Uncovering the Role of Strategic Orientation in Translating Communication Strategies to Organizational Performance: An Analysis of Practitioners From Two Chinese Societies

Abstract

Integrating strategic process theory and resource orchestration view, this study challenges and extends the prior model supporting the direct effect of communication on organizational performance by examining the mediating role of practitioners’ strategic orientation. Employing two data sets of communication practitioners in China and Hong Kong, results of the structural equation model show that reputation orientation and organization-public relationship orientation represent two strategic value systems fully mediating the relationship between communication strategies and the organizational goal attainment. The findings support the proposition that business outcomes and competitive advantages at the organizational level depends not simply on various communication strategies formulated by senior executives and top communication managers, but more importantly, on how frontline communication professionals implement these strategies and translate resources into strategic communication processes. Moreover, the contextual sensitivity of findings indicates a relational shift underway in the strategic communication paradigm, but organization-public relationship is still far from a dominant cultural mechanism thoroughly endorsed by the industry.