The ontological boundaries of firms are increasingly becoming more blurred across sectors, especially within social communication. As firms continue to develop within traditional theoretical constructs that neglect social systems, communication often suffers. Additionally, the integration of technology in firms further exacerbates the neglect of social systems in their development and practice. This Research Topic investigates the origins and impacts of social systems in firms across disciplines, sectors, and areas of expertise to propose strategies for a more realistic perspective of social communication in firms.

The Research Topic aims to advance the idea that firms operate through social systems, with social communication playing a significant role in their development within society. Historically, firms have neglected their societal role due to a lack of theoretical understanding of the firm as a social system and insufficient recognition of the complex environmental dependencies of social communication. As a result, firms indirectly make little progress in addressing societal needs due to their narrowly defined ontological purposes. Furthermore, without a solid understanding of social systems within firms, the impact on sustainable development in society remains uncertain.

The Topic Editors are seeking manuscripts that explore communication between firms and society through social systems. The focus is on communication across various sectors, including technology, environmental science, public and private organizations, and social-economy entities like non-profits, cooperatives, credit unions, social enterprises, limited liability companies, and benefit corporations.

Potential topics/areas for submission may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• business communication within social systems
• sustainable development communication across sectors
• organizational communication
• multimodality of communication
• science and environmental communication
• media, culture, power, and firm communication across sectors
• communication of technology and politics in social systems.

The Research Topic welcomes manuscripts that offer theoretical insights, reviews, conceptual analyses, systematic reviews, case studies, exploratory research, and empirical evidence.

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Frontiers in Communication

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