Organizational Communication in the Digital Era: Examining the Impact of Ai, Chatbots, and Covid-19

This edited collection examines different facets of organizational communication in the context of current technological developments and disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. AI is making inroads in organizational communication practice, influencing how organizations communicate and interact with their environments. It drives, augments and supplements organizational communication. Chatbots, for example, are becoming increasingly relied upon by organizations, using them to manage basic communication tasks that used to belong solidly to the realm of human. Similarly, developments such as ChatGPT have attracted scholarly attention due to their perceived implications on various aspects of communication. All of this has a profound effect on human interactions and relationships in organizational settings. Filling a gap in scholarship around organizational communication in light of ongoing digital transformation processes and COVID-19 induced transformations, chapters provide an up-to-date account of how new communication technologies, especially AI, are transforming organizational communication. The contributions reflect upon the most current theory and practice in the field in the post-COVID era. Combining theory, applied scholarship and fresh case studies, this is a valuable resource that reflects on the new realities of today’s organizational environment.

Martin N. Ndlela is a Professor of Communication at Inland Norway School of Business and Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in media and communication from the University of Oslo. He is also Research Associate at the Department of Strategic communication, University of Johannesburg. He researches and teaches courses on crisis communication, social media, digital communication and organizational communication. A prolific author, his recent publications include Crisis Communication (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and Social Media and Elections in Africa. Volume 1 & 2 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).