Taking stock and showcasing communication research on Asia for a global audience

Taking stock

Communication research on Asia has enjoyed remarkable growth at the turn of the twenty-first century (Kuo, 2010; So, 2010). Scholarly interest in Asia has grown largely due to the economic and cultural rise of China and India. Then, what are the implications of Asia’s rising global power for communication scholars, in Asia and around the world? For example, the on-going mobile revolution in Asia merits a timely and thorough review to document the scope, depth, and achievements of past research in understanding the social change in Asia triggered by the ubiquitous mobile phone. This special issue takes stock of accomplishments in communication research on Asia for the global audience, examines some enduring issues, and points out new directions for future research.

The idea for a special issue that highlights achievements and challenges in Asian communication research originated from a panel at the 2015 Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC) convention in San Francisco, USA. A range of papers presented at the panel took retrospective and forward-looking views of the fast-growing Asian communication research (Wei, 2015). Panelists as well as audiences were happily surprised about the rapid growth and the quickly accumulated communication research concerning Asia in recent years. The panel resulted in a consensus among the participants that it is about time to take stock of this rising tide of research. A more comprehensive disciplinary review will showcase the status as well as benefit future research.

Fueled by a sense of optimism after the panel and a feeling of resolve to expand it into a forum of more systematic reviews of various fields and research trends, I made a pitch to Dr Xiaoming Hao, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Journal of Communication, for a special issue to assess the state of communication research in the world’s largest region. Dr Hao and his editorial board vetted the proposal and generously agreed to provide journal space for this special issue. The response to the call was strong; more than 20 submissions were received, among which 7 were selected for inclusion after several rounds of peer reviews.

The seven studies in this special issue examined a large number of published articles in the most influential communication journals. According to Frost and Taylor (1985), published articles are important because they are permanent records of scholarly output and can influence the direction of a scientific field. Therefore, reviewing published articles helps to reveal academic trends – taking stock, if you will – and also provides an opportunity to foresee the direction of future research.

Showcasing Asian communication research for a global audience

When addressing publications in English-language communication journals, Kuo (2010) noted a distinctive growth in communication research on Asia and by Asian scholars between 1990 and 2010. The articles in this special issue, which have all been selected for their retrospective and systematic insights, showcase the continued growth in Asian communication research, which increased exponentially over the past five years. The growth was most notable in communication technology and emerging new media, as well as in strategic communication. For instance, articles on mobile media in Asian countries increased tenfold in 2010–2015. ‘Internet’ was the most popular keyword, and it was also the most studied communication technology, followed by mobile phones, ICTs and social media. Incidentally, these also are the fastest-growing areas of the global research field as well.

Measured by the upward trajectory in published output and trends in research focus on Asia, it is evident that Asian communication research is at the forefront of the field as a whole, and experiencing a paradigm shift from theorizing analogue media to formulating new understandings of digital and mobile media.

In the call for papers for this special issue, manuscripts were solicited that offered a comprehensive and updated review of existing literature on the current and future status of communication research on Asian countries. Additionally, reviews of mainstream communication theories (e.g. agenda-setting, spiral of silence, and cultivation, etc.) as applied in Asian countries were also welcomed. Accordingly, the seven articles selected here reflect these two types of submissions. To be exact, three reviewed a specific research field or area; two focused on applications of mass communication theories in Asia. The remaining two articles were comparative analyses of communication research on Asia.

The special issue begins with an article by Zheng, Liang, Huang and Liu. Using a combination of techniques in content analysis and semantic network analysis, they traced and analyzed patterns in major research themes, popular keywords, theoretical frameworks, geographic landscapes, and research methods in published articles from leading communication and new media journals between 1995 and 2014. They argued that Asia’s robust economic, cultural and technological performance in the new century provided an impetus that resulted in booming Asian communication technology research. They also report that more than half of the publications in top-tier journals of the field were contributed by scholars from Asia-based institutions. One of the insights of their analyses is that disciplinary boundaries have limited researchers from seeing the whole picture of the communication process. However, communication technologies enable scholars to rethink definitions and redefine categories.

In the next article, Zheng, Wei and Nekmat explore whether and how Asia’s leadership in embracing mobile media stimulated mobile communication research on Asian countries. Their comprehensive analysis of 120 articles published in 18 journals documents some interesting patterns: collaborations with American and European scholars were common, but Asia-based authors outnumbered non-Asian authors in the published scholarship about Asian mobile communication. The most common collaborating authorships were formed between North American-based and Asian scholars. This particular result indicates that mobile communication research on Asian countries attracts attention from scholars worldwide. Further, the increasing scholarship is more likely to be theoretically guided and driven by the social science paradigm. They conclude that the rise in Asian mobile communication research in the twenty-first century appears to be a product of global scholarship.

The trends, patterns, and scholarly rigor in public relations research is examined in the article by Xu and Huang. Focusing on 162 articles published in 8 leading communication journals between 1995 and 2014, they provided a longitudinal view. Consistent with other review studies, they found an increasing productivity, particularly from Asia-based scholars and also on topics concerning public diplomacy. Almost all articles in the sample stated that they have noted practical implications to PR practitioners in the field.

The next two articles – by Lo and his associates, and by Zhou and his team – analyze two leading mass communication theories, agenda-setting and third-person effect, as they were applied in Asian countries for empirical research. Both found wide applications of the two theories in Asian countries. Unlike other reviews, Zhou’s team analyzed articles published in Chinese and Korean languages. They reported that agenda-setting has become a fertile area of research in China and South Korea. Similarly, Lo et al. conclude that TPE research exemplifies Asian perspectives, adding to a globally popular theory.

Communication research about China, Asia’s most populous country and rising global economic powerhouse, was compared to that of other Asian countries as reviewed in top-tier communication journals by Liu, Liang and Zheng. Their findings confirm that China has been the most researched East Asia country; published articles on China comprised more than twice as many articles as the second most researched country. Further, over the years, scholars’ interests in political topics, culture, communication behavior and health gradually increased, while research attention to media was reduced. Interestingly, they reveal that China’s political system was the most common rationale for such studies.

Finally, in their article on mapping Asian communication research, Kim and his colleagues explored how such scholarship has developed in Asian Journal of Communication (AJC) from 1990 to 2015. They used the semantic network analysis of keywords. To validate their analysis, they used AEJMC’s flagship journal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) as a benchmark. Their analysis shows that scholarship, in terms of published articles in AJC, reflects its Asian distinction by exploring social and cultural comparisons of a few East Asian countries; it has also followed Western communication scholarship by investigating effects of political communication and news media, as well as advertising on television in the USA. Like JMCQ, AJC contributes to mainstream mass communication scholarship while keeping its own Asian perspectives.

Taken together, a grand total of 3434 articles (some may be duplicated) were identified and analyzed concerning research on Asia in highly ranked communication journals over a period of 20 years. The quantity of research output reviewed in this special issue is remarkable. Communication scholarship on Asia adds to the field and is a valuable body of literature in its own right. As Craig (1999, p. 129) argued, ‘In a practical discipline of communication, theory is designed to provide conceptual resources for reflecting on communication problems.’ I hope that these comprehensive reviews, longitudinal analyses, and comparative studies will serve as valuable resources for scholars around the world who conduct communication research about Asia.

Enduring issues

An objective of this special issue is to provide a thorough and updated review of the range and status of fields or research streams, from which enduring issues can be revealed in order to inform future communication research on Asia. In a way, I hope the gaps and deficiencies as identified in these reviews will develop a new scholarly agenda in Asia’s communication research.

In his editorial introduction to a special issue called Asian Communication Research: The Past 20 Years, and the Next, noting the 20th anniversary of the AJC, Kuo (2010) observed a regional imbalance due to the fact that most studies on Asian communication were about East Asia, and most Asian scholars were from East Asia. The dominance by scholars from China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore resulted in a body of communication research that focused predominantly on East Asia. This imbalance was found to persist in the review studies in this special issue.

In addition, no clear Asian perspective emerges from published scholarship. As reported in these seven review studies, the communication research literature largely has been focused on and driven by studies about specific Asian countries, such as China, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The country-specific studies are valuable and offer insights into the processes and media effects of a particular Asian society, and contribute to the field. On the other hand, a broader, trans-national perspective is unlikely to evolve from these country-specific studies. This is clearly one challenge for communication research in Asia as we move farther into in the twenty-first century.

Given the vast geographic area of Asia, and the differences in all aspects of Asian societies in the dimensions of politics, religion, economic development, culture, language, and traditional norms, an ‘Asian perspective’ means different things to different scholars. Therefore, articulating the Asian perspective will likely be a long and difficult task. Nevertheless, it does not mean it is mission impossible. For example, comparative studies of Asian countries or comparing Asian countries with non-Asian countries may yield insights into the role of macro-level differences in culture and social systems in shaping their media systems and user behavior.

Conclusion

Periodic review of a discipline is considered desirable and beneficial to its further growth (Pasadeos, Berger, & Renfro, 2010). The overall trend emerging from the longitudinal analysis is clear: scholarly attention to Asia in general and to China in particular is increasing. Asian communication research adds diversity to the field and makes insightful contributions to general communication theories as well. Asian communication research has the momentum for continued growth. There is no better time than now to do research about this part of the world. By taking stock, this special issue reviews the state of the communication research on Asia, and reviews such as this should continue. This special issue will not be the last, but it is surely an important one.

Guest editing a special issue makes me appreciate the hard work all our editors do. This special issue could not have been accomplished without the collegiality of the AJC team, led by Dr Hao, and the thoughtful feedback from peer reviewers. A total of 18 ad hoc reviewers contributed their time and knowledge to this special issue, and I thank you all for providing timely, constructive feedback to the authors. Let us all keep up the good work on communication research in Asia and on Asia, and lead the way for scholars around the world.