ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Advertising and Marketing Communication
The three worlds of strategic communication The dimensions of performance, legitimacy, and emotional appeal – and their potential for strategic communication research
Provisionally accepted
- University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
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Introduction: In strategic communication research, it is widely recognized that attitudes and ultimately decisions are influenced by a variety of content-related factors. Specialist disciplines such as public relations, cause-related marketing and emotional branding have emerged in communication practice to deal with individual aspects. However, as specialists are only interested in their own area, this paper argues for an integrating perspective. Method: The diverse factors are condensed into three dimensions based on Habermas' three-world concept: perceived and decision-related performance, legitimacy and emotional appeal. The conceptual-programmatic paper aims to demonstrate the connectivity and potential of this triad for the central research paradigms. Results: For the interpretative paradigm, the specific relevance and the constructive character of the three dimensions are elaborated. The functional-instrumental paradigm shows that the overlaps between the various stakeholder relationships are greatest in the dimension of legitimacy. Finally, dystopian societal scenarios are developed for the critical paradigm.
Keywords: emotional appeal, Habermas, Legitimacy, performance, reputation, Strategic communication
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 06 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Hoffjann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Olaf Hoffjann
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