Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 129–131
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Public Relations Review
Research in Brief
The influence of internal communication on employee engagement: A pilot study Emma Karanges ∗ , Kim Johnston, Amanda Beatson, Ian Lings Queensland University of Technology, School of Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations, Brisbane, Australia
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Article history: Received 8 April 2014 Received in revised form 2 December 2014 Accepted 11 December 2014 Keywords: Employee engagement Internal communication Workplace relationships
a b s t r a c t Internal communication is an important concept and integral to internal public relations with links to positive organizational and employee outcomes such as employee engagement. While scholars emphasize the importance of the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement, the association has not been empirically tested. Using surveys and regression analysis this study confirms that internal organizational communication and internal supervisor communication support workplace relationships based on meaning and worth, and have a significant part to play in developing and maintaining optimal employee engagement. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction Internal communication is a significant and independent function within public relations and corporate communication scholarship (Tkalac Verˇciˇc, Verˇciˇc, & Sriramesh, 2012). Internal communication has two main roles: spanning provision of information and creating of a sense of community within organizations (Friedl & Verˇciˇc, 2011). Developing a sense of community through internal communication efforts involves establishing and maintaining relationships between an organization, supervisors, and employees. While employees experience many workplace relationships, two dominate an employee’s professional life: a relationship with their organization and with their direct supervisor (Sluss, Klimchak, & Holmes, 2008). Therefore this research focuses on internal communication from the organization and from the supervisor. Industry research has recognized internal communication as an underlying influence of employee engagement. Defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind, the benefits of employee engagement include increased productivity, decreased attrition, improvement of an organization’s image and reputation, and increased financial returns (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002). While these benefits have resulted in an increased focus on and resourcing of, employee engagement by managers, industry reports reveal a rapid decline in the number of engaged employees. Despite the importance accredited to both internal communication and employee engagement, limited empirical research on their association exists (Welch, 2011). Furthermore, empirical research investigating the possible association at the organizational and supervisory level is limited within the public relations literature. Calls have been made for greater scholarship (Welch, 2011) and this research responds to this call. On these grounds, the following research questions have been developed: RQ1.
Does internal organizational communication have a direct positive effect on employee engagement?
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61731385190. E-mail addresses:
[email protected] (E. Karanges),
[email protected] (K. Johnston),
[email protected] (A. Beatson),
[email protected] (I. Lings). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.12.003 0363-8111/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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RQ2.
E. Karanges et al. / Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 129–131
Does internal supervisor communication have a direct positive effect on employee engagement?
2. Methods To quantify the relationships between internal communication (organizational and supervisor) and employee engagement, data were collected via an online survey. All items within the online survey were measured using 7-point Likert-scales. Two stages of pre-testing were implemented to resolve any fundamental problems in the online survey and to test for content validity. After pre-testing, the online survey was administered via email to a consumer panel of 2000 males and females aged 18–65+ currently employed on either a full-time or part-time basis with an Australian organization employing over 50 staff. After the completion of the online survey and data cleaning, a total of 200 usable responses were attained. Reliability of the scales was ensured by removing individual items with alpha scores below .70 and item-to-total correlation scores less than .30. Exploratory factor analysis was undertaken to determine the factor structure of constructs and to address any issues of validity. All constructs were shown to be unidimensional. 3. Findings Linear regression analysis was used to empirically test the relationships between internal communication (organizational and supervisor) and employee engagement. In the first regression involving internal organizational communication and employee engagement (RQ1), a significant and positive association between the two variables was found (ˇ = .48, p < .001). Furthermore, internal organizational communication accounted for 23.04% of the variance in employee engagement. In the second regression involving internal supervisor communication and employee engagement (RQ2), a significant and positive association between the two variables was also found (ˇ = .57, p < .001). Internal supervisor communication accounted for 32.38% of the variance in employee engagement. These results indicate that internal organizational communication and internal supervisor communication have a significant part to play in developing and maintaining optimal employee engagement. The results of this study are theoretically supported by social exchange theory (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005) which asserts that when organizations and supervisors provide resources, namely internal communication, in a way that is perceived to be beneficial, employees will consider the relationship favorably and reciprocate with positive and beneficial cognitions, emotions, and behaviors, namely engagement. The significance of these findings stems from the dynamic nature of workplace relationships. Further, the results suggest that internal communication facilitates interactions between an organization, supervisors, and employees which create workplace relationships based on meaning and worth. In turn, employee engagement is optimized. Therefore, it is important for public relations scholars to examine and re-examine internal communication strategies, and employee engagement for deeper theoretical and practical insights. This research also provides insight for public relations practitioners and organizations who should take advantage of internal communication efforts in optimizing employee engagement within workplaces. Senior leaders and supervisors can achieve more optimal levels of engagement through communication that ensures employees feel part of the organization’s internal community. This can be achieved through internal communication that encourages employees to share their ideas and opinions with the organization and their supervisor. Organizations and supervisors should also involve employees in discussions about their individual roles and organizational objectives more frequently. Furthermore, internal communication should facilitate an employee’s ability to link their values and goals to those of the organization. While no direct comparisons between the organization–employee relationship and supervisor-employee relationship have been statically drawn, soft conclusions regarding their interdependence can be made. It appears that internal communication from an organization’s team of supervisors occurs more frequently as they are in contact with employees more than the organization (i.e. chief executive officer and senior management teams) (Sluss et al., 2008). While the organization–employee and supervisor–employee relationships operate through different mechanisms, one may assume that the supervisor–employee relationship is responsible for the development of the organization–employee relationship, which in turn influences an employee’s professional life and their willingness to reciprocate favorable exchanges via engagement. Practitioners should take this into account when developing and implementing internal communication strategies. 4. Conclusion This study makes three contributions to understanding the role of internal communication and employee engagement. First, the results confirm the importance of internal supervisor communication and internal organizational communication and the need to support these functions, both strategically and in resources, as part of the overall internal communication function. Second, this research contributes to social exchange theory by providing evidence that internal communication facilitates interactions between an organization, supervisors, and employees which create workplace relationships based on meaning and worth. Finally, this study acknowledges the importance of internal communication in facilitating supervisor–employee relationships as a vehicle to express values and goals, and in turn, pave the way for favorable organization–employee relationships. Although this study contributes consideration of new empirical data on an under-researched topic, several limitations need to be acknowledged. The research uses cross-section and self-report data and the results of the quantitative analysis do
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not infer causality and are therefore not conclusive. The sample is largely representative of service-driven personnel working in highly interactive, interpersonal roles that are presumably more familiar with internal communication functions. These sampling limitations reduce the ability to generalize the results to the wider population. This study should therefore be considered a pilot study and a first step in a broader line of research on internal communication and employee engagement. Future research could investigate these findings utilizing longitudinal or experimental designs to provide more specific conclusions about the causal effects. Also, additional qualitative research could gain deeper insight about employees’ and employers’ perceptions of internal communication and how this function could be more effective in optimizing employee engagement. Acknowledgements The authors thank Queensland University of Technology for funding the research project. References Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602 Friedl, J., & Verˇciˇc, A. T. (2011). Media preferences of digital natives’ internal communication: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 84–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.12.004 Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 71–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015630930326 Sluss, D. M., Klimchak, M., & Holmes, J. J. (2008). Perceived organizational support as a mediator between relational exchange and organizational identification. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(3), 457–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2008.09.001 Tkalac Verˇciˇc, A., Verˇciˇc, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2012). Internal communication: Definition, parameters, and the future. Public Relations Review, 38(2), 223–230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2011.12.019 Welch, M. (2011). The evolution of the employee engagement concept: Communication implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4), 328–346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13563281111186968
