Enacting an Ethic of Care in Technical and Professional Communications

Abstract

One of the biggest lessons many corporations and professional writers learned during the COVID-19 crisis was the importance of authenticity and empathy in everyday interactions with an audience. By implementing a care-based ethical framework, such as an ethics of care framework, for professional communications, professional writers are better able to engage responsibly and ethically with their audiences. This study directly engages care with document creation and performance in technical and professional communication. I compare the effectiveness of two corporate marketing brochures, one developed using a traditional marketing approach and one developed using an ethics of care framework, through two audience surveys: a usability test and a comparison survey.