This article presents a curated collection of nine teaching innovations presented at the Association for Business Communication 90th conference in Long Beach, California, as well as online, in October 2025. These My Favorite Assignment (MFA) presenters demonstrated various activities in helping students prepare for their careers and develop their professional skills. This My Favorite Assignment 33rd edition introduces readers to a wide variety of classroom-ready ideas that integrate career readiness tasks. Teaching support materials—instructions to students, stimulus materials, slides, rubrics, frequently asked questions, links, and sample student projects—are downloadable from the Association for Business Communication website.

This study examines whether a leader’s motivating language use cultivates individual follower gratitude and ultimately, work engagement and empowerment in both the USA and India. It also seeks to discover if the proposed model shows significant differences between the two national contexts. We examined our model by distributing questionnaires to a wide range of full-time employees using MTurk. Results reveal that in both countries motivating language has positive relationships with an employee’s state-based gratitude, engagement, and psychological empowerment. As predicted, gratitude partially mediates the relationships between ML and the two outcomes. However, the strengths of these relationships differ between both samples.

Teachers, students, and professionals widely use ChatGPT for business communication. Recent studies have explored predictors driving its adoption, predominantly from a general education perspective. To address this gap, this study examines predictors and barriers encountered by English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learners in India, a developing market with a significant number of ChatGPT users enrolled in business communication (BC) courses. A model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) was proposed, incorporating seven predictors to assess their influence on the intention to use ChatGPT. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed on 526 students’ responses from two reputed Indian private universities, yielding a good model fit (minimum discrepancy by degree of freedom = 2.95, goodness of fit index [GFI] = 0.945, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.043). Further, the results identified five significant predictors: perceived usefulness (β = 0.234, p < 0.001), academic integrity (β = 0.291, p = 0.003), perceived ease of participation (β = 0.174, p = 0.013), privacy concerns (β = 0.224, p = 0.004), and perceived ease of participation’s effect on perceived usefulness (β = 0.354, p < 0.001). However, peer behavior (β = −0.032, p = 0.769) and security concerns (β = −0.059, p = 0.434) were found to be insignificant predictors. The findings suggest that ChatGPT adoption is shaped by perceived functionality, ethical confidence, ease of use, and privacy assurance, while peer behavior and security concerns play a limited role, likely due to the tool’s early-stage adoption and individualistic usage patterns. This study highlights the importance of addressing barriers through targeted training, transparent policies, and AI literacy initiatives to ensure responsible and effective integration of ChatGPT in academic and professional contexts.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries have eliminated face-to-face classes in all schools, requiring all teachers to deliver classes remotely. In this regard, the wide spread of information and communication technology (ICT) products and services in the educational sector became a burden for several teachers. This article aims to study the impact of online teaching, and how technological stress might vary between male and female teachers and to what extent it alters their family lives and their way of living. The case of Lebanon has been examined and analyzed using 379 participants in various schools randomly distributed throughout the country, who participated in a survey on how COVID-19 affected their technostress levels. The findings showed that married women were more prone to technological stress and that their family life and lifestyle were strongly affected. In particular, young women with few years of experience were more likely to experience technostress problems. We also found no differences related to educational levels. In addition, the inclusion of different degrees of computer self-efficacy has shown an impact on the development of technostress among individuals.

This article presents a curated collection of nine teaching innovations presented at the Association for Business Communication 89th conference in the “oil capital of the world,” Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as online, in October 2024. Many of the MFA presenters demonstrated how AI can be used, integrated, and analyzed in business communication classes. This My Favorite Assignment 35th edition introduces readers to a wide variety of classroom-ready ideas that integrate AI. Teaching support materials—instructions to students, stimulus materials, slides, rubrics, frequently asked questions, links, and sample student projects—are downloadable from the Association for Business Communication website.

Communication apprehension (CA) is widely recognized as a significant inhibitor of communication and performance, making its management crucial. This study explored the connections between gender, managerial status, communication frequency, and discussion skills in explaining CA in the Japanese working population ( N = 300). Our findings suggest that facilitation skills explain CA better than personal attributes or communication frequency and that the gender difference in CA was only observed in nonmanagers. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and education.

Many experts project generative AI will impact the types of competencies that are valued among working professionals. This is the first known academic study to explore the views of business practitioners about the impacts of generative AI on skill sets. This survey of 692 business practitioners showed that business practitioners widely use generative AI, with the most common uses involving research and ideation, drafting of business messages and reports, and summarizing and revising text. Business practitioners report that character-based traits such as integrity and soft skills will become more important. Implications for teaching business communication are discussed.

This article aims to investigate the role of cultural differences within the current international business environment affected by technological advances, concentrating on the negotiation procedure and its outcome. The conclusion is based on the analysis of email interviews between top negotiators from the Czech Republic with long-term professional experience worldwide. The authors suggest considering a salesperson culture as a dynamic framework of top-down–bottom-up processes across cultural levels. Research indicates that, despite a reduction in costs thanks to the migration of negotiation meetings to online platforms, negotiators still prefer face-to-face meetings as the primary mode when managing intercultural nuances.

Generative AI may significantly disrupt the teaching and practice of business communication. This study of 343 communication instructors revealed a collective view that AI-assisted writing will be widely adopted in the workplace and will require significant changes to instruction. Key perceived challenges include less critical thinking and authenticity in writing. Key perceived benefits include more efficiency and better idea generation in writing. Students will need to develop AI literacy—composed of application, authenticity, accountability, and agency—to succeed in the workplace. Recommendations are provided for instructors and administrators to ensure the benefits of AI-assisted writing can outweigh the challenges.

Data-driven decision making has now moved beyond its traditional domains—operations research, business economics, computer sciences, and business statistics—to “softer subjects,” such as human resource management, organization behavior, and business communication. In this context, teaching with technology encourages students to systematically apply domain knowledge to communicate across a wide variety of stakeholders. In the era of multimodal forms of communication and multiple data sources, management students must be analytical when writing compelling reports and giving persuasive presentations. They should be well versed in using both quantitative and qualitative techniques for report writing and presentation. Drawing on authentic user-generated comments on social media, this article presents two case studies on (a) crisis communication by 30 CEOs and (b) culture shock experienced by foreign tourists sojourning in India, China, and the United Arab Emirates, to demonstrate how master’s in business administration (MBA) students could derive insights from the online comments to make strategic decisions for organizational benefit and make reports based on those findings. The article asserts that this could help to cultivate a data-analytic mindset among the students by preparing them to communicate small (and big) data-driven analysis to relevant stakeholders. It attempts to suggest ways to develop MBA students’ ability to analyze their potential audiences as well as to generate meaningful insights from the available information on social media websites. Finally, it hopes to nudge business communication instructors to embrace multidisciplinary perspectives for planning a technology-based business communication assignment involving the social media landscape. Instructors can not only use the two case studies to illustrate ways to integrate technology with teaching but also create their own mini cases to improve the decision-making, report-writing, and business report presentation skills of their students.

Institutions rely on career-ready competencies developed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) to understand the nationwide job outlook and labor market trends. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to inform a course redesign process in the business curriculum at a Midwestern university in the United States. Using an adapted NACE survey, we found that while Midwestern employers and alumni valued NACE core competencies and employability attributes similarly, there were certain elements that were overlooked in the previous curriculum. Thus, identification of the locally relevant top competencies and attributes was a leading factor in the course redesign process.

Persistent concerns about college graduates’ foundational skills for workforce preparedness compels educators to continue exploring ways to address them. Although effective communication is widely regarded as essential for entry-level professionals, which skills matter most may vary. Employers’ satisfaction with communication skills also shifts over time. This study compares regional employers’ and undergraduate business majors’ satisfaction with given communication skills and their perceptions about various skills’ importance. Results showed students rank importance and satisfaction similarly, and students’ satisfaction with their skills exceeded employers’. Regressions showed student satisfaction with specific skills predict their perceived importance. Implications for curriculum development are discussed.

The rapid, widespread implementation of artificial intelligence technologies in workplaces has implications for business communication. In this article, the authors describe current capabilities, challenges, and concepts related to the adoption and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in business communication. Understanding the abilities and inabilities of AI technologies is critical to using these technologies ethically. The authors offer a proposed research agenda for researchers in business communication concerning topics of implementation, lexicography and grammar, collaboration, design, trust, bias, managerial concerns, tool assessment, and demographics. The authors conclude with some ideas regarding how to teach about AI in the business communication classroom.

This nationwide study of business communication instructors examined course delivery, course outlook, topics and depth of coverage, social media and technology coverage, diversity coverage, critical thinking, and accessibility. The outlook for the course appears positive and promising, and instructors continue to add content to the course. An important finding is that business communication instructors’ level of confidence in technology significantly affects how they cover technology-mediated communication. Therefore, we suggest professional associations and higher education institutions should provide more opportunities for voluntary training in these newer communication technologies. Further research is needed about the strain placed on business communication instructors.

Instructors and administrators in business and technical communication (BTC) programs argue that assessment eportfolios can play a vital role in the success of BTC graduates on the job market. This study explores the use of assessment eportfolios by students, alumni, and employers in BTC. Nineteen interviews were conducted and analyzed for common themes and issues in participants’ experiences. The author found that, while the participants did use assessment eportfolios in the job market, their experiences varied widely. These and other findings are discussed, as well as implications of this study for eportfolio pedagogy.

In this article, we present a study focusing on the learning experiences of business students in an organizational and marketing communication course. The pedagogical approaches of a flipped classroom, collaborative inquiry, and communication in the disciplines guided the planning of the course. A mixed-methods approach was used. The key findings include positive student evaluations of the pedagogies utilized. Moreover, a wide variety of learning outcomes was reported, particularly in the fields of crisis communication and workplace communication. The pedagogies utilized enabled a comprehensive model for teaching communication and contributed to relevant learning experiences and skill development for the 21st century.

Free online survey tools provide a practical learning-by-induction platform for business communication instructors interested in trying out an advanced multidisciplinary survey activity coupled with an innovative teaching design. More than just building skills in marketing, survey projects marshal a wider set of thinking and doing activities that build student competency in the interrelated disciplines of communication, consumer analysis, and research. The design and sequence of a survey-learning module are outlined as well as expected learning outcomes, assessment considerations, and suggestions for exploring the interdisciplinary opportunities that surveys afford.

The value of experiential learning is widely acknowledged, especially for the development of communication skills, but students are not always aware of their own learning. While we can observe students practicing targeted skills during the experiential activity, the experience can also color their explicit understanding of those skills. Transfer of applied knowledge to managerial contexts requires an explicit grasp of the skills as appropriate solutions to the problems they encounter within the experiential team. This article reports the adaptation of assessment processes to encourage the reflection steps necessary for developing the desired managerial perspective on team communication.

This research establishes the role of communication education in employability by determining how employers of graduates view communication, identifying communication skills that employers view as relevant, and establishing whether these skills are included in communication courses. To achieve these aims, local businesses were surveyed, and the results were compared with communication course descriptors. The research shows, consistent with worldwide trends, that local employers value communication competencies highly when recruiting new graduates, and specific communication skills required in an industry reflect course content. However, some skills are still lacking, and the research questions where the responsibility lies in developing these skills.

This article considers how professional writing courses can prepare students in various disciplines for the workforce. Specifically, I argue for Writing in the Disciplines (WID) internships where students learn to write documents relevant for their careers while participating in practical work experiences. In the WID internships I describe, instructors collaborate with coordinators across campus to establish writing-intensive internships that focus on the needs of students and the community partner. This article illustrates the collaborative endeavors of three internships, highlighting the challenges and lessons learned from WID internships.

With the widespread popularity of distance learning, there is a need to investigate elements of online courses that continue to pose significant challenges for educators. One of the challenges relates to creating and managing group projects. This study investigated business students’ perceptions of group work in online classes. The constructs of learning and social interaction, process satisfaction, product satisfaction, and use of technology in the virtual learning environment were investigated. The use of social media networks by group participants was also examined. Recommendations are provided for business educators looking to develop or enhance teamwork in virtual learning environments.

Crisis has affected businesses worldwide. Many international corporations must cope with this turmoil, which affects their economic liability. Firms express their actual financial situation in the annual reports they issue every year. The annual report is a document that combines both promotional and informative features. Our study tries to find out how companies from two different countries (United States and Spain) deal with the issue of crisis in difficult times through their annual report. Additionally, and from a pedagogical perspective, we discuss the benefits of using the annual report in the teaching of writing for our students.

This nationwide study of 169 business communication instructors examines the following issues: (a) ideal and actual class sizes in business communication courses, (b) delivery modes of business communication courses, (c) types of written and oral assignments, and (d) topics covered and depth of coverage. Findings suggest that business communication course offerings are growing on the national stage. The vast majority of class sizes have stayed the same or gotten smaller. One significant change over the past 5 years is the increased focus on interpersonal communication and teamwork. While some courses offer significant coverage of social media, the majority does not.

We report our survey research about what American business professionals consider appropriate or civil mobile phone behavior during formal and informal meetings. The findings come from two of our recent research studies: an open-ended survey of 204 employees at a beverage distributor on the East Coast and a nationwide, random-sample survey of 350 business professionals in the United States. There were significant differences by age, group, gender, region, and income level. The differences between women and men were quite striking, with men nearly twice as likely to consider various mobile phone behaviors as acceptable in informal meetings.