The role of internal communication in influencing retailers' views at a shopping center

Abstract

Corporate internal communication represents a critical success factor in the face of great economic and political instability. For the important economic sector of Brazilian retail, shopping centers are responsible for a large part of total revenue. This success is based on the relationship between the malls and their tenants, who play a role both as a customer and an internal public. In light of the crisis caused by covid19, the relationship between malls and their tenants became a crucial point for the sector's resilience. Thus, this research aimed to analyze the perception of shopkeepers of the internal communication adopted by a large shopping center located in the city of Recife. To achieve the objective, the research used a quantitative approach with an online questionnaire with closed questions for a universe of 407 shopkeepers. Through the use of multivariate statistical analysis, it was possible to analyze the internal communication adopted by the mall in the face of the perception of 370 storeowners. Through the results, it was possible to verify that the relationship between the evaluations made by the tenants, divided between two distinct dimensions, named "organizational identification" and "360º integration", were significant in influencing the tenants in their recommendation of the mall to other entrepreneurs. The results also suggest that good organizational practices, including internal communication integrated with ethical behavior and receptive to feedback, can directly influence the organizational identification of storekeepers with the mall.