Search

The abstract is available here: https://uscholar.univie.ac.at/o:1637802

Study protocol and supplements

PurposeBased on social exchange theory, the study examines the influence of informational and relational internal communication on cognitive and affective responses and job engagement during organizational crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by means of an online survey among people working in organizations with a minimum of 10 employees (N = 1,033) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults show that informational and relational communication as organizational resources have a significant but distinct influence on how employees support their employer during the crisis. While informational communication influences employees' acceptance of managerial decisions, relational communication exerts most influence on affective commitment, which is the strongest driver of job engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional design, specific crisis situation and geographic location are limitations of the study.Practical implicationsDelivering relevant information to employees quickly and reliably is important. Yet, relationship-oriented communication that demonstrates appreciation and allows for participation has even stronger effects on job engagement, which is essential to mastering challenges arising from a crisis.Social implicationsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations demanded much from their employees. In exchange, organizations should provide the resources information, status and love (Foa and Foa, 1980) by means of internal crisis communication.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the role of different types of internal communication during organizational crises used to convey organizational resources, and it highlights the mediating role of acceptance and commitment to enhance employees' engagement at work.

Even though genuine D&I management, which aims at fostering an inclusive work environment, can lead to economic benefits while promoting a fairer world, it is frequently subject to criticism. A research project consisted of two empirical studies led by Professor Sabine Einwiller and Daniel Wolfgruber at University of Vienna investigated why negative reactions towards D&I initiatives emerge, and what companies can do about them. You can find further information in the new edition of the Communication Insights. Themen rund um Diversität und Inklusion (D&I) erhalten seit geraumer Zeit verstärkte öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit - positive wie negative. Prof. Dr. Sabine Einwiller und Daniel Wolfgruber (Universität Wien) stellen die zentralen Forschungsergebnisse ihrer neusten Studie zu internem und externem Widerstand zu D&I-Kommunikation vor und diskutieren Lösungsansätze im Umgang mit Kritik. Nähere Informationen zu den Forschungsergebnissen können in der neuesten Ausgabe der Communication Insights nachgelesen werden.

Digital communication tools and practices improve the spread and impact of organisational messages. Quite often, however, they also pose moral problems. This article examines how often public relations practitioners encounter moral issues in their day-to-day work, how they assess digital communication tools and practices in terms of ethics, and the resources on which they rely to tackle moral challenges. Four research questions were addressed in an online survey among 2,324 practitioners who work in PR departments of organisations or in PR agencies across Europe. Results show that PR practitioners face more moral challenges in their daily work than they have faced in the past. Regarding digital communication tools and practices, they report moral concerns especially related to using bots, exploiting personal data for big-data analyses, paying social media influencers, and using sponsored content. Personal values and beliefs are the most important resource for dealing with moral issues—whether because only a minority of practitioners has participated in any formal ethics training within the past three years, or because existing ethical guidelines are outdated. Results call for the development of ethical guidelines that can provide explicit advice in the area of digital communication. Furthermore, structured training programs and ethics courses in graduate programs are needed to enhance practitioners’ ethical knowledge.

Corporate stakeholders from the general public to politicians increasingly expect corporations to reflect the diversity that exists in society within their workforce. The increasing recognition and influence of movements such as Black Lives Matter and ChooseToChallenge has reinforced public awareness and emphasized the need to manage diversity and inclusion (D&I) within organizations. A research team from the University of Vienna explored success factors and the role of communication in establishing and promoting diversity and inclusion within organizations based on the following questions: Why should companies invest in diversity and inclusion? How can companies establish effective D&I management? How can communications promote an inclusive corporate culture? Immer mehr Anspruchsgruppen von Organisationen - von Mitarbeitenden über Kunden und Kundinnen bis hin zu Politikern - erwarten, dass Unternehmen die Vielfalt der Gesellschaft in ihrer Belegschaft widerspiegeln. Die zunehmende Anerkennung und der Einfluss von Bewegungen wie Black Lives Matter und ChooseToChallenge haben das öffentliche Bewusstsein gestärkt und die Notwendigkeit des Managements von Vielfalt und Inklusion (D&I) innerhalb von Organisationen betont. Ein Forschungsteam der Universität Wien hat Erfolgsfaktoren und die Rolle der Kommunikation bei der Etablierung und Förderung von Diversität und Inklusion in Unternehmen anhand von folgenden Fragen untersucht: Warum sollten Unternehmen in Diversität und Inklusion investieren? Wie können Unternehmen ein effektives D&I-Management aufbauen? Wie kann Kommunikation eine inklusive Unternehmenskultur fördern?

Alongside the transformation of work environments during the COVID-19 pandemic, internal communication underwent a decisive switch towards more virtuality. Although a change was long overdue, its speed created a multitude of challenges through the reduced personal contact. Therefore, a research team at the University of Vienna has addressed the following questions: What are the challenges for internal communication in an increasingly virtual work environment? How to achieve the goals of internal communication virtually? What are the dangers of an increasingly virtual work environment? How can internal communication support to avoid them? Durch die Virtualisierung und die Covid-19-Pandemie wird auch die interne Kommunikationsarbeit zunehmend digitaler. Neben den Vorteilen, die die virtuelle Zusammenarbeit mit sich bringt, zeigen sich auch einige Herausforderungen. So lassen sich mit weniger persönlichem Kontakt zum Beispiel Mitarbeitende schwieriger einbinden und motivieren. Ein Forschungsteam der Universität Wien hat sich deswegen mit folgenden Fragen beschäftigt: Welchen Herausforderungen begegnen interne Kommunikationsexpertinnen und Kommunikationsexperten in einer zunehmend virtuellen Arbeitswelt? Wie können die Ziele der internen Kommunikation in einem virtuellen Kontext erreicht werden? Was sind mögliche negative Auswirkungen in einer zunehmend virtuellen Arbeitswelt? Was kann getan werden, um negative Effekte zu vermeiden?

Immer häufiger richten Unternehmen einen Newsroom ein, in dem sie Themen abteilungsübergreifend bearbeiten und ausspielen. Was sind Strategien und Erfolgsfaktoren für ein effizientes Themenmanagement - mit oder ohne Newsroom? Die Ausgabe "It's all about content" zeigt verschiedene Ansätze und Best practices auf, wie Themen heutzutage gemanagt werden können. Warum spielt das Themenmanagement eine immer wichtigere Rolle? Welche Ansätze gibt es, wie Themen aktuell in Unternehmen gemanagt werden? Welche Fähigkeiten sollten Mitarbeitende im Newsroom mitbringen?

In Finland the use of public relations (PR) agencies and consultants in political decision making has increased in the last two decades. The development of the Finnish political realm has been similar to that of other Nordic countries where the PR industry has built a strong linkage to the political sphere. The present study analyses how Finnish PR consultants with a political background use and attempt to influence the news media as part of lobbying processes to advance their clients' causes. The chapter is based on 11 interviews with PR consultants that were conducted during November 2018. The main findings indicate that Finnish PR consultants consider the news media and journalists as an important part of lobbying. The media and journalists are considered supportive or alternative forums for advocacy and political debate. PR consultants use the media strategically to establish relationships and networks with journalists, and to advocate long-term political decision making and agendas. Overall, the study indicates that Finnish PR consultants want to be active political interpreters, who together with their clients engage in shaping the political agenda and discourses. This is done by taking advantage of previous political experience and networks, constructing the political agenda for media communication, organising a network of media representatives to influence and finally by framing political messages to the media. peerReviewed

Der Beitrag in auch in einer LIVE-Version des Buchs verfügbar, das durch Aktualisierungen von der gedruckten Fassung abweichen kann: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-23390-7_26-1 Die Unternehmen und Organisationen leben mit und durch die interpersonale Mitarbeiterkommunikation. Ein Teil dieser innerbetrieblichen Kommunikation wird unter „Klatsch und Tratsch“ gefasst, welche das soziale Miteinander im betrieblichen Alltag im positiven wie im negativen Sinne prägen können. Da für diesen Austausch Kontrollmechanismen nur ungenügend greifen, wird er ungern gesehen. Dabei entfalten neutrale und positive Aspekte „hidden virtues“, die für ein stabiles und tragfähiges Miteinander im innerbetrieblichen Kontext unabdingbar sind.

The aim of this chapter is to shed light on a growing phenomenon in communication practice: employees speaking voluntarily for, about or on behalf of their organization, hereafter labelled as corporate ambassadors. The goal of this qualitative study is to analyze the role of corporate ambassadors within an organization and explore the perceived benefits and risks from three perspectives: the communication department, other departments such as marketing or human resources, and corporate ambassadors themselves. The research is based on an interdisciplinary literature review and 25 qualitative in-depth interviews with employees in one large, internationally operating German organization. By combining the theoretical and empirical insights, a conceptual framework that depicts the benefits (e.g., joy, increased trust, positive impact on reputation) and risks (e.g., work stress, lack of integration, loss of quality) of integrating corporate ambassadors into the overall communication of the organization was developed. In addition, this chapter suggests two typologies that help to distinguish between different roles of communication professionals and of corporate ambassadors. The contribution of this study is to lay a groundwork for further discussions about corporate ambassadors in the field of corporate communications. The chapter outlines directions for future research and implications for practice on how the framework can be applied in organizations.

This chapter adds to emerging research exploring the construct of joy by drawing attention to the value of more loving stakeholder relationships. Relationship management research has focussed attention on the antecedents, outcomes and quality of an organization’s relationships with various publics and stakeholders and has examined strategies that can nurture these relationships. However, not much of this research has addressed intimacy and passion in these relationships. Accordingly, this chapter draws on the theory of brand love developed in relationship marketing research and the theory of love from psychological research to build a theoretical framework of organization–stakeholder love (OSL) that can be applied to organizational relationships with publics and stakeholders. An OSL framework switches emphasis from how organizations can attract stakeholder affection (e.g., love) towards organizations to how organizations can and should love their stakeholders. The proposition put forward in this chapter is that OSL can and should become a driving force behind organizations’ interactions with stakeholders, thus contributing to ethical public relations practices. OSL is important because it has the potential to contribute to addressing public relations’ image problems (e.g., relating to terms such as spin and corporate greenwashing); it offers a new love orientation that guides organizations towards a focus on the primacy of stakeholder needs and values, which in turn may shape the way organizations initiate and manage relationships with stakeholders. This chapter concludes with practical ways to implement OSL and a research agenda suggesting ways OSL may open up new research opportunities in public relations. peerReviewed