The Evolution of Communication Consulting: A Long-Term Comparison of Service Quality in Strategic Communication

Abstract

Communication leaders and their teams are seldom able to handle the broad range of challenges within their area of responsibility by themselves. They rely on agencies as an external workbench and as specialists for new or seldom used practices. More importantly, they seek advice from communication consultants to understand challenges, and to identify opportunities for action. The increasing demand for such services has pushed prices and intensified the debate about their quality. Surprisingly, research on communication consulting and its quality is sparse. The first empirical studies were conducted just 10 years ago. In light of dynamic industry developments, the question arises regarding how the understanding and perceptions of communication consulting quality has evolved. To this end, a comparative study surveyed a total of 422 communication agencies in 2013 and 2023 on the relevance, factors, assurance, and showcasing of consulting quality. The results reveal that the importance of consulting quality is still high, but underlying conditions and implementation of quality have changed considerably. As the first in-depth and long-term exploration of this phenomenon, this research helps to shed light on a highly relevant but underexplored facet of strategic communication. It informs practice and offers numerous starting points for future research.