Journal of Public Relations Research

Kim, Katie Haejung; Qu, Yan; Saffer, Adam

2024 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2024.2369641

This study explores employee engagement by examining the complex relationship between information-sharing networks, employee voice behavior, and employee engagement. By focusing on the often-neglected dynamics of coworker relationships, this study draws on a social capital perspective and uses egocentric network analysis to examine how various attributes of employees’ information sharing networks – namely network size, strength, diversity, and ratio of friends – affect employee outcomes. Through an online egocentric survey of 400 full-time employees, the findings revealed that employees with larger, more diverse networks, and frequent interactions with coworkers are more likely to engage in voice behavior. The results also underscored the importance of friendship ties among coworkers, highlighting that employees who perceive more of their coworkers as friends within these networks are more likely to engage in voice behavior. This voice behavior, in turn, promotes employee engagement. The findings establish the significance of employees’ information-sharing networks with coworkers to leaders and communication professionals in nurturing a culture of engagement.

Yang, Charles Yu; Kim, Sora

2024 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2024.2369643

Incorporating social information processing theory and literature on organizational learning, this study explores the process approach to internal communication by theorizing and empirically testing a framework of employees’ adaptive communication amidst the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. A cross-sectional survey on full-time employees (n = 983) in Mainland China demonstrated how followers’ perception of leadership inclusiveness was related to the two dimensions of adaptive communication behaviors (i.e. internal voicing and external scouting). Results also showed the two mediating appraisals of inclusive leadership, i.e. psychological empowerment and psychological safety, functioned differently for followers with lower-level positions versus with higher-level ones. Theoretical and practical implications on internal communication, crisis communication, and public relations were elaborated in detail.