The results of the European Communication Monitor 2020, the world's largest study on the status quo of the communication and PR industry, were presented to an international audience of experts in a webinar today. A renowned team of researchers led by Professor Ansgar Zerfaß (University of Leipzig) surveyed more than 2,300 communicators from 44 countries. The joint project with 25 participating universities and several external partners from all over Europe is supervised at the chair by Jens Hagelstein as project manager.
The study deals with several current topics:
- Ethics: digital communication channels more often lead to moral dilemmas - but industry association codes are rarely used and only a few have qualified in ethical issues
- Equality: Three out of four communication departments and agencies employ more women than men - but only one in two managers is a woman, in Germany even only one in three
- Cybersecurity: communications managers fear hacker attacks on websites and social media accounts, but are rarely involved in preventative measures
- Competencies: There are skills gaps among communicators in the areas of technology and data management, although on average 19 days per year are invested in further training
The ECM 2020 results report with numerous detailed evaluations for companies, non-profit organisations, public institutions and communication agencies as well as central countries is available free of charge at www.communicationmonitor.eu (PDF, 132 pages). The study meets all scientific standards; it has been conducted annually since 2007 and is supplemented by parallel surveys in North America, Latin America and Asia.
"Digital communication across all channels offers new opportunities for precisely addressing target groups and strengthening reputations," (translated) says Thomas Leitner, Vice President Cision D/A/CH, which supported the study as a partner. "The necessary infrastructure must be secured and employees sensitised - also with regard to the rules of the game in areas that are still legally unregulated." (translated)
"Know-how in the analysis and evaluation of data is indispensable for PR professionals today," (translated) says Alexandra Groß, CEO of Fink & Fuchs from Wiesbaden, who are digital partners of the study. "The fact that the study shows a need to catch up here should be a wake-up call. Those who want to exploit the full potential of digital communication must have competent staff and advisors at their side." (translated)
Ethical challenges and how to meet them
In a globalised and interconnected world, the consequences of individual actions are often difficult to assess. Much of what is legally acceptable can be questionable from a moral point of view. Study director Professor Dr Ansgar Zerfaß explains (translated): "Strategic communication influences the formation of public opinion and constructions of reality to a considerable extent. This presents communicators in organisations and agencies with ever new moral challenges, which we examined in our study."
One in two communicators (47 per cent) faced several morally challenging situations in their daily work in the past year, and in 18 per cent of the cases there was at least one such incident. Compared to previous surveys, there is an increasing trend of ethical problems in recent years. Most respondents met these challenges by relying on their personal values and attitudes (86 per cent agreement). Ethical guidelines of their own organisation (77 per cent) and especially industry codes (58 per cent), on the other hand, were consulted much less frequently. Newer communication practices such as social bots and big data analytics are viewed critically from an ethical perspective (see Fig. 1) - possibly also because only a minority of respondents had taken part in ethics training in the last three years.
Equality in the communications industry - status quo and problem areas
At the latest since the United Nations addressed gender equality as the fifth of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), this topic has also been increasingly discussed in the communication industry. The European Communication Monitor annually examines the status quo of female professionals and managers in PR - in this year's survey with a special focus on the progress already made as well as the still existing "glass ceiling" for female communicators in the industry.
The results show that although there are more women than men working in three out of four communication departments and agencies, only every second department/agency is headed by a woman. More than half of the respondents state that equality in the sector is improving. Only a minority agrees with the statement that enough has already been done (see Fig. 2) - there are large differences both between men and women and regionally. The biggest career hurdles for women in communications are said to be internal organisational hurdles such as lack of flexibility, for example for childcare (62 per cent agree), and non-transparent promotion decisions (58 per cent).
Cybersecurity in communication
Digital infrastructures are the backbone of modern communication. Cybersecurity is thus becoming a critical factor for the success of all internal and external communication processes.
Almost two-thirds of the communicators surveyed are following the current debate on cyber security (63 percent) and consider the topic relevant to their daily work in the department or agency (59 percent). There is a particular fear that hackers could attack websites or social media accounts (42 percent agreement) or crash digital infrastructures (29 percent). Public institutions and non-profit organisations are more at risk than companies. More than half of the respondents (54 percent) have experienced a cyber-attack on their own organisation, but few are directly involved in structural cybersecurity measures for their organisation (see Fig. 3).
Competence development: gaps, needs and training
The competence level of individual communicators represents a key success factor of communication departments. They include communication-specific skills as well as competencies beyond these in the areas of management, business, technology and data.
Around half of the respondents (43 per cent) agree that skills and their development are a key issue for the industry, and almost all (81 per cent) agree that their own skills need constant development. Skills gaps were identified especially in technology skills and data management. Half of all respondents feel that they are not yet sufficiently qualified in these areas. On average, the communicators in the sample spent 19 days in the 2019 calendar year on further training - for half of which free time was sacrificed (weekends, holiday days, after-work hours) (see Fig. 4). Most respondents see competence development as the responsibility of each individual (84 per cent agreement), but almost as many would like to see training programmes provided by their organisation (83 per cent).
Background
The European Communication Monitor (ECM) is conducted annually by EUPRERA, the European Public Relations Education and Research Association, and EACD, the European Association of Communication Directors. The organisers are supported by Cision Insights, a global service provider for strategic media monitoring and communication analyses in the Cision Group, and the communication agency Fink & Fuchs. Parallel studies in North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region make the study the world's largest, academically based study series in the professional field, covering a total of more than 80 countries.
Results report
The ECM 2020 results report is published as a PDF version and as a booklet:
Zerfass, A., Verhoeven, P., Moreno, A., Tench, R., & Verčič, D. (2020). European Communication Monitor 2020. Ethical challenges, gender issues, cyber security,
and competence gaps in strategic communication. Results of a survey in 44 countries. Brussels: EUPRERA/EACD.
Further information, all results reports of previous ECM studies and a benchmarking tool for comparing your own experiences with the ECM data pool can be found at www.communicationmonitor.eu.