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Successful social marketing campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination for the unvaccinated relies on increasing positive reactions but also reducing negative responses to persuasive messages. This study aims to investigate the relative effects of narrative vs non-narrative public service announcements (PSAs) promoting COVID-19 vaccination on both positive and negative reactions. Using social media as a tool for disseminating marketing campaigns provides a great opportunity to examine the effectiveness of narrative PSAs on vaccination intention, especially among unvaccinated young adults, who were the target audience of the social marketing. This study explores the role of empathy and psychological reactance as underlying mechanisms.

An experiment involving unvaccinated young adults was conducted with a one-factor, two-condition (message type: narrative vs non-narrative) design.

Results indicated that the narrative (vs non-narrative) PSAs led to greater empathy. While no direct effects of message type emerged on psychological reactance or vaccination intention, results of a serial multi-mediator model confirmed that empathy and psychological reactance mediated the effects of message type on vaccination intention.

The study extends the understanding of narrative persuasion by examining an underlying mechanism behind narrative persuasion in a COVID-19 PSA. This study provides empirical evidence of the important role of empathy in processing narrative PSAs. Moreover, the current study expands narrative persuasion’s applicability to COVID-19 vaccination intervention messages for unvaccinated young adults, highlighting the effectiveness of narrative persuasion as a social marketing communication tool.

The continuation of rapid changes in Web 2.0 has transformed the practice of business communication and stakeholders’ expectations. This paper aims to paramount one issue facing corporate communicators is stakeholders’ social media fatigue that leads to online disengagement and social media strategy ineffectiveness.

A systematic review of research literature and a deep dive in the professional reports regarding corporate communication and social media strategies are conducted.

To tackle the challenge of stakeholder social media fatigue, a conceptual model is provided to guide the development of alternative social media strategies that capitalize on the impact of vicarious interaction and reenergize stakeholders via trialogue based on the corporate-influencer-stakeholder (parasocial) relationships.

A model for overcoming stakeholder social media fatigue via optimizing corporate-influencer-stakeholder (parasocial) relationship is proposed and elaborated, with actionable social media strategies recommended for corporate communicators to use.

The contemporary business environment for public companies is much more multinational and multicultural than at any previous time. It is now driven by complex economic, political, technological and demographic forces such as these six: multipolarity eclipses globalization; the internet of things; corporate business model; uncertainty; privacy, big data and alternative data; and shifting demographics. The communication function has been central to this transformation.

The corporate communication international (CCI) studies have revealed three periods of transformation, namely, the focus, practices, perceptions, and the strategic aim of corporate communication to establish coherence by managing the messages reflects a top-down mind-set of communicating from the corporation to its stakeholders. The CCI study data indicated that the approaches to communication started changing; the fragmented media landscape of businesses reveals an awakening of a new kind of corporate communication whose aim is not to control and order, but to endure and to accept the “truth” being constantly challenged.

Findings from the CCI practices and trends studies validate the field’s strategic role in engagement and amplification of corporate messaging. Forces that have an impact on the practice of corporate communication include continuation of rapid changes, unintended consequences of changing reporting structures, core functions remain unchanged Budget and staff increases reflect economic confidence, Search for talent, Integrity, Core competencies focus on “business acumen” to drive corporate value, Employee engagement to build corporate culture, “Counsel to the CEO” suffers as the role of the communication officer changes.

Corporate Communication Practices and Trends studies underscore corporate communication as a strategic management function and, increasingly, as a strategic business partner for the enterprise. The integration of marketing and communication in many corporations, changes the corporate communication function. This special issue of the Journal of Business Strategy is focused on the transformation of corporate communication strategy. Six experts share their perspectives.