Allison M. Alford

Professional Summary

Allison M. Alford, Ph.D., is a clinical associate professor of business communication in Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies with a concentration in Interpersonal Communication from The University of Texas at Austin. Her teaching focuses on management and business communication, including interpersonal communication, conflict, teamwork, presentations, feedback, and the people skills leaders need to communicate effectively.

Alford is the author of Good Daughtering: The Work You’ve Always Done, the Credit You’ve Never Gotten, and How to Finally Feel Like Enough (Dey Street Books/HarperCollins, 2026). Her research examines adult daughtering, mother-daughter relationships, invisible family labor, and the work women do to maintain family relationships. Her scholarship has appeared in publications including the Journal of Family Communication, Communication Quarterly, and Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. She also co-edited Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan.

Beyond the university, Alford is a speaker, communication consultant and coach who works with professionals and organizations to strengthen interpersonal and leadership communication. She has worked with professionals across industries including engineering, technology, publishing, human resources, sales and finance. Alford regularly shares research and practical guidance about adult daughterhood, family relationships, and communication with national media and public audiences.

Note: If you’re looking for a different Allison Alford at Baylor, try finding her here: https://disability.research.baylor.edu/person/allison-alford

Education

• 2016 - PhD, Communication Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
• 2005 - MA, Communication Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
• 2003 - BA, International Studies, Journalism, French, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

Courses

• BUS 5390 - Management Communication
• BUS 5490 - Strategic Communication
• BUS 3303 - Managerial Communication
• BUS 3315 - Business Communication

Research Interests

• Adult daughters and mothers
• Role portrayals
• Work-Family Interface
• Unpaid and Invisible labor
• Relational working

Selected Publications

• Alford, A. M. (Feb.17, 2026) Good Daughtering: The work you’ve always done, the credit you’ve never gotten, and how to finally feel like enough. Dey Street Books. ISBN: 9780063436428. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/good-daughtering-allison-m-alford-phd
• Alford, A. M., Phillips, K., Stipanovic, L., Rocha-Barnette, C., & Miller-Day, M. (2026). Being there for mom: The strengths of daughtering. Family Relations (Wiley). https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.70122 [PDF download]
• Alonso-Pecora, D., Nguyen, C., Bevan, J., Miller-Day, M, & Alford, A. M. (2026). “She was my egg donor, not my mom”: Using attribution theory to understand how adult daughters manage their low quality daughter-mother relationship" Personal Relationships (Wiley). https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.70050 [PDF download]
• Alford, A. M. (2024). Daughterwork in times of social upheaval. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/17459435.2024.2362212 [PDF Download]
• Alford, A. M. (2021). Doing daughtering: an exploration of adult daughters’ constructions of role portrayals in relation to mothers. Communication Quarterly, 69(3), 215-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2021.1920442
• Alford, A. M., & Marko-Harrigan, M. (2019). Role expectations and role evaluations in daughtering: Constructing the Good Daughter. Journal of Family Communication, 19(4), 348-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2019.1643352
• Alford, A. M., & Miller-Day, M. (Eds.) (2019). Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b10841. Volume 14 in T. Socha (Ed.) series Lifespan communication: Children, families, and aging.