Date of Award

8-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Jeong-Nam Kim

Committee Chair

Jeong-Nam Kim

Committee Member 1

Patrice M. Buzzanell

Committee Member 2

Seong-Hun Yun

Abstract

This study aims to explore managerial intangible assets of organizations generated by their internal publics, employees. Considering employees’ perception and communicative behaviors as an organization’s managerial assets, this study examines an organization’s authentic behaviors and organization-employee relationships. To be more specific, this study firstly investigates how an organization’s authentic behavior—truthfulness, transparency, and consistency—affects communal relationship between employees and an organization. Using megaphoning, scouting, and microboundary spanning as theoretical frameworks for employees’ communicative behaviors (ECB), this study also examines the association among perceived authenticity of organizational behavior, organization-employee relationships, and employees’ communicative actions. Furthermore, this study investigates how employees perceive an organization’s excellence based on relationship. With two given datasets including 528 and 306 current employees who are working full-time in the United States and Italy, respectively, this study tests the same three structural models and compare the results. Results suggest that an organization’s authentic behavior is positively related to organization-employee relationship as well as employees’ communicative behaviors (ECB), not only across organizations but also within an organization. Employees who have communal relationship with their organization are also more likely to perceive their organization as excellent. The results of this study have both theoretical and practical implications in that it helps to understand how organization-employee relationship and ECB contribute to Excellence in public relations and employee communication.

Included in

Communication Commons

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