Research

Publications: Nothhaft, H., & Seiffert-Brockmann, J. (2026). Strategic communication as lens-building and decision-making: epistemic duty in a world of flows and pendulums. Journal of Communication Management, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-01-2026-0001

SOC @ICA: This year’s conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) took place in Cape Town, South Africa, and SOC and BizComm members presented their work and participated in panel discussions. Florentina Höhs, Franzisca Weder, Jens Seiffert-Brockmann and Matthew Gillings presented their research on sustainable, place-based energy, sustainability communication, circular economy, weaponization of communication, inequalities and social justice and more.

A selection of the papers presented:

• Wednesday, June 3^rd, Paper presentation: “Building a more informed, innovative, and impactful communication ecosystem”: Exploring the state of the art of professional communication in Ghana; Mathew Gillings, Vienna University of Economics and Business, AUSTRIA; Daniel Edem Adzovie, University of Cape Coast, GHANA; Jens Seiffert-Brockmann, Vienna University of Economics and Business, AUSTRIA; ICA Pre-Conference: Bridging inequality gaps in public relations and strategic communication: Power, ethics, and inclusion.

• Wednesday, June 3^rd, Paper presentation: “Emplacement through local cases. Discovering the journalistic role in renewable energy projects”; Florentina Höhs, ICA Pre-Conference: Journalistic Roles in Context: Global Views and Local Realities.

• Friday, June 5^th, Panel Organization/Discussion: “The Role of Public Relations in the Circular Economy: Co-Designing a Research Agenda”; Discussant(s): Franzisca Weder (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business), Kim Johnston (Queensland U of Technology), Luke Capizzo (Michigan State University), Maureen Taylor (U of Technology Sydney), Pablo Miño (Universidad de los Andes, Chile) and Anca Anton (University of Bucharest), Organizer(s): Bree Hurst (Queensland U of Technology)

• Saturday, June 6^th, Paper presentation: “Navigating Retrenchment: PR Practitioner Agency in Redressing DEI Inequalities in the Context of the-Trump Administration”; Celia K. Weaver; Franzisca Weder

• Sunday, June 7^th, Paper presentation: “Advancing Theory on the “M&E Stasis”: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to Study Measurement and Evaluation Practices in Corporate Communication”; Emma Tolderlund Vegel, Vienna U of Economics and Business, AUSTRIA Alexander Buhmann, BI Norwegian Business School, NORWAY; Jens Seiffert-Brockmann, Vienna U of Economics and Business, AUSTRIA

• Sunday, June 7^th, Paper presentation: “Sustainability Communicators in a Crisis Context: Commissioners, Coaches, or Curators of Change? A Cross-Country Comparison“; Franzisca Weder; Chiara Valentini; Chun-Ju Flora Hung-Baesecke

• Monday, June 8^th, Paper presentation: The Weaponization of Communication: A Systematic Literature Review, Jens Seiffert-Brockmann, Vienna U of Economics and Business, AUSTRIA; Niilo Noponen, U of Jyväskylä, FINLAND; Vilma Luoma-aho, U of Jyväskylä, FINLAND

Pre-conference on „Metamodernism“: Franzisca Weder and Jens Seiffert-Brockmann co-organized a small conference, linked to this year’s ICA conference (Metamodern_Public_Relations.pdf). A whole day on “metamodernism” as lens used to expand existing conceptual and theoretical thinking in Public Relations research took place at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), leading to a Special Issue in the International Journal of Strategic Communication and a Handbook on Sustainable and Transformative Communication, co-edited by Florentina Höhs and Franzisca Weder.

One June 3, Carlos Rocha Ochoa presented his research on “Modelling lexical variation in specialised lexicography: towards a Spanish Thesaurus of Financial Education” at the Austrian Center for Digital Humanities' Research Day.

On 19 June 2026, Cristiana Dondi, together with further colleagues from the Institute for Language and Discourse in Business and the Raiffeisen Language Centre, participated in the Didaktiktag for Business Language lecturers, organised by Magdalena Zehetgruber, PhD and hosted at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. In her presentation, she discussed selected didactic implications emerging from the findings of a mixed-methods needs analysis on the use of Italian in Austrian enterprises, which she conducted between 2023 and 2026. She also outlined potential directions for updating existing didactic materials used in Business Communication courses, with particular reference to verbal and non-verbal communication, intercultural competence, and AI literacy.

Tetiana Shevchenko and JensSeiffert-Brockmann took part in the BledCom Conference in Slovenia and presented on June 26 a paper on “Corporate Blacklisting: Strategic communication during wartime”