Abstract
In recent years, significant advancement has been made in establishing standards for measuring
external public relations efforts. Little has been done, however, to standardize measurement for
those responsible for internal communication. Employees are critical to the success of any
organization, and the effectiveness of communication with them is of paramount importance.
Seeking to rectify this gap, the Institute for Public Relations and the Commission on Research,
Measurement, and Evaluation created an international 11-member task force comprising
academics and practitioners in 2015 to develop internal communication measurement standards.
The task force identified and tentatively defined possible standards for internal communication.
The researchers of this study extended the global task force’s initial work by conducting a Delphi
study in 2016 with a purposive sample of 22 internal communication thought leaders to
determine if a wider audience of internal communication practitioners agreed with the task
force’s recommended standards and definitions. This research describes the findings of the
Delphi study and introduces and defines measurement standards that internal communication
practitioners can use to create more effective communication plans and measure the value
communication bring to their organizations. The proposed standards also supersede the current
"engagement" catchall goal that tends to be amorphous and difficult to address. In the future, the
researchers plan to test the reliability and validity of the internal communication standards
developed in this study, so that practitioners can measure in a consistent and comparable
manner—the ultimate goal of standardization.
Citation
ID:
219361
Ref Key:
oneil2018publica