Internal communication, information satisfaction and sense of community: the effect of personal influence

Abstract

This study examined how employees of a large, diverse organization view the flow of information from top managers in positions of personal influence, employees’ communication preferences (amount, channels, types of information), their sense of community within the organization, and the relationship between those perceptions and their willingness to advocate for the organization. Previous studies that have explored the personal influence model of public relations have considered it from a boundaryspanning perspective, focusing on an individual practitioner’s relationship with other strategic individuals in the external environment. Personal influence can be equally important for internal communication, where employees are the strategically targeted public. Open-ended interviews with 147 employees at all levels permitted respondents to answer in depth, and allowed the researchers to probe for useful insights.