Strategic communication theory: a systematic overview

Abstract Strategic communication is a field with profound societal implications. However, its capacity to generate cohesive scholarly insights remains nascent, marked by multidisciplinary fragmentation, conceptual inconsistencies, and limited generalizability. This article presents an interdisciplinary systematic overview of fundamental strategic communication theory, taking stock of current theoretical advancements. It maps core concepts and phenomena central to strategic communication research. Core concepts include communication, strategy, entity, motivation, capital, power, strategic alignment, and physical/social reality. Conceptual interrelations produce basic phenomena, including strategizing, different strategic communication modes, and the communicative constitution of entities. This overview demonstrates the prevalence of conceptual contradictions and inconsistencies, alongside nonconflicting theorizations across subdisciplines. It offers a foundation on which to build coherent interdisciplinary theory through comprehensive theoretical synthesis.