Abstract:
The relationships workers have at places of work greatly influence their exchange of information through the available communication channels, which translate to employees feeling engaged in the operations of the organisation. Taking a case study of United States International University- Africa (USIU-Africa) workforce, this study sought to find out the influence of internal communication on creating employee engagement applying the social exchange theory.
Notably, the study objectives were; to find out the staff perception of the frequency, mode, content, and quality of internal organisational communication in USIU-Africa, secondly- to examine the perception of the level of vigour, dedication and absorption in employee engagement within USIU-Africa, third- to find out the relationship between of the frequency, mode, content, and quality of internal
organisational communication on USIU-Africa’s employee engagement and fourth- to test the mediating effect of perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational support on internal communication and employee engagement for USIU-Africa employees
A quantitative approach was employed to collect data from a sample size of 210 respondents. An online survey was utilised. The findings indicated that there were varying degrees of the perception of the frequency, mode, content and quality of the communication and further analysis indicated that these aspects of internal communication have an effect on employee engagement at various levels. Quality indicated the greatest impact on employee engagement while mode and content did not have a considerable impact. Based on the level of vigour, absorption and dedication the findings indicated that the employees are strongly engaged to their tasks however there was no considerable influence of the mediating variables on employee engagement.
Future research should conduct a qualitative inquiry into employee engagement. A qualitative study would show the influence of other factors by answering the questions ‘why’ or ‘how’ to ensure employees feel engaged to their tasks. Additionally, more research could be conducted on the influence of internal communication at the departmental or team level.
