.”
Rhonda Stanton
Ethical issues
Ethical use of Artificial Intelligence for scientific writing: Current trends
Chetwynd, E. (2024). Journal of Human Lactation, 40(2), 211-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/08903344241235160
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is a big topic and is evolving rapidly. This About Research article will specifically focus on the use of AI in scientific writing and will not cover the myriad ways that AI is being used in scientific inquiry. It is titled “Current Trends” because it must be considered in the time it was written, which is early 2024. As the field evolves, the journal will continue to offer the latest guidelines to authors and links to the organizations working on ethics in the use of AI in publishing.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
The AI ghostwriter effect: When users do not perceive ownership of AI-generated text but self-declare as authors
Draxler, F., Werner, A., Lehmann, F., Hoppe, M., Schmidt, A., Buschek, D., & Welsch, R. (2024). ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(2), 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1145/3637875
“Human-AI interaction in text production increases complexity in authorship. In two empirical studies (n1 = 30 & n2 = 96), we investigate authorship and ownership in human-AI collaboration for personalized language generation. We show an AI Ghostwriter Effect: Users do not consider themselves the owners and authors of AI-generated text but refrain from publicly declaring AI authorship. Personalization of AI-generated texts did not impact the AI Ghostwriter Effect, and higher levels of participants’ influence on texts increased their sense of ownership. Participants were more likely to attribute ownership to supposedly human ghostwriters than AI ghostwriters, resulting in a higher ownership-authorship discrepancy for human ghostwriters. Rationalizations for authorship in AI ghostwriters and human ghostwriters were similar. We discuss how our findings relate to psychological ownership and human-AI interaction to lay the foundations for adapting authorship frameworks and user interfaces in AI in text-generation tasks.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Health communication
Amplifying diverse narratives of social support in online health design
Cameron, S. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(3), 54–66. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592367.3592373
“This article interrogates the competing narratives present in one online community for Asherman syndrome to highlight how certain stories about infertility/parenthood thrive in online discussions while others are suppressed or silenced. The author argues that employing a research stance centered on reproductive justice creates new possibilities for coalition building across differences in community-engaged research design. As reproductive justice frameworks aim to protect all reproductive freedoms, these methods eschew cohesive narratives and instead prioritize amplifying diverse patient voices. The article concludes with patient recommendations for communication design interventions to improve user experience with social support online.”
Lyn Gattis
“Trust me, I’m a doctor.”How TikTok videos from different sources influence clinical trial participation
Hong, Y., Lee, N., Kirkpatrick, C.E., Hu, S., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2024). Health Communication. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2346680
“This study experiments with TikTok videos to promote clinical trial participation. More specifically, it examines how short-form video sources (doctors vs. prior volunteers for clinical trials) influence perceived source credibility, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention to participate in clinical trials. Findings from this online experiment (N = 396) showed that doctor sources led to greater behavioral intention through enhancing source credibility compared to prior volunteer sources. Alternatively, prior volunteer sources increased behavioral intention via enhanced self-efficacy for participants with low trust in doctors. These findings contribute to the understanding of how short-form video sources act as heuristic cues, leading to persuasion outcomes. Overall, we recommend featuring doctors when using video-based messages to promote clinical trial participation. Also, this study emphasizes the need for health communication practitioners to consider prior volunteers as spokespersons when targeting populations with low baseline trust in doctors.”
Walter Orr
Information management
(Dis)organizing sexual harassment: Patterns of bystander communication
Ivancic, S.R. & Ford, J.L. (May 2024). Management Communication Quarterly, 38 (2), 331-358. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231179653
“This study explores organizational bystander responses to sexual harassment in order to understand how bystanders facilitate healing, perpetuate harm, and create tensions for individuals who experience workplace sexual harassment. This qualitative analysis expands our understanding of bystander communication in several ways. First, we present patterns of constructive and destructive bystander communication practices and introduce the concept of holistic support. Second, we analyze how responses by organizational bystanders (dis)organize sexual harassment or ignite fears of (dis)organization. Last, we introduce a continuum of bystander response patterns that demonstrate the tensions targets of sexual harassment navigate when interacting with bystanders. Findings illuminate the possibilities for workplace transformation and we provide recommendations for how to best support individuals who are sexually harassed.”
Diana Fox Bentele
Participatory practices during organizational change: Rethinking participation and resistance
Sahay, S. & Goldthwaite, C. (May 2024). Management Communication Quarterly, 38 (2), 279-306. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189231187883
“To encourage buy-in and manage resistance, change managers utilize participatory strategies. This study examined the communication practices and perspectives of implementers and employees as they negotiated the change participation process to better understand resistance dynamics. Data were collected through interviews (n = 37) and observations (n = 2) with nurses and change implementers in a medical center. Grounded practical theory was used to reconstruct the stakeholders’ normative theories of participation in which multiple and often contradictory perspectives emerged. Asking employees to participate reduced implementers’ perceptions of control and increased their feelings of vulnerability. Implementers often equated participation with resistance and used different communication techniques to shape how nurses shared ideas, influencing their participation. Theoretically, this article adds to the study of participation and resistance by showing how resistance is constituted through communication by both implementers and change recipients as they attempt to navigate the inevitable contradictions that arise during the change process.”
Diana Fox Bentele
Intercultural communication
Climate change as represented in corporate social responsibility reports of American and Chinese energy giants: A critical frame analysis perspective
Zhang, Y., & Zhang, J. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 414-451. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884231208176
“Adopting a critical frame analysis perspective, this study investigates how American and Chinese energy giants represent and frame climate change in their corporate social responsibility reports, and reveals the respective underlying motivations and ideologies. The results show that the eight energy giants all recognized climate change, barely diagnosed its causes, slightly interpreted its impacts, but placed heavy emphasis on their solutions. They divert responsibility and criticism, through representing themselves as a victim and solver rather than a contributor. The frames identified in both corpora include Emission Management frame, Techno-optimism frame, Countermeasures frame, and Stakeholder Engagement frame, with common and distinct characteristics across the two corpora. The analysis of representations and frames exposes shared motivations such as greenwashing, legitimacy, and stakeholder engagement. However, these motivations indicate distinct ideologies, with American energy giants’ ideological denial, a subtle form of climate denialism, and Chinese energy giants’ green growth ideology, striving for a green, low-carbon development while reducing emissions.”
Katherine Wertz
Tracking CSR communication research within the Chinese context: A systematic literature review
Dong, C., Song, B., Cheng, Y., & Zheng, Q. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 385-413. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884231156508
“Considering the globalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR), China has become an important and distinctive market for CSR practice and research. Communication, as a fast-growing subfield of CSR research, has made substantial contributions to the theorization of CSR yet has been dominated by Western contexts. To provide a contextualized view of CSR communication, this study systematically examined the 88 articles of CSR communication research published in peer-reviewed journals with a focus on the Chinese context. Findings revealed the unique characteristics of Chinese CSR and the status of Chinese CSR communication literature in terms of publication trend, authorship/institution, RQ/Hypothesis, research topics, research context, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches. In addition, this study identified gaps in the current Chinese CSR communication research. It offered directions for future development regarding strengthening conceptual development, innovating methodological approaches, and expanding research topics and scopes.”
Katherine Wertz
Leadership
Social media influencer effects on CSR communication: The role of influencer leadership in opinion and taste
Cheng, Y., Hung-Baesecke, C.-J. F., & Chen, Y.-R. R. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 336-359. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884211035112
“With the prevalence of social media usage among consumers, brands have increasingly utilized paid social media influencer (SMI) endorsements in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. However, how such practice generates positive consumer responses is not well understood. Drawing from signaling theory, social learning theory, and social identity theory, a structural equation model analysis was conducted to test [the authors’] hypotheses and proposed model based on the survey data from 592 U.S. consumers. The research results suggest that a brand’s CSR initiatives, when endorsed by SMIs who are perceived as social media leaders in opinion and taste, directly enhance consumers’ CSR communication engagement about the initiatives and do so indirectly via the consumers’ reduced CSR skepticism. Reduced CSR skepticism and enhanced CSR communication engagement ultimately lead to the consumers’ brand loyalty, brand preference, and price premium. The study has implications for CSR advertising/social-mediated communication, SMI leadership, and SMI endorsement effects.”
Katherine Wertz
Spotlight on a thought leader – how to become an effective communicator: Schulz von Thun’s contribution to business communication
Bünzli, F., & Eppler, M. J. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 484-491. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884231224118.
“This article explores the ingredients of effective business communication, presenting the extensive work of German psychologist and communication expert Friedemann Schulz von Thun. Over the course of his 50-year career, Schulz von Thun has developed numerous frameworks and tools that enhance our understanding of how to talk to one another to settle disagreements, promote strong relationships and foster individual as well as organizational success. [The authors] offer a concise synthesis of his most influential concepts (i.e., the square of communication, the inner team, and the value square) and illustrate their application in communication research and practice.”
Katherine Wertz
Political discourse
A dangerous, costly neighborhood: A critique of blight and obsolescence claims in local media coverage of a planning project
Elliot, T. J. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 182–199, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2229381
“This article examines how local newspaper stories in a college town created a dominant cultural narrative about an urban redevelopment project using tropes of physical blight and financial obsolescence. The article discusses descriptive tactics that appear throughout 16 years of coverage alongside patterns in the stories’ frequency, focus, and authorship. The conclusion shares a series of practical takeaways for technical writers looking to collaborate with communities facing redevelopment.”
Rhonda Stanton
Public relations
Exploring variations in corporations’ communication after a CA versus CSR crisis: A semantic network analysis of sustainability reports
Park, K., Kim, H., & Rim, H. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 240-262. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420907148
“The study attempts to understand corporations’ efforts to communicate their values and commitment to stakeholders after a crisis. Specifically, the study explores the characteristics of communication efforts that may differ depending on the reputational crisis types: corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) crises. Employing a series of semantic network analyses, the study examined the sustainability annual reports of two Korean airlines (i.e., Korean Air and Asiana Airlines) published before and after their recent crises. Results showed how sustainability reports’ central keywords, social issues the companies support, and prioritized stakeholders varied in response to the different types of crises. Word frequency results showed that there was an increasing trend in emphasizing the word ‘safety’ after both types of crisis, while a noticeable decrease in emphasis on the word ‘ethics’ was observed after CA crisis. The results of semantic network analyses showed that Korean Air’s sustainability reports seemed to focus more on aspects of the relationship with stakeholders after the CSR crisis, while Asiana Airlines appeared to place more emphasis on business-related notions after the CA crisis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.”
Katherine Wertz
Firm-determined or consumer-determined corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Examining the effects of choice-of-cause in cause-related marketing
Tao, W., & Ji, Y. G. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 263-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420918397
“As a widely practiced form of corporate social responsibility (CSR), cause-related marketing (CRM) programs have been considered effective in generating reputational, relational, and financial returns for companies. This study examines a new form of CRM: choice-of-cause programs, in which companies empower consumers to determine which social causes to support. Based on self-determination theory, reputation management literature, and CSR research, this study proposes a conceptual framework that theorizes the effectiveness of the choice program, mapping out consumers’ psychological experiences and consequential attitudinal and behavioral intention responses toward companies and their nonprofit partners. Results of an online experiment offer partial support to the framework. They showed the relative advantage of the choice program over traditional cause-without-choice practice and highlighted the importance of creating an autonomy-supportive CSR program environment where consumers can exercise self-determination. Furthermore, results demonstrated the crucial role of corporate reputation in influencing consumer responses in CSR programs.”
Katherine Wertz
The role of public skepticism and distrust in the process of CSR communication
Kim, S., & Rim, H. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 198-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419866888
“Through a cross-sectional online survey, this study examines the moderated mediation model of public skepticism toward organizational altruism and public distrust of CSR messages in the process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. Focusing solely on CSR communication elements rather than CSR practice, this study sheds light on the significant role that effective CSR communication elements play in attenuating public skepticism and further inducing positive public evaluations of an organization. [The authors’] results suggest that skepticism toward altruism is significantly reduced by the six effective CSR communication elements—CSR informativeness, transparency, objectivity, consistency, personal relevance, and a less promotional tone. In turn, an organization is able to restore the publics’ positive evaluation of it. Although this study confirms the moderating role of public distrust in the process, it also reveals this moderating role to move in an unexpected direction. That is, the positive effects of effective CSR communication elements are much greater for people who have stronger distrust of CSR messages than those with less distrust. This indicates that public distrust of CSR messages (developed over time) may be overcome with quality CSR communication.”
Katherine Wertz
Research
Cannabis risk communication: A scoping review with a research agenda
Madson, M. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 140-181, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2229871
“Government leaders have called for messaging and prevention programs that target cannabis, which, in recent years, has been viewed more favorably in the public eye. In these efforts, technical communication scholars can make meaningful contributions, and as a start, this article presents a scoping review of three key areas in cannabis risk communication: physician/patient interactions, social media, and cannabis-related businesses.”
Rhonda Stanton
Rhetoric
“Dainty, sparkling, delicious”: Jell-O constructions of White femininity
Dubisar, A. M. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 109–121, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2216248
“Joining the growing scholarly conversation on food rhetorics and technical and professional communication (TPC), this rhetorical analysis addresses two themes that arise in a Jell-O booklet (circa 1913): 1) constructing white femininity through women’s frustration and technical failure related to cooking and 2) asserting the Black mammy stereotype as a mechanism of maintaining white supremacy. Such analysis illustrates how food-related artifacts construct ideologies as they simultaneously offer technical instruction.”
Rhonda Stanton
Job interview preparation: A practical exercise in the rhetoric of oral argument
Plung. D.(May 2024). Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 87 (1), 177-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906221142541
Since many technical writing students are anxious to apply skills taught in training for careers, there are rhetorical elements, especially ethically sound persuasive arguments and job interviews, that can be helpful to review. “Job interviews require applicants to demonstrate two things: experience with direct value to the company and a fit with the team and company culture. A technique is detailed demonstrating how to develop this argument based on aligning credentials with corporate interests, developing advocacy-based themes, and synthesizing material into a convenient study guide. Designed for instruction in either the college classroom or corporate training center, the approach provides professional communication students with a unique, practical, and personally meaningful learning exercise assessing rhetorical situations, examining rhetorical constructs, and delivering persuasive arguments.”
Diana Fox Bentele
Toward rhetorically infused methods for relational network modeling: The visualization of agency in seismic risk visuals
DeVasto, D. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33,122–139, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2216729
“This article presents a pilot study in agentive modeling, a mixed-methods approach for visualizing networked models of agency. The study assesses technical and public seismic risk visuals from the websites of key organizations concerned with seismic activity. Preliminary findings indicate the need for visuals that stage more complex networks in order to create greater opportunities for engagement and danger-reducing action.”
Rhonda Stanton
Scientific writing
Navigating genres in interdisciplinary life sciences doctoral programs
Doody, S. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 227–244, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2229398
“This article explores how doctoral writers in interdisciplinary life sciences programs navigate genre-ing activities across multiple disciplines. In interdisciplinary environments, approaches to doing and teaching writing may benefit from a reimagining, particularly as findings suggest that writing at interdisciplinary boundaries is unsuited to apprenticeship models of pedagogy. I argue that meta-genre is a productive way of engaging with the destabilization of existing knowledge in technical communication in interdisciplinary spaces and of fostering interdisciplinary writing knowledge.”
Rhonda Stanton
Social Justice
Decolonizing community-engaged research: Designing CER with cultural humility as a foundational value
Itchuaqiyaq, C. U., Lindgren, C. A., & Kramer, C. Q. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(3), 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592367.3592369
“In this article, [the authors] uptake the call for equipping researchers in practicing socially just CER in Indigenous communities through developing a framework for cultural humility in CER. Sparked by [the] research team’s experience considering the potential of CER to transform and contribute to the needs of both tribal and academic communities, [they] present cultural humility as a personal precondition for socially just, decolonial CER practice. {The authors] use the Inuit cultural practice of nalukataq as a key metaphor to present [their] framework for cultural humility: listening to the caller, setting your feet, pulling equally, staying in sync.”
Lyn Gattis
Tracing the development and circulation of a tool for coalitional change
Moore, K. R., & Stone, E. M. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(3), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592367.3592374
“This experience report describes the origin story and use journey of a visual tool for community engagement and organizational change work. [The authors] articulate the tool (i.e., the pyramid) as a theoretical framework and demonstrate how the tool has been used to intervene in organizations, engage coalitions, and mitigate risks as we move towards a more socially just future. It is both all about community-engaged research and also not about it at all: [the authors] built it in and with communities and coalitions and … have also brought it to communities and coalitions, adopted it, adapted it, and reinvented uses for it. By tracing its development and circulation, [the authors] are both documenting its past and present use cases and offering it up as a tool for others to adopt and adapt.”
Lyn Gattis
Social Media
Driving employee engagement through CSR communication and employee perceived motives: The role of CSR-related social media engagement and job engagement
Jiang, H., & Luo, Y. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 287-313. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420960528
“Employee engagement and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are two important issues attracting an increasing amount of attention from both business communication researchers and practitioners. A theory-driven model that (1) conceptualizes employee engagement as social media engagement, job engagement, and organizational engagement, and (2) explicates how they are related to an organization’s CSR communication strategies and employee perceived CSR motives is still lacking. To place [the authors’] study in the context of CSR and business communication, [the authors] proposed a strategies-motives-employee engagement model. Results from an online Qualtrics survey (n = 836) supported all [the authors’] hypotheses except for the direct link between interacting CSR communication strategies and employee organizational engagement. [The authors] conducted a two-step Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis to test all [the authors’] hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed.”
Katherine Wertz
NPOs’ voice in CSR partnership: An exploratory study using topic modeling
Dong, C., & Zhang, Y. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 219-239. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488418819136
“The present study aims to identify and interpret the emerging strategies employed by nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in communicating with their business partners on Twitter. A computer-assisted content analysis was applied to analyze 5,661 tweets posted by 65 NPOs. The study identified three corporate social responsibility communication strategies, which were characterized by a distinctive emphasis on stakeholder engagement. [The authors] analyzed NPOs that targeted different issues-initiated corporate social responsibility partnership conversations at varying levels by adopting self-promotional, partner-oriented, and balanced-interest strategies to justify and promote their relationships with multiple stakeholders on Twitter. This exploratory study contributes to the scant research on cross-sector social partnerships communication from a nonprofit perspective and adds nonprofit-specific evidence to the existing theories and practices.”
Katherine Wertz
Technology
Generative AI and the future of higher education: a threat to academic integrity or reformation? Evidence from multicultural perspectives
Yusuf, A., Pervin, N., & Román-González, M. (2024). International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 21(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-024-00453-6
“In recent years, higher education (HE) globally has witnessed extensive adoption of technology, particularly in teaching and research. The emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) further accelerates this trend. However, the increasing sophistication of GenAI tools has raised concerns about their potential to automate teaching and research processes. Despite widespread research on GenAI in various fields, there is a lack of multicultural perspectives on its impact and concerns in HE. This study addresses this gap by examining the usage, benefits, and concerns of GenAI in higher education from a multicultural standpoint. We employed an online survey that collected responses from 1217 participants across 76 countries, encompassing a broad range of gender categories, academic disciplines, geographical locations, and cultural orientations. Our findings revealed a high level of awareness and familiarity with GenAI tools among respondents. A significant portion had prior experience and expressed the intention to continue using these tools, primarily for information retrieval and text paraphrasing. The study emphasizes the importance of GenAI integration in higher education, highlighting both its potential benefits and concerns. Notably, there is a strong correlation between cultural dimensions and respondents’ views on the benefits and concerns related to GenAI, including its potential as academic dishonesty and the need for ethical guidelines. We, therefore, argued that responsible use of GenAI tools can enhance learning processes, but addressing concerns may require robust policies that are responsive to cultural expectations. We discussed the findings and offered recommendations for researchers, educators, and policymakers, aiming to promote the ethical and effective integration of GenAI tools in higher education.”
Yvonne Wade Sanchez
Usability studies
A direct functional measure of text quality: Did the reader understand?
Grabowski, J. & Mathiebe, M. (April 2024). Written Communication Quarterly, 41 (2), 203-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883231222952
“Assessing text quality as an indication of underlying skills still remains challenging; irrespective of the approach, many studies struggle with reliability or validity problems. If writing is considered problem-solving, a report must make the reader understand the described situation and call for its mental reconstruction. Therefore, text quality may not only comprise linguistic aspects but also the cognitive-functional power of a text. The presented study aims at exploring the functionality of students’ reporting texts in relation to general text-quality measures, using a corpus of accident reports … An online tool was developed in which 277 university students graphically reenacted the situation from one respective text … While most subscales showed sufficiently high interrater reliabilities, the aggregated functionality score (α = .74) had medium-high correlations with other text-quality ratings and was comparably dependent on grade, education level, and linguistic family background… . Altogether, the approach of indicating text functionality through practical understanding offers a sound, though empirically laborious, alternative for text-quality measurement. Results are discussed with regard to the didactical strategy according to which students can improve their writing when they observe whether others can make use of their texts.”
Diana Fox Bentele
ARCO mapping the cognitive dynamics of communication expectations: An approach to designing usable content based on audience expectations
St. Amant, K. (2024). Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 54(2), 206-229. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472816231187354
“The usability of items is connected to cognition, or how the brain processes information. Many of the related processes occur subconsciously and are guided by the mental models individuals have created based on their experiences. The better communication professional and communication students understand such dynamics, the more effectively they can create usable content for an audience. This article presents an approach, the Actualization, Recognition, Categorization, Operationalization (ARCO) method, for identifying the mental models that influence usability expectations. Individuals can use the results of this process to create content that better addresses an audience’s usability expectations.”
Anita Ford
Perspectives on usability testing with IoT devices in technical communication courses
Wright, D. (2024). Technical Communication Quarterly, 33, 38–53, https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2023.2194345
“This article offers perspectives on adopting smart home technology into usability testing for technical and professional communication (TPC) courses. Usability is a valued skill for technical communicators. However, usability testing methods have their problems as pedagogical tools. Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and Smart Home Technology (SHT) may offer instructors tools to overcome some of those problems. This article details advantages and concerns associated with using SHT for curricular usability testing.”
Rhonda Stanton
User experience
Designing for trust: The crucial role in digital user experiences
Bhaskaran, V. (2024). Journal of User Experience, 19(2), 53–59. [doi: none]
This invited essay addresses the importance for businesses of creating meaningful, reliable digital experiences that build user trust and loyalty. “When product and design teams exclusively dedicate their focus to individual touch points—a webpage, an app interface, or a service interaction—they unwittingly create an emotional disconnect. Humans don’t experience life in isolated moments; they weave each interaction into the fabric of a larger, interconnected journey. Focusing solely on touchpoint design risks crafting an illusion and misses the emotional synergy that users enjoy across diverse stages of engagement… . A seamless, trustworthy journey demands a cohesive narrative across multiple touch points. The opportunity then, for design teams, is to transcend the allure of singular moments and embrace the challenge of orchestrating a narrative that resonates emotionally and consistently across multiple touchpoints and across varying time horizons.” The author discusses several design factors contributing to user trust, including ‘[t]ransparent communication, security measures, intentional visual design, and user empowerment.”
Lyn Gattis
ESUS: Aligning and simplifying SUS for enterprise applications
Schneider, S., Hillman, S., Bach, P., & Ma, G. (2024). Journal of User Experience, 19(2), 60–74. [doi: none]
“Throughout the last few decades, researchers have developed standard usability questionnaires to evaluate usability and present a single score that represents a product’s overall level of ease of use. One of the most notable questionnaires is the System Usability Scale (SUS) (Sauro & Lewis, 2009). However, since the SUS was introduced in 1986, products and services have not only undergone monumental advancements in technology, but Human-Computer Interaction and user experience research practices have matured. These changes are also true in the enterprise space. In this paper, [the authors] present preliminary evidence concerning the construct validity of a new usability questionnaire with three advantages for enterprise applications over the original 10-item SUS questionnaire. The Enterprise System Usability Scale (ESUS) offers better measurement of usability for technical products/services, reduced questionnaire items, and alignment with enterprise environments. Results indicate that the ESUS exhibits a similarly strong correlation with satisfaction as the SUS and is strongly correlated with SUS for enterprise and enterprise data products/services.”
Lyn Gattis
Generalized User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-G): Holistic measurement of multimodal UX
Boothe, C. S., Strawderman, L., Burch, R. F., Smith, B. K., Bethel, C. L., & Holmes, K. (2024). Journal of User Experience, 19 (2), 75–103. [doi: none]
“The User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) is a commonly used tool for measuring product experience. This study covers extending the UEQ to measure multimodal experiences that include both product and service experiences. Currently, no questionnaires measure holistic user experiences, including pragmatic and hedonic qualities, for both product and service experiences. Through three study phases, [the authors] created and tested the Generalized User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-G). First, [they] generalized and tested language from the UEQ’s original, product experience context. Second, the UEQ-G was applied to controlled service experiences in which conditions were artificially manipulated across traditional UEQ factors. Third, [they] applied the UEQ-G in the field to experiences that contained both product and service experiences within the same scenario… . This study found the UEQ-G to be as valid and reliable as its predecessor, UEQ, in product experience scenarios, and although additional study is required, the UEQ-G showed great potential in evaluating service experience scenarios and for evaluating multimodal experiences in the field. With additional study, the UEQ-G tool could be the first tool of its type for assessing holistic user experience across various multimodal experiences.”
Lyn Gattis
Writing
Story of a community-based writing resource—and a call to engage
Blakeslee, A. M., Gatchel, K. M., Boeving, D., & Miller, B. (2023). Communication Design Quarterly, 11(3), 42–53. https://doi.org/10.1145/3592367.3592372
“This article tells the story of YpsiWrites, a community writing resource that provides support, resources, and programs for all writers. It shows how ideas from adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy (2017) provide a generative framework for community-engaged initiatives. It uses this framework to examine the work of YpsiWrites, and, in doing so, illustrates the value of the framework for planning, carrying out, and assessing community-engaged work (CEW). The authors share responses to questions they posed to stakeholders, along with themes from those responses, which paint a more nuanced picture of the nature and potential of this work. They conclude with a call to engage and an invitation for others to use these questions as a heuristic in pursuing their own, unique community-engaged work.”
Lyn Gattis
Stories or expositive messages? Comparing their effectiveness in corporate social responsibility communication
Pérez, A., Baraibar-Diez, E., & García de los Salmones, M. del M. (2024). International Journal of Business Communication, 61, 360-384. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420939255
“In the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, [the authors] explore whether consumer perceptions and responses differ when the message content is based on storytelling or exposition. The conceptual model that [the authors] propose in the article includes five attributes of CSR message content (i.e., issue importance, CSR impact, CSR motives, CSR fit, and CSR commitment) and their relationships to two types of consumer responses (i.e., purchase and advocacy). [The authors] collected data from 444 participants who evaluated the website of a fictitious restaurant chain that included information about its CSR activities using (a) storytelling or (b) expositive CSR messages. The findings suggest that the use of storytelling notably improves perceptions of issue importance, CSR impact, CSR fit, and CSR commitment. On the contrary, the type of CSR message does not differentiate consumer perceptions of corporate CSR motives. The use of storytelling or an expositive CSR message also has a significant impact on the conceptual model, with consumers responding more or less intensively to each attribute of the CSR message content depending on the type of message they are exposed to.”
Katherine Wertz
