A strategic employee attribute scale: Mediating role of internal communication and employee engagement

Abstract

Organizations rely on employees to think, feel, and behave in ways that support organizational goals. Employees make up 90% of an organization’s workforce and are often responsible for implementing organizational strategy. While internal communication, a key practice area for public relations, has been established as an antecedent to employees being engaged in their personal role performance, few studies have looked at if and how, internal communication cultivates the development of more strategic employee attributes: that is, supporting employee understanding of how their role contributes to their organizational success. This study determines what attributes constitute a strategic employee and develops a strategic employee attribute scale. Data from a survey of 530 employees in a government organization in Malaysia investigated the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement and examined their role in supporting strategic employee attributes within an organizational context. Data were analyzed using factor analyses and partial least square structural equation modelling. The results suggest that meaningful internal communication positively influenced employees to enact strategic behaviors, characterized by understanding of their organizational goals, emotional intelligence, and team leadership behaviors, mediated through employee engagement. This research extends internal communication and employee engagement theories of public relations by addressing the types of internal communication that improves the dimensions of engagement to help organizations perform more strategically within their social environment. This study conceptualizes strategic employee attributes for internal organizational publics for future research and public relations practitioners to implement with organizational members in business settings.