Published on September 17, 2025

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

SEPTEMBER 2025 edition   

VOLUME 68      NUMBER 32      

IEPCBU     (ISSN 0361-1434)

Full Table of Contents

INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Impacts of AI on Human Designers: A Systematic Literature Review, P. Sinlapanuntakul and M. Zachry

We reviewed 44 articles addressing tensions between human designers and AI in design work. We employed a hybrid inductive/deductive thematic analysis approach, using Miro for remote qualitative analysis. Our analysis reveals four main themes that encapsulate the impact of AI on design practice: 1. reframing design roles and work, 2. human-AI-(human) interaction and collaboration, 3. cognitive expansion and critical reflection, and 4. limitations and risks of AI. These themes offer insights into the nature of AI’s impact on human designers in this new paradigm of practice. This review reflects the current complexities of integrating AI into design processes while preserving human creativity, intuition, and agency.

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Demystifying Chatbot Creation: A Comparative Case Study of Available Approaches, M. P. Muthyala, C. Lauer, S. Carradini, and B. Rajan

This study reports the experiences of replicating a chatbot on three platforms. First, we built the Arizona Water Chatbot—a custom-built chatbot we coded using the GPT-3.5 Turbo model. Then, we replicated the chatbot using OpenAI’s custom GPT interface and OpenAI’s Assistants API platform. Once built, we compared the development experience as it relates to each technology’s affordances and limitations. By describing the affordances and limitations of the chatbot technologies, this paper offers academics and practitioners insight into which technology to use given their individual development goals and intended audiences.

The Nature and Indispensable Roles of Technical Communication in Agile Development Environments: Following Typical Processes and Adapting to Address Challenges, M. R. Hovde and B. Threatt

We interviewed and observed professionals to explore technical communication practices throughout phases of the Agile development process and explore how teams used and modified common Agile/Scrum practices. We noted ways in which participants modified practices to fit their situations. Participants highlighted the indispensability of effective technical communication in Agile processes and developed innovative ways to adapt communication practices based on their experiences. The findings illuminate useful practices and offer implications that will benefit organizations, practicing professionals, students, and educators.

Professionalizing Researchers: Mapping and Visualizing Doctoral Engineering Student Identity Development Through User Experience (UX) Methods, J. Tham, D. Polanco-Lahoz, M. Hanson, J. Cross, and M. Beruvides

We recruited 20 industrial engineering students at an R1 university and collected data via surveys, qualitative interviews, and journey mapping. Analysis methods included persona building and collaborative affinity diagramming. Seven distinctive personas were created to represent identity formation experiences influenced by learning modality, attitude, program stage, and prior experience. Theoretical conclusions and opportunities for academic programming emerged from affinity diagrams. Doctoral engineering students’ researcher identity formation presented implications for theory and curricular design.

UX Research, Management, and Design: What a Textual Analysis of UX Job Ads Means for Technical Communication, G. Getto and B. Vance

We analyzed a corpus of UX job ads for trends including specific roles that are emerging within UX as definable occupations. We did so by identifying trends in keyword usage across ads, as well as zeroing in on skill sets that seem important to employers looking to hire UX professionals. Our findings extend previous research to detail stronger differentiation between the skill sets required of UX designers and UX researchers, as well as revealing new roles previously unexamined. Several new skill sets emerging in UX are important to introduce to students, including new visual design tools, product design skills, and project management skills.

Tracing Disruptions: Activity Systems in a Digital Services Microfirm, E. Cabrera, O. Sabaj, G. Varas, and C. Spinuzzi

Understanding how digital microfirms organize their activities through communication is an appealing topic to study. Guided by the components of activity systems, we coded interviews, questionnaires, instant messages, and databases. Discourse analysis allowed us to identify contradictions. Analysis of team member perspectives and artifacts revealed that flexibility and client proximity are the firm’s value propositions. They organize daily activities around addressing clients’ needs. Although flexibility and closeness sets it apart tactically from larger competitors, it also hinders strategic planning, making communication and decision-making more difficult.

Small Stories with Big Roles/ Mapping Sage, Pursuer, and Hero Archetypes onto Authority, Fandom, and Heroism in Chinese Banks’ Weibo Posts, D. Gou, Y. Sun, and G. Wang

Thematic and content analysis of a corpus of Sina Weibo posts from five leading Chinese banks revealed that they predominantly release posts under corporation-oriented, relation-oriented, and society-oriented themes. These are represented respectively by the sub-themes [Market analysis], [Entertainment], and [CSR], correspondingly shaping the archetypes {Sage}, {Pursuer}, and {Hero} of the corporate individual, relational, and collective selves, and mirroring the construction of the culture of authority, fandom, and heroism. The findings enrich understanding of social media for corporate narratives, identity, and culture construction, and offer insights for digital marketing to improve communication of corporate identity via social media.