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Towards Comparative Research in Strategic Communication: A Systematic Analysis of Cross-National Studies and Future Directions

ABSTRACT Comparative cross-national research permits scholars to understand how strategic communication is impacted by environmental conditions in different countries. Although the field has burgeoned enormously over the past two decades, there has been little discussion about what comprises an excellent comparative study, and little is known about the state-of-the-art of comparative research in the field of strategic communication. This article suggests a set of general scientific criteria for solid comparative research and applies these to assess the quality of comparative studies in strategic communication. Based on an analysis of 75 studies located through a systematic search in 16 journals, this article sketches the contours of a fast-emerging research field, which is increasingly driven by European and Asian scholars. The results identify common deficiencies and indicate that the potential of comparative research to contextualize and explain strategic communication in different countries has not yet been fully exploited. Future directions for engaging in more advanced comparative strategic communication research are given.