Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 129131

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

The inuence 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

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Internal communication is an important concept and integral to internal public relations
Received 8 April 2014 with links to positive organizational and employee outcomes such as employee engage-
Received in revised form 2 December 2014 ment. While scholars emphasize the importance of the relationship between internal
Accepted 11 December 2014
communication and employee engagement, the association has not been empirically tested.
Using surveys and regression analysis this study conrms that internal organizational com-
Keywords: munication and internal supervisor communication support workplace relationships based
Employee engagement
on meaning and worth, and have a signicant part to play in developing and maintaining
Internal communication
optimal employee engagement.
Workplace relationships
2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Internal communication is a signicant and independent function within public relations and corporate communication
scholarship (Tkalac Vercic, Vercic, & Sriramesh, 2012). Internal communication has two main roles: spanning provision
of information and creating of a sense of community within organizations (Friedl & Vercic, 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
employees 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 inuence of employee engagement. Dened
as a positive, fullling, work-related state of mind, the benets of employee engagement include increased productivity,
decreased attrition, improvement of an organizations image and reputation, and increased nancial returns (Schaufeli,
Salanova, Gonzlez-Rom, & Bakker, 2002). While these benets 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: e.karanges@qut.edu.au (E. Karanges), kim.johnston@qut.edu.au (K. Johnston), a.beatson@qut.edu.au (A. Beatson), ian.lings@qut.edu.au
(I. Lings).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.12.003
0363-8111/ 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
130 E. Karanges et al. / Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 129131

RQ2. 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 engage-
ment, 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
1865+ 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 rst regression involving internal organizational communication and
employee engagement (RQ1), a signicant and positive association between the two variables was found ( = .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 signicant and posi-
tive association between the two variables was also found ( = .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 signicant 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 benecial, employees will consider the relationship favorably and reciprocate with positive and bene-
cial cognitions, emotions, and behaviors, namely engagement. The signicance of these ndings 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 organizations
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 communi-
cation should facilitate an employees ability to link their values and goals to those of the organization. While no direct
comparisons between the organizationemployee relationship and supervisor-employee relationship have been statically
drawn, soft conclusions regarding their interdependence can be made. It appears that internal communication from an
organizations team of supervisors occurs more frequently as they are in contact with employees more than the organiza-
tion (i.e. chief executive ofcer and senior management teams) (Sluss et al., 2008). While the organizationemployee and
supervisoremployee relationships operate through different mechanisms, one may assume that the supervisoremployee
relationship is responsible for the development of the organizationemployee relationship, which in turn inuences an
employees 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 conrm 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 communica-
tion 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 facilitat-
ing supervisoremployee relationships as a vehicle to express values and goals, and in turn, pave the way for favorable
organizationemployee 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
 E. Karanges et al. / Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 129131 131

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 rst step in a broader line of research on internal communication and employee engagement.
Future research could investigate these ndings utilizing longitudinal or experimental designs to provide more specic
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), 874900.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602
Friedl, J., & Vercic, A. T. (2011). Media preferences of digital natives internal communication: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 8486.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.12.004
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., Gonzlez-Rom, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample conrmatory factor
analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 7192. 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 identi-
cation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(3), 457464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2008.09.001
Tkalac Vercic, A., Vercic, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2012). Internal communication: Denition, parameters, and the future. Public Relations Review, 38(2), 223230.
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), 328346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13563281111186968