Abstract:
This dissertation aimed to explore the value of internal public relations by exploring the antecedent and outcomes of employee-organization relationships. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of the relationship management theory and the situational theory of publics, this dissertation examined the effects of employees’ symmetrical and transparent communication on their perceived relationships with their organization, which led to employees’ situational perceptions and communication behaviors on social media. This study conducted a web-based survey of 449 employees working in large organizations in the United States. Results of the structural equation modeling suggested that employees’ symmetrical and transparent communication had a positive impact on employee-organization relationships. A good employee-organization relationship could facilitate employees’ problem recognition and level of involvement and weaken their constraint recognition. Furthermore, employees’ perceived favorable relationships with their organization could result in their information seeking, processing, and sharing on social media. This study also found that employees with high levels of involvement were more likely to seek, process, and share information on social media and those with high levels of problem recognition tended to process information on social media. This dissertation could advance previous literature on internal communication, employee-organization relationships, and employee communication behavior. It proposed and tested a integrated theoretical model of situational employee-organization relationships. It was one of the first studies to integrate the relational perspective with the situational perspective, which could provide a new direction for public relations scholars and practitioners.
