Anca Anton

This chapter examines how future communication professionals conceptualize wellbeing, leadership, and workplace conditions prior to entering the profession. Drawing on a qualitative pedagogical study with undergraduate communication and public relations students, the analysis explores anticipatory professional socialization processes through which students construct expectations and professional imaginaries. The study adopts a dialogic design in which students formulate questions for practitioners and analyze the responses they receive. The findings show that students approach communication work with heightened awareness of wellbeing risks and strong expectations of leadership responsibility, while navigating tensions between individualized coping discourses and structural awareness of organizational conditions. Wellbeing emerges as an anticipatory evaluative lens through which the profession is judged in terms of legitimacy and sustainability.

The growing integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping how organizations prepare for and manage crises. This study examines cultural conditions that support GenAI READINESS through 11 interviews with communication experts. Findings reveal that GenAI READINESS is primarily a cultural, not technical, condition shaped by leadership behavior, mindset, and alignment across organizational values and assumptions. Interviewees emphasized the need for ethical standards, training, and psychological safety, while noting faster adaptation demands and new reputational risks compared to prior technological shifts. Implications for incorporating GenAI for organizational READINESS are discussed.

Purpose: This paper explores how public health authorities' vaccine communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic interacted with pre-existing levels of institutional trust, and how these trust levels shaped perceived opportunities and constraints for communicating trustworthiness in high- and low-trust national environments. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs an exploratory qualitative comparative case study design, analysing vaccine communication strategies in Norway and Romania. These cases were selected due to their contrasting levels of public trust and vaccine uptake. The analysis draws primarily on semi-structured elite interviews with national-level public health communicators, complemented by selected communication artefacts and documentary sources. Findings: The exploratory comparison suggests that Norway's high level of institutional trust enabled a communication strategy based on transparency and voluntary participation, contributing to high vaccine uptake. In contrast, Romania's low-trust context led authorities to rely on intensive expert visibility, depoliticised sources, narrative campaigns, community and role-model involvement, and constant engagement. Political instability, fragmented medical trust, and the politicisation of sources further constrained authorities' ability to build trustworthiness, contributing to lower vaccine uptake. Across both cases, pre-existing trust levels shaped which dimensions of trustworthiness were most salient and which communication strategies were seen as feasible or risky, rather than determining outcomes in a simple causal way. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to two country cases and seven elite interviews, which constrain generalizability. The analysis focuses on communicators' perspectives, not on public attitudes or behavioural outcomes, and does not seek to establish causal relationships between specific communication strategies and vaccination uptake. Instead, it uses interview accounts and contextual data to explore how public health authorities understood, articulated, and operationalised trustworthiness in different trust environments, thereby offering analytically rich insights and ideas for future cross-national and mixed methods research. Practical implications: Public health authorities should design vaccine communication strategies that are sensitive to existing trust levels and maintain consistency over time. Strategies effective in high-trust contexts may be ineffective or counterproductive in low-trust settings. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the literature by exploratively linking vaccine communication strategies to pre-existing societal trust levels and discussing how shifts in communication can exacerbate or mitigate trust deficits in public health crises.

We examine how European media responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine through visual identity changes. Using visual discourse and communication theories, we analysed 76 logo modifications in six countries: Finland, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. A cross-national comparison revealed significant differences in the scale, type, and duration of changes. Media in former Eastern Bloc countries showed the strongest visual solidarity, while Northern and Western European media used more restrained strategies, reflecting different historical contexts. Modifications included Ukrainian colours, solidarity slogans, and design adjustments. Though mostly temporary, these symbolic actions turned branding into civic engagement and reinforced shared values. This study contributes to media research by framing logo changes as visual discourse and symbolic communication in times of conflict.

Purpose: This article proposes a conceptual extension of the READINESS model (Jin et al., 2024, 2025) by introducing well-being as a foundational, transversal dimension that underpins READINESS as a mindset, multilevel efficacy and dynamic process. Design/methodology/approach: Anchored in insights from genAI risk research and communication theory, the well-being-enhanced READINESS model reframes READINESS as a human-centred capacity driven by emotional sustainability, psychological safety and ethical reflexivity. Findings: By integrating leadership communication, perceived organisational support and health-oriented infrastructures, the model offers a more inclusive and sustainable roadmap for genAI READINESS. It challenges both theory and practice to recognise well-being as a strategic imperative in the face of technological disruption. Research limitations/implications: The article concludes by outlining implications for communication research, leadership development and genAI governance, advocating for systemic support that bridges operational efficacy with emotional and ethical sustainability. Originality/value: While traditional crisis management models focus on preparedness and resilience, they often overlook the psychosocial tolls imposed on communication professionals navigating genAI-mediated environments, where emotional strain, ethical ambiguity and cognitive overload converge.

Purpose: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies are increasingly being used by both individuals and organizations. However, there is still a lack of in-depth understanding of whether communication professionals are ready to navigate and utilize this disruptive innovation. This study aims to explore how communication professionals perceive GenAI-related risks in the workplace and what is considered important for READINESS in the context of GenAI adoption at the individual and organizational levels. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed written interviews with open-ended questions in a survey format to gather input from communication professionals in three European countries – Italy, Romania and the Netherlands. A total of 84 responses were collected and analyzed through a thematic analysis, with an intercoder reliability test also conducted. Findings: Seven core themes emerged from the analysis, including (1) the forms of risk anticipated in relation to the adoption of GenAI in the workplace; the conceptualization of (2) individual and (3) organizational READINESS in the face of GenAI-related risks; the factors considered important for the development of (4) individual and (5) organizational READINESS; and the aspects of the (6) physical and (7) digital work environment that contribute to building organizational READINESS. Originality/value: By identifying key themes and patterns, this research aims to provide insights into the critical factors that communication professionals can consider to enhance their individual and organizational READINESS to address GenAI-related risks within the workplace.

Purpose: This study investigates professional fluidity between the media and communication industries in the context of flexible working schemes. It explores the experiences of professionals transitioning between these industries, focusing on the determinants of fluidity and its effects on professional cultures, identities and practices. Design/methodology/approach: Conducted as a comparative study in Romania and Poland, both former Communist countries at different economic stages, the research involves 20 semi-structured interviews with individuals who switched industries. Thematic analysis, using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) approach, was applied to the interview transcripts to extract key themes. Findings: The study reveals that the pursuit of better working conditions, job stability, career growth, and personal adaptation are primary motivators for transitioning. It also highlights the role of technology and flexible working schemes in facilitating these transitions. While transitions bring clear benefits to organizations, they can undermine the journalism profession, with some practitioners viewing the shift as a “sell-out”. The fluidity between these professions leads to dual identities, with professionals integrating skills from both industries, enhancing their versatility and adaptability. Originality/value: This research contributes to discussions on (de)professionalization in the media and communication sectors and the impact of non-traditional working arrangements. It enhances understanding of how professional fluidity influences professional identities and practices, highlighting the dynamic nature of career transitions between these interconnected industries.