THE INFLUENCE OF INTERNAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATION ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AT WORK: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FRENCH 2011 REPONSE SURVEY

Abstract

This article aims to better understand the
influence of internal corporate communication, through
its practices of dissemination, consultation and participation, on employee engagement at work. To do this,
we used data from the 2010-2011 REPONSE survey
conducted during the recent period of economic and
social crisis. Based on a sample of 11 334 employees from
3 642 French establishments in the non-farm business
sector, our results show a positive influence of internal
corporate communication on employee engagement at
work, both in terms of job satisfaction and adherence
to the corporate objectives. Our results also highlight
that participative practices of internal communication
are levers for managing employee engagement at work.
Hence we recommend that directors, HR managers,
internal communication managers and unit managers, first of all, adopt a participative and people-centered
internal communication; secondly, renew the traditional
instrumental policy of internal communication by no
longer thinking of it in an isolated and sufficient way
but systematically combined with interactionist and in
particular participative practices.