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Journal of Communication Management
How symmetrical employee communication leads to employee engagement
and positive employee communication behaviors: The mediation of employee-
organization relationships
Minjeong Kang Minjung Sung
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To cite this document:
Minjeong Kang Minjung Sung , (2017)," How symmetrical employee communication leads to
employee engagement and positive employee communication behaviors The mediation of employee-
organization relationships ", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 21 Iss 1 pp. 82 - 102
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How symmetrical employee
communication leads to
employee engagement
and positive employee
communication behaviors
The mediation of employee-organization
relationships
Minjeong Kang
Department of Journalism, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, and
Minjung Sung
Department of Advertising and Public Relations,
Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine how a company’s symmetrical internal communication
efforts could influence its employees’perception of relationship outcomes with the company and the
subsequent employee communication behaviors about the company to others and their turnover intention.
Additionally, the mediation effects of employee-organization relationship (EOR) quality between symmetrical
internal communication and employee engagement were tested.
Design/methodology/approach –The study collected the data from a survey of randomly selected 438
individuals who work as sales representatives of the case organization. Respondents were randomly selected
through stratified sampling. For the overall statistical procedure, this study adopted the two-step structural
equation modeling: on the basis of the final measurement model analysis from confirmatory factor analysis,
the proposed structural model was tested using latent variables.
Findings –The findings of this research clearly demonstrate: employee/internal communication
management is linked with employee engagement; employee engagement enhances supportive employee
communication behaviors and reduces turnover intention. Also, the mediation results show strong mediation
of EORs on the effects of symmetrical internal communication on employee engagement.
Research limitations/implications –Employees’communication behaviors such as megaphoning and
scouting have special strategic values to organizations. With information seeking, selecting, forwarding, and
sharing behaviors of employees, organizations may obtain more valuable information than through formal
procedures and channels. Professional literature has long been supporting the importance of fostering
positive employee communication behaviors (ECBs), suggesting that WOM and information from the
employees deemed as most trustworthy by the external publics. ECBs about their organizations may be
viewed as a testament of the quality of EOR. This study results show that employee engagement plays a key
role in creating positive ECBs.
Practical implications –Pragmatically, as noted in the findings, symmetrical communication is
an important factor that leads to positive ECB. To facilitate employees’favorable communication
regarding an organization, therefore, the organization needs to practice a two-way, employee-centered
symmetrical communication system in its everyday communication management. Communication
managers are advised to nurture internal communication practices that listen to the employees and
invite their participation in addition to providing complete and fair information to employees. Second,
by showing the significant positive influence of EOR on employee engagement and ECB, the finding
of the study suggests that strategic relationship management with internal publics affect overall
management effectiveness. Hence, organizational managers need to adopt various relationship
cultivation strategies in their communication with employees, which have been previously proposed by
several studies.
Originality/value –The findings of the study demonstrated that the effects of employee relationship
management and symmetrical internal communication indeed exist beyond ECBs to the actual
Journal of Communication
Management
Vol. 21 No. 1, 2017
pp. 82-102
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1363-254X
DOI 10.1108/JCOM-04-2016-0026
Received 13 April 2016
Revised 13 October 2016
Accepted 28 November 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1363-254X.htm
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managerial outcomes. The findings also suggest a three-stage model of employee communication
management: employee/internal communication management antecedents; employee engagement; and
supportive outcomes of effective employee communication programs, such as supportive/extra ECBs.
Keywords Internal communication, Corporate communication, Public relations, Employee engagement,
Communication management, Employee communication
Paper type Research paper
Employees are often considered one of the most important strategic constituencies
for organizations (Grunig, 1992; Grunig et al., 2002; Kim and Rhee, 2011). They are one of the
most critical stakeholders because they are the strongest supporters and possibly the
most vocal critics of the organization if internal policies do not meet their expectations
(Waters et al., 2013).
Despite its significance to organizational effectiveness and success, employee relations has
been relatively understudied in public relations research (McCown, 2007; Ni, 2007; Seltzer et al.,
2012), and there exist only a handful of studies that have directly examined employee-
organization relationships (EORs) (e.g. Kim, 2007; Kim and Rhee, 2011; Men, 2014; Men and
Stacks, 2014; Shen, 2011; Waters et al., 2013). However, a steady stream of researchers recently
began examining links between internal communications and organizational performance
(e.g. Broom and Dozier, 1983; Dozier, 1990; Grunig et al., 2002; Meng and Berger, 2012; Stacks
and Michaelson, 2010; Yates, 2006), and the values of excellent internal communications have
been noted in fostering better relationships with employees and espousing employee
engagement (e.g. Kress, 2005; Lockwood, 2007). This study attempts to expand upon these
existing scholarly endeavors to examine EORs in the broader context of organization-public
relationships (OPRs) and employee engagement, a key employee outcome that produces
success in organizations by examining how a company’s symmetrical internal communication
efforts could influence its employees’perception of relationship outcomes and the subsequent
employee communication behaviors (ECBs) and their loyalty intention. Subsequently, the
study also proposes to explore the link between symmetrical internal communication and
employee engagement. More central focus of the study was to test these links with the
introduction of mediation of EOR quality between symmetrical internal communication and
employee engagement. Further, the study examines how these intricate connections lead to
employee external communication behaviors.
EORs
EORs have been the subject of many scholarly inquiries and have been viewed as an
important driver that connects human resources management practices and strategies to
tangible business outcomes such as customer service quality, employee loyalty, and job
performance. An EOR is “an overarching term to describe the relationship between the
employee and the organization”(Shore et al., 2004, p. 292). The term typically includes
concepts such as the psychological contract and perceived organizational support on the
micro level as well as the employment relationship on the macro level (Coyle-Shapiro and
Shore, 2007). Similarly, Tsui and Wang (2002) described the EOR as “the formal and
informal, the economic, social, and psychological connection between an employee and his
or her employer”(p. 78). Usually examined from the perspective of social exchange theory
(Blau, 1964), the EOR in human resources management literature is often perceived as
involving certain obligations of reciprocation (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). Scholars of
social exchange theory have emphasized the rules of engagement that are based on
reciprocating benefits between relational parties (Cotterell et al., 1992), and this norm of
reciprocity (social exchange) has been the main framework through which the mechanism of
the EOR has been understood and examined (Coyle-Shapiro and Shore, 2007).
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However, understanding EORs from the social exchange perspective has limitations in
that it cannot always explain the acts of employees or organizations that are not governed
by self-interests (Batson, 1990). Coyle-Shapiro and Conway (2004) noted that “an exclusive
reliance on exchange-based frameworks may not do justice to the range of forms that may
govern how individuals act in their relationship with their employer”(p. 21). Further, the
extant approaches to understand EORs from a human resources management perspective
lack clear conceptualization and sound operationalization, limiting the utility of the concept
in understanding the relationships between the EOR and other key employee outcomes such
as employee engagement, identification, and loyalty. In most research, the EOR is not
directly observed, but rather indirectly assessed based on antecedents such as human
resource practices, including employee contributions and employer investments (e.g. Tsui
et al., 1997), and organizational factors such as perceived organizational support and job
autonomy (e.g. Bell and Mengue, 2002). These approaches consequently seem to fail to
recognize the relational components in EOR research.
In public relations literature, the EOR has been understood as a conceptual extension of
the OPR in the employee relations context. Given that employees are the most important
strategic public, whose “attitudes, behaviors, and performance directly contribute to
productivity, organizational performance, and success”(Men, 2012, p. 29), public relations
scholars (e.g. Jo and Shim, 2005; Kim and Rhee, 2011; Ni, 2007) have applied the OPR
definition and measurement to analyze the EOR.
EOR as OPR
With ever-increasing emphasis on the value of relationship management in public relations
research, many scholars have examined the significance of quality relationships for effective
public relations management in various contexts (Bruning and Ledingham, 1998; Grunig
and Huang, 2000; Ledingham and Bruning, 2000). Unlike marketing studies that view
relationships with customers as the source of profits (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Peppard,
2000), public relations studies regard relationships as an effective tool to measure the
short-term as well as the long-term values of communication programs beyond financial
contribution (Grunig, 2006). Led by several scholars, there has been significant growth in
OPR research (e.g. Hon and Grunig, 1999; Huang, 1997, 2001; Ledingham and Bruning, 2000)
over the past 25 years.
Since Broom et al. (1997) called for better scholarly conceptualization and operational
measures of OPR, Bruning and Ledingham (1998) defined the OPR as the “state which exists
between an organization and its key publics in which the actions of either entity impact the
economic, social, political, and/or culture well-being of the other entity”( p. 160)[1]. If this
conceptualization of OPR was grounded in the relationship impact, Huang (1997) and
Grunig and Huang’s (2000) conceptualization of the OPR offered a slightly different
approach, defining the OPR from the perspective of relationship characteristics (Huang,
2001): “the degree that the organization and its publics trust one another, agree on one has
rightful power to influence, experience satisfaction with each other, and commit oneself to
one another”(Huang, 1998, p. 12). This conceptual approach viewed the OPR as a variable
with four relational dimensions: trust, control mutuality, satisfaction, and commitment.
Haung’s approach advanced the field in that it offered ways for scholars to measure the
quality of the OPR through four key characteristics and to examine the key antecedents and
consequences of the OPR and the links between the OPR and other key PR variables such as
communication efforts and reputation.
This study adopted and revised the existing OPR definition and measurements to
analyze the EOR. Hence, the EOR is defined as the perceived quality of the relationship
between an organization and its employees in terms of levels of commitment, trust,
satisfaction, and control mutuality. Commitment refers to the extent to which employees feel
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that they are part of the organization; trust indicates the extent to which employees feel they
can rely on their organization; satisfaction means the extent to which employees are
satisfied with their relationship with their organization; and control mutuality refers to the
extent to which employees feel they exert a similar amount of control over their interactions
as does the organization. To measure the EOR, this study applies Huang’s organization-
public relationship assessment (OPRA) scale (Huang, 1997, 2001), which has been largely
replicated in many OPR studies (Ki, 2013; Ki and Hon, 2007; Yang, 2007), some in an
employee relations context (Kim, 2007).
Factors that are related to EOR quality
Organizations increasingly look for effective strategies to interact and to maintain long-
lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with their employees (Waters et al., 2013). Recently,
public relations studies have shown the influence of various factors on the perceptions and
realities of the EOR. For example, Ni (2007) found several influencing factors and classified
them into three levels, individual, organizational, and macro-environmental; these factors
include the category of employees, preferences and management styles of top management,
developmental stages of organizations and organizational types. Jiang (2012) examined the
work-life conflict issues in the context of the EOR and found that the factors such as fairness,
time-oriented work-life conflicts, and procedural justice influenced the relationship with
employers. In their study of the relationship between EOR and the ethical decisions making
among young public relations agency employees, Gallicano et al. (2012) found that the
participants had a good relationship with their employers if they perceive fewer constraints on
their autonomy in ethical decision making.
Symmetrical internal communication
Grunig (1992) suggested that organizations need to approach their employee relations similarly
to their relations with other key stakeholders: “Excellent programs of employee
communications are based on the concepts of strategic management, an integrated
communication function, and the managerial role, and the two-way symmetrical model of
public relations”( p. 536). Theorizing the link between symmetrical internal communication and
excellent programs of employee communications, Grunig (2001) further argued that excellent
employee communications could ultimately produce quality employee relationships and
supportive employee behaviors toward the organizations. Referred to as communication efforts
for symbiotic interests (Grunig, 2001), symmetrical communication is often characterized by its
emphasis on “trust, credibility, openness, […] reciprocity, network symmetry, horizontal
communication, feedback, […]negotiation”(Grunig, 1989, p. 558; cited in Kim and Rhee, 2011,
p. 252). This suggests the influence of symmetrical communication efforts on the quality of
EORs. Several other studies have also showed empirical supports for such a connection.
For example, employees who receive positive communication about their performance tend to
be more motivated to maintain trusting relationships with their organization ( Jo and Shim,
2005). Also, certain internal organizational practices such as symmetrical and transparent
communications with employees have been found to be associated with good EOR quality
(Men, 2014). The current study tested this link with the following hypothesis:
H1. Organizations’symmetrical internal communication efforts will be positively
associated with good EORs.
Employee engagement
Similar to the development of the OPR and EOR, the concept of employee engagement has
gone through several stages of conceptualization (for a comprehensive review of this
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development, see Welch, 2011). Earlier understanding of engagement centered on work
engagement, how well an employee performs her/his duties. From the employee’s
perspective, being engaged is a state of mind, a psychological state of being engrossed in
one’s role as an employee and team member. Maslach and Leiter (1997) viewed
engagement as the direct opposite of the three burnout dimensions (i.e. exhaustion,
cynicism, and lack of professional efficacy) and defined employee engagement in terms of
energy, involvement, and efficacy[2]. Viewing engagement as different from a temporary
and specific state, Schaufeli et al. (2001) later defined employee engagement as “apositive
fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and
absorption”( p. 74).
Researchers have shown that the effectiveness of internal communication is a leading
indicator of organizational success (e.g. Ehling et al., 1992; Ruck and Welch, 2012). According
to Meng and Berger (2012), the values created by excellent internal communications in
organizations are often future-oriented, such as issue recommendations and potential growth
in investor opportunities. In recent years, as companies have begun recognizing the
importance of engaged employees for direct business outcomes such as good performance,
innovation, and productivity (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008), employee engagement has
emerged as a vital concept that affects organizational effectiveness and competitiveness
(Morris, 2010). Prior to this recent interest in employee engagement and the subsequent effort
to understand its role in overall organizational communication contexts, excellent internal
communication had been recognized as something that can affect an organization’sabilityto
engage its employees (Kress, 2005). For example, the Corporate Leadership Council’s(2004a,b)
report noted that employee engagement was strongly affected by organizational
characteristics, such as good internal communication, an innovative culture, and a
reputation for integrity. Similarly, Lockwood (2007) discussed that transparent and consistent
internal communication from the management was an important driver of employee
engagement (Morris, 2010; Welch and Jackson, 2007; Jiang and Men, 2015). This study tests
the link between symmetrical internal communication and employee engagement:
H2. The perceived quality of symmetrical internal communication will lead to a high
level of employee engagement.
The possible link between an excellent EOR and a higher level of employee engagement is
both conceptually and empirically suggested in the literature. After examining UK
organizations, MacLeod and Clarke (2009) found that employee engagement is at “the heart
of workplace relationship between employee and employer”( p. 3). Similarly, Robinson et al.
(2004) noted that workforce engagement requires a two-way relationship between an
employee and an employer. This implies the importance of a mutually beneficial
relationship in order to engender engagement (Kang, 2014).
A positive association between employee engagement and each dimension of
relationship quality is strongly implied in the literature. Employee trust and satisfaction
are dubbed as the cornerstones of quality relationships, and their impacts on employee
engagement are well documented in the organizational literature (e.g. Cartwright and
Holmes, 2006; Harter et al., 2002). Regarding control mutuality, Towers Perrin-ISR (2006, as
cited in MacLeod and Clarke, 2011) found that “78 percent of highly engaged public servant
reported that they believe they can have an impact on public service delivery or customer
service against only 29 percent of the disengaged”(p 12). This indicates that there is a
higher perception of mutual control among engaged employees than in those who are
disengaged. Also, individuals who perceive their company or job to be making a mutual
commitment to them are more likely to be motivated to do their job well. This is consistent
with the scholarly view of affective commitment as one of the main characteristics of
employee engagement (e.g. Wellins and Concelman, 2005).
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Recently, Kang (2014) called for the test of this link, suggesting that a quality relationship
between stakeholders and organization is a driver of quality public engagement. However, the
link between employee engagement and the quality of the EOR in all four characteristic
dimensions (trust, satisfaction, commitment, and control mutuality) has not been fully
explored in the extant literature. Among the few attempts, Men (2015) found that employee
engagement was positively influenced by a quality EOR. Therefore, this study proposes the
following hypothesis to be tested:
H3. Better perception of EOR by employees will lead to a higher level of employee
engagement.
ECBs
Communication behaviors of employees who interact with the public are critical because
employees are perceived as a credible source of information regarding the organization (First
and Tomic, 2013). As informal agents of boundary spanning (Kim and Rhee, 2011), employees
gather valuable information for their organizations and distribute the learned information to
other members of their organizations (Dozier, 1990; Okura et al., 2009). Also, employees often
obtain, pursue, and disseminate information about their organization in an active manner;
their communication behaviors may include making reference to and supporting the
organization, collecting information about the organization, sharing information with the
organization, and building support networks inside and outside the organization (Heide and
Simonsson, 2011; Kim and Grunig, 2011; Kim and Rhee, 2011; Mazzei, 2014).
Kim and Rhee (2011) provided a conceptualization and a measurement of ECBs.
Conceptualizing ECBs into two categories of megaphoning and scouting effects, they defined
positive megaphoning as “employee’s positive external communication behaviors about their
organizational accomplishments or problems”( p. 247) and scouting as “employees’voluntary
communication efforts to bring relevant information to the organization”( p. 247). They also
found positive megaphoning and scouting effects among employees with good relationships,
and that those employees became voluntary organizational advocates. In other words,
employees with good relationships were likely to decrease “strategic threats”to the
organization by willingly seeking, processing, forwarding, and sharing information about
negative organizational issues and problems (Kim et al.,2008,p.752).Ontheotherhand,
employees with poor relationships with the organization were likely to play the role of
“organizational adversaries”(Kim and Rhee, 2011, p. 262) by disseminating negative
information about the organization to the public (i.e. negative megaphoning). Therefore, we
propose the following hypothesis to test the link between EOR quality and ECBs:
H4. A quality EOR will result in increased intention for positive megaphoning (a) and
scouting (b) and in decreased intention for negative megaphoning (c).
Employee engagement and positive external communication behaviors by employees in
terms of advocacy are rather well discussed in organizational management literature.
Engaged employees display a higher level of positive communication behaviors than
disengaged employees. Gallup (2003, as cited in MacLeod and Clarke, 2011) found that
67 percent of engaged employees reported that they could advocate for their company, and
78 percent said they would recommend their company’s products or service, compared to
13 percent of the disengaged. By definition, employee engagement indicates voluntary
extra-role behaviors in support of their company (Erickson, 2005). This implies a positive
link between a high level of employee engagement and positive ECBs (i.e. positive
megaphoning and scouting). Conceptualized as negative external communication behaviors,
negative megaphoning refers to employees’badmouthing of their organization to outsiders.
According to Schaufeli and Bakker (2004), burnout, the antipode of employee engagement, is
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characterized by exhaustion (low activation) and cynicism (low identification).
This suggests that engaged employees are less likely to experience exhaustion and
cynicism, whereas disengaged employees are more likely to display cynicism. Hence, the
following hypothesis is proposed:
H5. High employee engagement will result in increased intention for positive megaphoning
(a) and scouting (b) and in decreased intention for negative megaphoning (c).
EOR as the mediator between symmetrical communication and employee
engagement
Even though the direct link between symmetrical internal communication and employee
engagement is strongly suggested in the literature (discussed earlier leading to H2), the
current study examines the EOR as a mediator between symmetrical communication
and employee engagement. According to the studies of employee engagement, trust and
satisfaction are the key drivers of employee engagement, and it is worthwhile to test the
important roles of these relational concepts (trust and satisfaction along with commitment
and control mutuality) in connecting symmetrical internal communication to employee
engagement. The absence of key engagement driversintheentiremodelmayrevealthe
important role of EOR as the key mediator between symmetrical internal communication
and employee engagement. Therefore, the following research question is proposed to
examine how the EOR mediates the relationship between symmetrical communication and
employee engagement:
RQ1. To what extent do EORs mediate the effects of symmetrical internal
communication on employee engagement?
Engagement as the mediator between EORs and ECBs
The current study explores possible mediation effects of employee engagement between the
quality of EORs and EOBs and employee turnover intention. Some studies have tested the
direct link between EOR quality and supportive ECBs (see previous discussion leading to H4).
However, employee engagement has been strongly suggested as a possible mediator between
conditions that bring about enhanced employee engagement and positive employee outcomes
such as higher productivity, better customer service, and loyalty (e.g. Maslach et al., 2001;
Saks, 2006). This role of engagement as a mediator was recently discussed by Kang (2014),
whose study of public engagement examined trust and satisfaction as key drivers of
engagement and loyalty as well as positive WOM as the outcome of engagement. Kang found
that engagement played a significant mediating role connecting the key characteristics of
OPRs (i.e. trust and satisfaction) and supportive behavioral intentions. Noting the importance
of affective motivation as the critical link that connects cognitive evaluations (beliefs) to OPRs
and behavioral intentions, Kang (2014) emphasized that the affective orientation as manifested
in engagement is a critical link that connects relationship quality and behavioral intentions.
As conceptually understood in the literature, employee engagement contains both cognitive
and affective aspects in its definition as “a positive fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is
characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption”(Schaufeli et al., 2001, p. 74). Hence, the
following research question is proposed to examine if the extent to which employees feel
engaged with their organization mediates the effect of EOR quality on employee
communication about their company to outsiders as well as on employee intention to leave
their current company (turnover intention). Logically, it is expected that, for employees with a
higher level of engagement, the effect of EOR quality will amplify positive megaphoning,
reduce negative megaphoning, and further increase scouting behaviors. On the contrary, for
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employees with a low level of engagement, the effect of EOR on communication behaviors
might not be very strong:
RQ2. To what extent does employee engagement mediate the effects of positive EORs on
employee communication?
Methods
Case organization
The organization that was examined in this study is a leading beauty company that
manufactures and sells cosmetic and personal care products in South Korea. The company
was selected because it has a wide range of retail and sales channels and hires a large
number of employees who are in direct contact with consumers through those channels.
The company, established about 70 years ago, has been named one of the most admired
South Korea employers for several years.
Participants and data collection
Data collection was conducted with a total of 438 employees who worked as sales
representatives for the case organization in the Seoul metropolitan area. Participants were
drawn from all of the four channels of sales through which the company distributes its
merchandise: department stores, door-to-door sales, cosmetic specialty shops, and discount
stores. Respondents were randomly selected through stratified sampling and contacted by
trained interviewers via telephone to ask if they were willing to participate in an in-person
survey. Once they agreed, the interviewers visited them and conducted the survey face-to-face.
Due to the characteristics of the products and the company, all of the participants were female.
The average respondent was 34.4 years old and had 4.7 years of tenure with the company.
The survey was conducted in Korean. Since the questionnaire was originally developed
in English, the researchers, who were both fluent in English and Korean, translated it into
Korean. Due to the syntactic differences between Korean and English, the questionnaire was
not translated verbatim. It was translated literally to convey the meaning of each question
item. To double-check the meaning of each item, people fluent in both Korean and English
checked the validity of the translation and revised the questionnaire. The Korean version of
survey was pretested for clarity and then used for the survey.
Measurements
All items were measured a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to
7 (strongly agree). The proposed measurement model was tested through confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA). The initial measurement model, without modification, had the following
data-model fits: χ
2
(420, n¼438) ¼1,963.16, po0.001, χ
2
/df ¼2.76, SRMR ¼0.054,
RMSEA ¼0.06 (90 percent CI: 0.06, 0.07), and CFI ¼0.91.Toimprovethedatafitsofthe
proposed model, the researchers modified the initial model using the Lagrange Multipliers test
by covarying 12 sets of errors within the same latent variable systems. The range of error
covariance in the modified model was strictly limited to those within the same latent variable
model (Byrne, 2001), which included the following covariances: two error covariances for
symmetrical communication (V1-V2; V3-V4); four error covariances for EORs (V5-V6 for trust;
V6-V7 for trust; V8-V9 for satisfaction; V11-V12 for commitment; and V11-V13 for commitment);
two error covariances for scouting (V34-V36; V36-V37); and three error covariances for employee
engagement (V19-V20 for vigor; V21-V22 for dedication; and V24-V25 for absorption).
The detailed, full wordings of each measurement item are presented in Table I (e.g. V2 ¼“Our
company encourages differences of opinion”). After such modifications, the proposed
measurement model was retained as a valid model: χ
2
(432, n¼438) ¼1,222.43, po0.001,
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Latent variable Measurement item
Std.
estimate
Symmetrical internal
communication (α¼0.93)
Most communication between managers and other employees in our
company can be said to be two-way communication (V1) 0.85
Our company encourages differences of opinion (V2) 0.90
The purpose of communication in our company is to help managers to
be responsive to the problems of other employees (V3) 0.91
Employees are not afraid to speak up during meetings with
supervisors and managers (V4) 0.82
2nd order: OPRA
a
(α¼0.95) Trust 0.98
Satisfaction 0.85
Commitment 0.93
Control mutuality 0.94
Trust (α¼0.90) Whenever this company makes an important decision, it will be
concerned about me (V5) 0.88
This company can be relied on to keep its promises (V6) 0.81
I believe that this company takes my opinions into account when
making decisions (V7) 0.92
Satisfaction (α¼0.77) I am happy with this company (V8) 0.92
Both the organization and I benefit from the relationship (V9) 0.85
I am not happy in my interactions with this company (R) (V10) 0.44
Commitment (α¼0.89) I feel that this company is trying to maintain a long-term commitment
to me (V11) 0.89
I can see that this company wants to maintain a relationship with me
(V12) 0.92
Compared to other organizations, I value my relationship with this
company more (V13) 0.77
Control mutuality (α¼0.89) This company and I are attentive to what each other say (V14) 0.91
This company believes my opinions are legitimate (V15) 0.91
This company has a tendency to throw its weight around (R) (V16) 0.77
2nd order: employee
engagement (α¼0.93)
Vigor 0.87
Dedication 0.92
Absorption 0.94
Vigor (α¼0.82) When I get up in the morning. I feel like going to work (V18) 0.74
At my work, I feel bursting with energy (V19) 0.85
At my work I always persevere even when things do not go well (V20) 0.75
Dedication (α¼0.90) I am enthusiastic about my job (V21) 0.78
I am proud on the work that I do (V22) 0.91
I find the work that I do full of meaning and purpose (V23) 0.92
Absorption (α¼0.84) Time flies when I am working (V24) 0.80
I am immersed in my work (V25) 0.78
I feel happy when I am working intensely (V26) 0.81
Positive megaphoning
(α¼0.69)
Write positive comments for my organization on the internet (V27) 0.46
Say good things to friends and neighbors about positive aspects of the
management and company (V28) 0.82
Routinely recommend my organization and its service/products to
people (V29) 0.72
Refute prejudiced or stereotyped opinions about my organization (V30) 0.46
Negative megaphoning
(α¼0.77)
Post negative things about my organization on the internet (V31) 0.77
Talk to people about the problems of our service or products (V32) 0.58
Agree with people who criticize my organization (V33) 0.84
Scouting (α¼0.74) Voluntarily check people’s feedback on organizational events (V34) 0.66
Search for new information and subscribe to Listserv, newsletters,
publications for organization (V35) 0.79
Meet people who work for similar businesses and check rumors and
news about organization or business (V36) 0.51
Start conversation or give information to relevant colleagues about
new trends or unusual signals related to work (V37) 0.62
Notes: χ
2
(432, n¼438) ¼1,222.43; po0.001; χ
2
/df ¼2.18; CFA ¼0.95, SRMR¼0.05 ; and RMSEA ¼0.05
(90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06).
a
OPRA, Organization-Public Relationship Assessment Scale. Standardized estimates
all significant at ***po0.001
Table I.
Confirmatory factory
analysis (CFA) in
standardized
estimates in the final
model (mediated)
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χ
2
/df ¼2.18, CFA ¼0.95, SRMR ¼0.05, and RMSEA ¼0.05 (90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06)
(see Table I). The structural model was not modified.
First, to measure symmetrical internal communication efforts, following the example of
Kim and Rhee’s (2011) study on employee relationships, this study adopted Kim’s (2007)
measurement items modified from Grunig (2001) (see Table I). The reliability showed an
αvalue of 0.93, and the range of standardized estimates was 0.82-0.91. Second, to measure
EORs, the OPRA scale (Grunig and Huang, 2000; Huang, 1997, 2001) was adopted.
The reliability of the second-order latent measurement model was demonstrated with a
0.95 αvalue for the composite of the four factors: trust, satisfaction, commitment, and
control mutuality. Standardized estimates in the second-order measurement model ranged
from 0.85 to 0.98. For each of the four latent variables, the reliability was 0.90 for trust,
0.77 for satisfaction, 0.89 for commitment, and 0.89 for control mutuality. In addition, the
current study adopted a scale of employee engagement from Schaufeli et al. (2001), which is
composed of three factors: vigor, dedication, and absorption. The reliability of the proposed
second-order measurement model was 0.93. The reliability was 0.82 for vigor, 0.90 for
dedication, and 0.84 for absorption.
To measure ECBs, this study adopted Kim and Rhee’s (2011) scale of ECBs, which consists
of three factors: positive megaphoning, negative megaphoning, and scouting. They developed
the measurements for scouting from scales developed by Stoffels (1994) and Tushman and
Scanlan (1981) and for megaphoning using a scale developed by Kim and Grunig (2011). For
the current study, this scale of ECBs had a reliability of 0.77 for negative megaphoning, 0.69
for positive megaphoning, and 0.74 for scouting. Following the original study, the current
study used the first-order measurement model. Last, this study adopted a scale of employee
retention from Carmeli and Freund (2009). The reliability of turnover retention was 0.92.
Analysis
To test the hypotheses in the structural model (see Figures 1 and 2), the current study
compared two models (baseline model vs mediating model of EORs) using second-order
factors for the latent variables of employee engagement and EORs and first-order factors for
ECBs (i.e. positive megaphoning, negative megaphoning, and scouting) since they are
conceptually distinctive, as in Kim and Rhee (2011). IBM SPASS AMOS version 22 was used
for data analysis.
Negative
Megaphoning
Symmetrical
Communication
Employee
Engagement
Positive
Megaphoning
Scouting
H5a: 0.73***
H5b: 0.54***
H5c: –0.19***
H2: 0.58***
Notes: Coefficients are standardized coefficients. 2(262, n=438) =817.89, p<0.001,
2/df = 3.12, SRMR = 0.09, RMSEA =0.07 (90 percent CI: 0.06, 0.08) and CFI = 0.91.
***p<0.001
Figure 1.
The results of the
baseline model in
latent variables
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For the overall statistical procedure, this study adopted the two-step structural equation
model (Byrne, 2001; Kline, 1998). On the basis of the final measurement model analysis from
CFA, the proposed structural model was tested using latent variables. To compare the
results of this study to past and future research, this study used Cronbach’sαto measure
the reliability of the internal consistency for measurement items. For the mediation test of
employee engagement, the bootstrap procedure (n¼1,000) was used to generate a
95 percent bias-corrected (BC) confidence interval (Preacher and Hayes, 2008).
Results
Structural model testing
As noted, the two-step structural equation modeling was used. This study found that the
data-model fits for the baseline model (Model 1) were not acceptable: for Model 1 (Baseline),
χ
2
(262, n¼438) ¼817.89, po0.001, χ
2
/df ¼3.12, SRMR ¼0.09, RMSEA ¼0.07 (90 percent
CI: 0.06, 0.08), and CFI ¼0.91. However, when EORs were included in the model (i.e. Model 2:
mediated model), as in the final measurement model, the proposed structural model was
shown to be valid: for Model 2 (Mediated), χ
2
(566, n¼438) ¼1,258.61, po0.001, χ
2
/df ¼2.22,
SRMR ¼0.06, RMSEA ¼0.05 (90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06), and CFI ¼0.94. The proposed model
had RMSEA ⩽0.06 ( ¼0.053) and SRMR ⩽0.10 ( ¼0.061) to pass the threshold of Hu and
Bentler’s (1999) cutoff criteria (see Table II).
Hypotheses testing
H1 tested the effects of symmetrical internal communication efforts on EORs. As
theoretically expected, this relationship was positive and strong, so the hypothesis was
supported. Greater symmetrical internal communication efforts were significantly
associated with an increase in the positive quality of employee relationships: b¼0.96,
SE ¼0.05, β¼0.89, po0.001 (see Table II).
H2 tested the effect of symmetrical internal communication efforts on employee
engagement. In Model 1 (i.e. baseline model without mediation of EORs), this relationship
was positive and strong, so the hypothesis was supported. Greater symmetrical internal
communication efforts were significantly related to an increase in the degree of employee
Employee-Org.
Relationships
Positive
Megaphoning
Scouting
Symmetrical
Communication
Employee
Engagement Negative
Megaphoning
H1: 0.89***
H3: 0.60***
H4a: 0.54***
H4b: 0.21***
H4c: –0.13 (ns)
H5a: 0.36***
H5b: 0.39***
H5c: –0.10 (ns)
H2: 0.01(ns)
Notes: Coefficients are standardized coefficients. 2(566, n=438) =1,258.61, p<0.001,
2/df = 2.22, SRMR = 0.06, RMSEA =0.05 (90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06) and CFI = 0.94.
***p<0.001
Figure 2.
The results of the
final model (mediated)
in latent variables
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engagement: b¼0.47, SE ¼0.05, β¼0.58, po0.001. However, it is noteworthy that this
significant effect was attenuated to almost null in Model 2 (i.e. mediated model) due to the
full mediation effects of EORs: b¼0.01, SE ¼0.10, β¼0.01, ns.
Regarding the effects of EORs on employee engagement, the result supported H3.
Employees with a higher assessment of employee relationship quality demonstrated a
significantly greater level of employee engagement: b¼0.46, SE ¼0.10, β¼0.60, po0.001.
Next, the current study tested three hypotheses on the role of employee relationships on
three facets of ECBs (i.e. positive megaphoning, negative megaphoning, and scouting).
Among them, the effect of employee relationships on the likelihood of positive megaphoning
behaviors (H4a) was the greatest: b¼0.27, SE ¼0.04, β¼0.54, po0.001. Also, the effect of
employee relationships on scouting behaviors (H4b) was also positive and significant:
b¼0.13, SE ¼0.04, β¼0.21, po0.01. However, this study failed to find support for the
effect of employee relationships on negative megaphoning behaviors (H4c): b¼−0.12,
SE ¼0.07, β¼−0.13, p¼0.07, ns. This relationship was negative, as theorized, but the effect
size was too weak to be statistically significant.
This study also tested a series of research hypotheses about the role of
employee engagement on ECBs. In Model 1 (i.e. baseline model without mediation of
EORs), all three paths were statistically significant. Greater employee engagement
resulted in significantly more positive megaphoning behaviors (H5a): b¼0.51, SE ¼0.06,
β¼0.73, po0.001. Also, greater employee engagement had significant, positive effects on
scouting behaviors (H5b): b¼0.44, SE ¼0.06, β¼0.54, po0.001. Last, the effect of
employee engagement on the likelihood of negative megaphoning behaviors (H5c)
was statistically significant: b¼−0.23, SE ¼0.07, β¼−0.19, po0.001. In Model 2
(i.e. mediated model of EORs), the results were similar except for the insignificant effect of
employee engagement on negative megaphoning (H5c): b¼−0.12, SE ¼0.09, β¼−0.10,
p¼0.19, ns.
Model HIndependent Dependent Unstandardized Standardized p
Model 1 H2 Symmetrical
communication
→Employee engagement 0.47 (0.05) 0.58 ***
(Baseline) H5a Employee engagement →Positive megaphoning 0.51 (0.06) 0.73 ***
H5b Employee engagement →Scouting 0.44 (0.06) 0.54 ***
H5c Employee engagement →Negative megaphoning −0.23 (0.07) −0.19 ***
Model 2 H1 Symmetrical
communication
→Employee-org.
relationships
0.96 (0.05) 0.89 ***
(Mediated) H2 Symmetrical
communication
→Employee engagement 0.01 (0.10) 0.01 ns
H3 Employee-org.
relationships
→Employee engagement 0.46 (0.10) 0.60 ***
H4a Employee-org.
relationships
→Positive megaphoning 0.27 (0.04) 0.54 ***
H4b Employee-org.
relationships
→Scouting 0.13 (0.04) 0.21 **
H4c Employee-org.
relationships
→Negative megaphoning −0.12 (0.07) −0.13 0.07
H5a Employee engagement →Positive megaphoning 0.24 (0.04) 0.36 ***
H5b Employee engagement →Scouting 0.32 (0.06) 0.39 ***
H5c Employee engagement →Negative megaphoning −0.12 (0.09) −0.10 0.19
Notes: n¼438. Standard errors in parentheses. For Model 1 (Baseline), χ
2
(262, n¼438) ¼817.89, po0.001,
χ
2
/df ¼3.12, SRMR ¼0.09, RMSEA ¼0.07 (90 percent CI: 0.06, 0.08), and CFI ¼0.91; For Model 2 (Mediated),
χ
2
(566, n¼438) ¼1,258.61, po0.001, χ
2
/df ¼2.22, SRMR ¼0.06, RMSEA ¼0.05 (90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06),
and CFI ¼0.94. **po0.01; ***po0.001
Table II.
Direct effect estimates
in the proposed latent
variable models
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Testing the mediations of EORs and employee engagement
This study aimed to contribute to previous research (e.g. Kim, 2007; Kim and Rhee, 2011) by
testing two mediation effects: the mediation of EORs between symmetrical internal
communication and employee engagement (RQ1) and the mediation of employee
engagement between EORs and ECBs. For this purpose, this study used the bootstrap
procedure (1,000 samples) to generate a 95 percent BC confidence interval.
RQ1. The mediation results of EORs between symmetrical internal communication and
employee engagement showed full mediation: β¼0.54, SE ¼0.13 (95 percent BC-CI interval:
0.30, 0.81), po0.01. As Table II suggests, the results of this mediation were very noticeable.
In the baseline model without mediation (i.e. Model 1), the direct effect of symmetrical
communication on employee engagement was strong ( β¼0.58, po0.001). However, in
Model 2, with the mediation of EORs, this significant effect was almost null ( β¼0.01, ns).
Additionally, the unacceptable data-model fits of Model 1 changed to be retainable as a valid
model in Model 2 (i.e. the mediated model of EOR). To summarize, the study found a
significant mediating role of EORs between symmetrical internal communication and
employee engagement.
RQ2. Except for the effects on negative megaphoning behaviors, the results indicated
that all other mediation effects of employee engagement were significant. Strong mediation
effects of employee engagement were found between employee relationship and scouting
behaviors (i.e. EOR →employee engagement →scouting): β¼0.24, SE ¼0.08 (95 percent
BC-CI interval: 0.11, 0.44), po0.01; and between employee relationship and positive
megaphoning behaviors (i.e. EOR →employee engagement →positive megaphoning):
β¼0.21, SE ¼0.06 (95 percent BC-CI interval: 0.11, 0.37), po0.01 (see Table III). However,
the mediating effect of employee engagement between EORs and negative megaphoning
was not significant: β¼−0.06, SE ¼0.05 (95 percent BC-CI interval: −0.17, 0.02), p¼0.15.
Discussion
Employees are one of the most important constituents of an organization. The role of
symmetrical communication efforts by companies has been closely examined in various
stakeholder contexts in public relations scholarship. However, it has not been explored
much in the employee relationship context. This is a particularly pertinent subject to explore
as the concept of engagement has emerged as a powerful driver of positive behaviors and
attitudes that employees have toward their organizations. The study examines how a
company’s symmetrical internal communication efforts could influence its employees’
95% BC CI
Independent Mediating Dependent Standardized Lower Upper p
Symmetrical
communication
→Employee-org.
relationships
→Employee
engagement
0.54 (0.13) 0.30 0.81 **
Employee-org.
relationships
→Employee
engagement
→Positive
megaphoning
0.21 (0.06) 0.11 0.37 **
Employee-org.
relationships
→Employee
engagement
→Scouting 0.24 (0.08) 0.11 0.44 **
Employee-org.
relationships
→Employee
engagement
→Negative
megaphoning
−0.06 (0.05) −0.17 0.02 0.15
Notes: n¼438. Standard errors in parentheses. 95 percent BC CI: 95 percent bias-corrected confidence
interval. The number of bootstrap samples was 1,000. Estimation method was maximum likelihood. χ
2
(566,
n¼438) ¼1,258.61, po0.001, χ
2
/df ¼2.22, SRMR ¼0.06, RMSEA ¼0.05 (90 percent CI: 0.05, 0.06), and
CFI ¼0.94. **po0.01
Table III.
Indirect effect
estimates in the
final model
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perceptions of relationship outcomes with the company and the subsequent ECBs about the
company to others. Additionally, the mediation effects of employee engagement between
employee management efforts (i.e. symmetrical internal communication and employee
relationship quality) and ECBs were tested.
Key findings
There are key research findings to discuss. First, similar to the findings from previous
research (e.g. Kim, 2007; Kim and Rhee, 2011), this study clearly demonstrated the very
strong, positive effects of symmetrical internal communication efforts on EORs. This
finding indicates that symmetrical communication plays a significant role in employee
perception and assessment of a quality relationship with their company and reinforces the
importance of transparent and two-way symmetrical communication in employee relations.
The study further found that the organization’s symmetrical internal communication efforts
contribute greatly toward a higher level of employee engagement. This is consistent with
what Men (2015) found in the examination of the mediating role of transparency that
connects symmetrical internal communication efforts and positive EOR outcomes.
Additionally, this study showed that EOR and employee engagement generally had
significant effects on positive ECBs (i.e. positive megaphoning and scouting behaviors) but
not on negative megaphoning behaviors. Previously, Kim and Rhee (2011) found significant
effects of EOR on both positive and negative megaphoning. When the effect sizes of these
variables were compared, however, they found much greater effects of EOR on positive
megaphoning behaviors than on negative megaphoning. One possible explanation forthe lack
of significance on negative megaphoning in the current study may be due to the cultural
context of the study organization and its employees. Culturally, it is quite common in Korea
for a person to have a lifetime employment with a single company, and the workplace is often
considered a second family, with devotion and loyalty that are hard to find in Western culture.
Hence, it is possible that employees consider the act of badmouthing their employer to
outsiders an undesirable thing even when they are not satisfied with the company.
The study also tested the mediating functions of employee engagement on symmetrical
internal communication and EOR, respectively, on ECBs, i.e., positive and negative
megaphoning and scouting. Employee engagement significantly mediated the effects of
symmetrical internal communication and EORs on positive megaphoning and scouting, but
not on negative megaphoning. This indicates that engagement is a key concept that
companies should nurture by emphasizing quality communication practice with their
employees in order to produce positive communication support. The lack of support on the
effects of engagement on negative megaphoning may be explained through the examination
of burnout, which is the opposite of employee engagement. According to Schaufeli and
Bakker (2004), burnout is characterized by exhaustion (low activation) and cynicism (low
identification). As postulated in this study, cynical employees who do not identify strongly
with their organization would be more likely to engage in negative megaphoning behaviors
when given the opportunity. However, the two dimensions of burnout, exhaustion and
cynicism, might cancel out the active negative communication behaviors of megaphoning,
as burnt-out employees do not perceive a need to actively badmouth their employers out of
high levels of exhaustion. This suggests that both employee relationships and employee
engagement are limited in their ability to predict the likelihood of positive megaphoning
behaviors. The concept of empowerment might be relevant to the understanding of such
findings. Empowerment is closely linked with the concept of power, and being empowered
means to have “a sense of authorization, capacity, and energy”(Kang, 2014, p. 403).
Particularly in this research context, the direct sales employees’positions in the
organization were probably at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy; hence, their
particularly weak sense of empowerment (a sense that they can impact the organization’s
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ways of doing business) might have been a factor that prevented them from complaining
about their jobs to outsiders. Related to this, the insignificant effect of employee engagement
on negative megaphoning behaviors is perhaps directly related to the scale of employee
engagement chosen (i.e. Schaufeli et al., 2001) with regard to three factors: vigor, dedication,
and absorption. Thus, it is possible that the significant role of empowerment on the
employee engagement concept was missed (Kang, 2014).
Implications
The study’s findings have several implications for effective EOR management. First,
employees’communication behaviors such as megaphoning and scouting have special
strategic value to organizations. Using this self-propelled information seeking, selecting,
forwarding, and sharing behaviors of employees, organizations may obtain or distribute
more valuable information than through formal procedures and channels. Active scouting
brings important information into the organizations. Also, active positive megaphoning has
a very strong effect on the building of organizational reputation and credibility from
outsiders. Professional literature (e.g. Edelman’s Trust Barometer) has long supported the
importance of fostering positive ECBs with empirical data, such as WOM and information
from the employees deemed most trustworthy by the public. Ultimately, ECBs about their
organizations may be viewed as a testament to the quality of the EOR. This study’s results
further show that employee engagement plays a key role in creating positive ECBs
(i.e. megaphoning and scouting).
In addition, the findings of the study demonstrate that the effects of employee
relationship management and symmetrical internal communication indeed extend beyond
ECBs to the actual managerial outcomes. The findings also suggest a three-stage model of
employee communication management: employee/internal communication management
antecedents; employee engagement; and supportive outcomes of effective employee
communication programs, such as supportive/extra ECBs.
Pragmatically, as noted in the findings, symmetrical communication is an important
factor that leads to positive ECB. To facilitate employees’favorable communication
regarding an organization, therefore, the organization needs to practice a two-way,
employee-centered symmetrical communication system in its everyday communication
management. Communication managers are advised to nurture internal communication
practices that listen to the employees and invite their participation in addition to providing
complete and fair information to employees.
Second, by showing the significant positive influence of EOR on employee engagement
and ECB, the finding of the study suggests that strategic relationship management with
internal publics affect overall management effectiveness. Hence, organizational managers
need to adopt various relationship cultivation strategies in their communication with
employees, which have been previously proposed by several studies.
Future studies
As Grunig (1992) suggested and Kim (2007) empirically found, in addition to symmetrical
internal communication, excellent systems of internal/employee communications also have
some key antecedents, such as organizational structure (e.g. centralization or formalization)
and organizational culture (e.g. participatory culture). Future research can extend the current
study on those additional antecedents. Also, other than employee relationship outcomes,
future studies may test the effects of employee relationship type (i.e. communal or exchange
relationship) or employee relationship cultivation strategies on employee engagement, as
suggested by Hon and Grunig (1999), Grunig and Huang (2000), and Shen (2011).
Employee engagement can be conceptualized in different ways: employee burnout (with job/
work) or employee cynicism (against organizations/management). Future studies can explore
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how different types of employee engagement can be better situated in different antecedents and
outcome variables. For example, employee engagement as employee cynicism may be strongly
linked with negative ECBs (e.g. negative megaphoning behaviors).
This study has some limitations in that the data are from a single organization, limiting
the extent to which one may generalize the results. Therefore, the findings may reflect only
the specific situation of this particular company. In addition, the specific nature of the case
organization makes the application of the findings to wider contexts challenging; thus, the
interpretation of the findings in a different research context should be made with caution.
Future research efforts should be directed toward using multiple institutions.
If these conclusions are to be applied to organizations outside Korea, the potential
influence of other factors characterizing employee relations and employment first needs to
be examined. For example, the results may reflect the societal culture of Korea, which is
often characterized by the influence of collectivism (Hofstede, 2001) and confucianism
(Huang, 2004). According to Hui et al. (1995), collectivist employees tend to report higher
satisfaction with their work, pay, promotion, supervision, and coworker than those with
individualistic. In Confucian societies, relationships between people, the family tie in
particular, are valued and a non-conditional loyalty to one’s parents is highly emphasized
(Yum, 1988); it is often observed that companies often adopt the concept of family in
managing their employees and expect them to support and advocate the organization as if
family members do for their family. Besides, the characteristics such as organizational
culture and social norms of employment may affect the strength of the relationships
between the constructs. Studies with other organizations as the target stimuli would be
valuable in broadening the scope of the proposed model’s application. The scope of the
research should also be expanded to include organizations outside Korea. This work would
provide additional evidence for the reliability and validity of the study.
Further, the all-female sample of study participants from the case organization might have
influenced the results of the study. Previous studies have shown that individual differences
such as gender have significant impacts on justice perceptions (Greenberg and Cohen, 1982;
Kahn et al., 1980; Major and Adams, 1983; Major and Deaux, 1982). Gender differences in
interpersonal orientations, styles, or goals may lead to different patterns of justice perceptions
between men and women (Deaux, 1984; Kahn et al., 1980; Deaux and Major, 1987).
Notes
1. This earlier OPR definition is quite similar to EOR definitions such as that of Tsui and Wang
(2002), who defined the EOR as “the formal and informal, the economic, social, and psychological
connection between an employee and his or her employer”( p. 78).
2. Later, Schaufeli et al. (2001) criticized this approach and argued that employee burnout and
engagement are conceptually opposite, and that they need to be measured independently from one
another. They noted that “by using the MBI (Maslach Burnout Inventory) for measuring
engagement […] it is impossible to study its relationship with burnout empirically since both
concepts are considered to be opposite poles of a continuum that is covered by one single
instrument, the MBI”( p. 74).
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Corresponding author
Minjung Sung can be contacted at: mjsung@cau.ac.kr
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