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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 2
Publication Date: February 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.82.9747.
Ocra, B. T. (2021). The Influence of Internal Communication on Job Performance: Controlling for Key Worker Characteristics. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(2) 523-536.
The Influence of Internal Communication on Job Performance:
Controlling for Key Worker Characteristics
Ben T. Ocra
University of Professional Studies, Accra
ABSTRACT
This study assessed the influence of internal communication on job
performance, with relevant lurking variables controlled for as a new
way of contributing to academic debate. This study was a correlational
design that drew data from employees of University of Education
Winneba (UEW). All 274 employees who met some selection criteria
participated in this study. A self-reported questionnaire was used to
gather data. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation test, ordinary
least squares (OLS) regression analysis, and confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) were used to present findings of the study. The study
found that downward, upward, and lateral communication in the
university made a positive effect on job performance after controlling
for job tenure, education, income, and employee level. Downward
communication makes the strongest effect on job performance. It is
therefore concluded that increasing the level of effectiveness in terms
of downward, upward, and lateral communication in the university can
increase the level of job performance.
Keywords: Internal communication, job performance, confounding
variables, gender, education, tenure, employee category
INTRODUCTION
Every organisation would want to achieve the highest level of performance both in the short and
long terms. Moreover, performance in this vein is a requirement for growth in the long term. Both
performance and growth are outcomes of operational performance, which is the basis of market
and financial performance (Otieno et al., 2015; Nwata et al., 2016). Of course, an organisation
cannot achieve its market and financial goals unless it designs and implements suitable
operational strategies. Therefore, in both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations, achieving
operational performance is of high importance and is a precursor to achieving financial goals.
Many researchers (Dwumah et al., 2014; Darijani et al., 2015; Nwata et al., 2016) contend that an
organisation succeeds by its operation. Invariably, the conduct of an organisation’s operation
influences its performance. Basically, the operation of a business has to do with integrating
departments in terms of their activities and aligning these activities with organisational strategies
and policies. Ice & Gull (2011) opined that organisational activities and the foregoing process of
integration requires daily interaction among stakeholders, particularly employees. Owusu- Boateng & Jeduah (2014) acknowledged that internal communication is the medium within which
this interaction takes place.
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Ocra, B. T. (2021). The Influence of Internal Communication on Job Performance: Controlling for Key Worker Characteristics. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 8(2) 523-536.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.82.9747. 525
In an organisational setting, communication is widespread – it takes place between various pairs
of employees and in teams. It also often links the entire organisation in a culture of sharing mutual
information. Husain (2013) has expressed the role of communication in an organisation from
three main points of view: (1) to share information with one’s superior; (2) to provide and acquire
information within team(s); and (3) to receive or provide feedback within a long communication
network of employees. Dwumah et al. (2014) also posited that communication empowers one to
accomplish job roles and to periodically know the level of his or her performance. Interestingly,
several studies (Balakrishnan & Masthan, 2013; Bathia & Balani, 2015; Nwata et al., 2016) have
confirmed a positive association between internal communication and employee performance
along these courses of argument. The positive nexus between internal communication and
employee performance suggests that job performance increases as the efficiency and effectiveness
of communication increases at the operational level. The confirmation of this relationship by many
studies (Bathia & Balani, 2015; Nwata et al., 2016) may encourage organisations to improve their
internal communication process. Unfortunately, previous studies, particularly those carried out in
Ghana (Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014; Dwumah et al., 2015) undermined many recommended
best practices that minimised the scope of their evidences.
For instance, internal communication is characterised by three main facets, namely downward,
upward, and lateral communication (Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014). In University of Education,
Winneba (UEW) in particular, internal communication takes place along these three dimensions.
In practice, each of these facets should be effective or should impact employees, at least in terms of
their job performance. In assessing the relationship between internal communication and job
performance therefore, researchers must endeavour to know how each of these domains of
internal communication is associated with performance indicators, including job performance.
This approach better reveals issues in internal communication. It tells which facet is being
effective and which is not. Sadly, this approach has not been employed in any identifiable study
carried out in Ghana; hence evidences accounted for in a Ghanaian context have a limited scope.
To add to the above, employees differ in terms of demographic variables. In other words,
employees do not have the same educational level, gender, job tenure, job rank, income, to
mention but a few. Some researchers (Guney et al., 2012; Balakrishnan & Masthan, 2013; Bathia &
Balani, 2015; Nwata et al., 2016) argue that these variables could influence a variation in access to
information in the context of an organisation’s internal communication plan. For instance, a senior
management member has a better chance to ask or look for information in the organisation as
compared to a lower level employee. An employee who is new in the organisation and therefore
has a short job tenure may find it very difficult to fit into the organisation’s communication loop.
For these and similar reasons, demographic variables would influence the relationship between
internal communication and job performance. Unfortunately, previous studies, especially those
carried out in Ghana (Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014; Dwumah et al., 2015), did not take these
possibilities into account when examining the association between internal communication and
job performance indicators. This study examined the linkage between internal communication
and job performance, primarily to stress the importance of each of downward, upward, and lateral
communication in an organisation, specifically UEW. It also attempted to make evidence on the
relationship between internal communication and job performance more practical by
investigating the influence of employee characteristics (i.e. demographic variables) on it and
drawing from what is eventually known about this influence to make practice-oriented
recommendations for UEW and related universities in Ghana.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.8, Issue 2, Febraury-2021
LITERATURE REVIEW
Definition of Concepts
One main component of every organisation is resources, which includes technologies, logistics,
people, and funds. Among these resources, employees or personnel occupy a central role because
the efficient use of other resources is influenced by them. Even in organisations and industries
where technologies (e.g. humanoids) are highly used, human efforts are relevant to performance
and growth. In essence, the growth of every organisation like UEW depends on actions taken by
employees. It has been argued in many researchers (Abugre, 2011; Balakrishnan & Masthan,
2013; Asamu, 2014) that efforts and actions are initiated and taken based on information. This
idea exposes the importance of internal communication. Internal communication is an
organisational process in which policies and resources are provided to influence the
dissemination of information across units, branches, functional departments, teams, and
individual employees (Balakrishnan & Masthan, 2013). Internal communication includes the
process of monitoring and regulating how information flows across teams, departments, and
individuals (Abugre, 2011). The principle of internal communication is to equip individual
employees and departments with information that guide or influence relevant actions. This
principle ought to be held in high esteem because actions are the basis of job achievement at the
individual level.
Given the above definitions, it is clear every organisation needs internal communication. It is
however worth indicating that the ideal interest of management of an organisation is to nurture
an effective communication system. According to Güney et al. (2012), an effective communication
system has key features, namely: (a) the availability of an up-to-date communication platforms
such as intranet or internet; (b) the ability of employees to understand and apply the
communication platforms available; and (c) proper regulation of how individuals and teams use
the organisation’s communication systems. Within the organisation, several forms of
communication exist. The main ones are upward communication, downward communication, and
lateral communication (Ice & Gul, 2011). Dowward communication is a top-to-down approach that
involves relay of information from top management through middle management to lower level
employees (Shonubi & Akintaro, 2016). It is considered the most efficient communication process
or channel because top managers have the best control over the communication system and those
receiving information in middle and lower level management. Invariably, top managers can easily
and confidently send information to subordinates and have the power to provide timelines of
communication and feedback.
The second type of communication, upward communication is less efficient, particularly in
organisations where a one-way communication process is a tradition (Otieno et al., 2015). In
upward communication, information moves from lower level management through middle level to
top level management (Shonubi & Akintaro, 2016). Unless employees at lower and middle levels
are fully empowered by their subordinates and organisational provisions, the flow of information
along this route is slow and sluggish. The sluggishness of information flow along this channel is
influenced by lower level employees not having full control over feedback from their superiors.
The third channel of communication is lateral communication which is about side-by-side
communication between employees (Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014). It involves communication
between employees at the same level (Asamu, 2014). This channel does not take account of the
employee’s category – it focuses on flow of information between employees regardless of the
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Ocra, B. T. (2021). The Influence of Internal Communication on Job Performance: Controlling for Key Worker Characteristics. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 8(2) 523-536.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.82.9747. 527
hierarchy in which they are found. For internal communication to be effective, each of these
channels must function well to facilitate efficient flow of information leading to credible
achievements on the job.
Various writers have defined job performance from different contexts, but one of the most
comprehensive and generic one was provided by Campbell et al. (1993). They defined job
performance as the extent to which a job is well done according to some criteria. Campbell (1990)
also defined it as the result of accomplishing a goal or a set of goals with respect to a job in an
organisation. When one performs well on the job, this means he or she has fulfilled all job goals
and responsibilities. For instance, performance can simply be a measure of the employee meeting
a target such as sales target. In measuring job performance however, a more elaborate approach is
adopted. In this vein, job performance is a measure of several constructs (Nwata et al., 2016).
Constructs used to measure job performance differ from sector to sector and from employee
category to employee category. For instance, job performance in health care has a special
construct that may not be suitable for the banking sector (Asiamah, 2017). In the educational
sector, job performance has been measured using the following domains: teamwork,
communication and interpersonal relationship, leadership and professional development, time
management, and attainment of targets (Bhatia & Balani, 2015).
Teamwork is a term used to describe the ability of the employee to carry out job roles in teams
(Nwata et al., 2016). This dimension includes the ability of the employee to contribute to the
accomplishment of group goals. This domain is a generic construct of job performance because
teamwork is necessary for the success of every individual and organisation. Communication and
interpersonal relationship is a term used to describe how well the employee communicates with
team mates and his or her superior(s) on the job (Atambo & Momanyi, 2016). It includes the
extent to which the individual communicates clearly with others and how well he or she
understands the communication of co-workers. This domain embraces the need for employees to
develop cordial relationships with all employees to facilitate effective team action. Not all can be
leaders in an organisation. However, the need for everyone to work in teams require that every
employee demonstrates leadership and professional skills. The third dimension of job
performance, leadership and professional development, is thus the leadership and professional
skills of the employee and how these skills improve over time (Nwata et al., 2016). This domain of
job performance is very important because the organisation always need individuals who can
influence others and innovation by applying leadership and professional capabilities.
Time management is another important dimension of job performance. Of course, every employee
is required to take actions as early as possible to ensure that these actions are efficient. Time
management is the ability of the employee to act in time, particularly with respect to core job roles
(Atambo & Momanyi, 2016). It is a measure of being proactive on the job and acting effectively
before it is late. It includes punctuality at work and responsiveness to queries and job demands.
Attainment of targets is precisely a measure of the worker’s ability to do what his employer has
asked him to do on the job (Bhatia & Balani, 2015). For a sales person, a job target could be to sell
a specified number of a product. In this study, the above domains of job performance are used
because they better suit the population of university workers used. Moreover, these domains are
generic and is appropriate for measuring job performance in non-technical sectors (Bhatia &
Balani, 2015).
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Theoretical framework and hypotheses
The Job Characteristic Theory (JCT) developed by Hackman & Oldham (1975) argues that
performance in the organisation, precisely job performance, is an outcome of five core job
characteristics, which are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Of
interest among these variables are feedback and skill variety, which both imply that job
performance can be predicted by internal communication. To explain, feedback is a variable that
measures the capacity of the employee to access information from other employees promptly. It
includes the employee’s ability to provide timely feedback to co-workers within internal
communication programs. It is argued in this study that having and providing feedback promptly
in an organisation is facilitated by internal communication. From this point of view job
performance can be predicted by internal communication. Skill variety includes the extent to
which the employee can tap into various scales at a time to accomplish job roles (Hackman &
Oldham, 1975). Based on Asiamah’s (2917) adaptation of the JCT, it is contended in this study that
communication skills are among competencies needed by employees to act and accomplish job
roles. Moreover, these skills are best used in internal communication in which the employee has
access to the necessary support and tools. From this second point of view, internal communication
can be associated with job performance.
Goleman’s (1995) Emotional Intelligence Theory (EIT) posits that skills such as emotional
intelligence and communication can be improved over time when one exercises his or her nature- given EI. According to Asiamah (2017), a job provides an opportunity for an individual to improve
his or her skills. For this reason, communication skills and internal communication effectiveness
can improve as one’s job tenure increases. This being the case, internal communication
effectiveness can be predicted by job tenure. It is argued that communication skills are some of the
competencies that can be improved on the job over time from the perspective of the EIT. This
assertion is based on the fact that emotional intelligence is a competence that is only applied in
communication between individuals i.e. employees. Similarly, job performance is likely to increase
as one accrues more experience on the job in the passing of time. Given these explanations,
internal communication and job performance would increase when one’s job experience or tenure
increases. Hence, job tenure can confound the relationship between internal communication and
job performance. This confounding impact means that job tenure can predict both internal
communication and job performance, making it possible to know the true effect of internal
communication on job performance.
Again, based on a theoretical framework developed by Asiamah (2017), income, education, and
job status improve as one works for more years. For instance, an employee is likely to improve his
or her education, job income, and job status after about five years. In essence, job income,
education and job status can be positively correlated to tenure. If this is the case, educational level,
income level, and job status can confound the relationship between internal communication and
job performance from the perspective of the theoretical argument of Goleman (1995). In short, the
JCT is a theory that argues that people, for that matter employees, in an organisation need a
variety of skills to achieve high job performance. The ability to communicate well with others is
one of these skills. In executing their daily actions, employees need to exchange ideas and
information with individuals within and outside the organisation. The movement of information
between employees takes place in internal communication. Internal communication is the means
by which employees communicate with their bosses. From this point of view, employees take
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Ocra, B. T. (2021). The Influence of Internal Communication on Job Performance: Controlling for Key Worker Characteristics. Advances in Social Sciences
Research Journal, 8(2) 523-536.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.82.9747. 529
lessons and directions from their superiors through one-on-one communication, leading to their
ability to accomplish job roles. The employee can also communicate with other employees in the
organisation through teams and a centrally allocated communication platform. These illustrations
suggest that the efficient flow of information across employees is a requirement for job
performance because information is needed on the job to act. This thinking is supported by
previous studies (Asamu, 2014; Dhumah et al., 2015; Atambo & Momanyi, 2016; Nwata et al.,
2016) that have confirmed the positive effect of internal communication on employee
performance.
The employee is exposed to three forms of communication, each of which can predict job
performance at a different level (Asamu, 2014; Nwata et al., 2016). The first of this is downward
communication, which is a channel of communication that comes from top management to the
employee. This channel provides an opportunity for the employee to take information from
superiors at the top level of management. The employee also reports to top management through
the reversed version of this link, which is called upward communication. Upward communication
is the reversed version of downward communication. Within this channel, information moves
from subordinates and lower level employees to top management members who are mostly
bosses and superiors. Lateral communication is a channel in which employees share information
flows side-by-side. More importantly, it is the channel meant for communication between people
operating in teams and at the same level. Within the organisation, the level of access to
information within the three channels differs because there are different protocols associated
with how information flows to and fro senior management. For example, senior management
members can easily send information to their subordinates because they have the influence,
power, and better resources to do so. Lower level employees are often hindered in the
communication system because they do not have complete influence over how the system works.
Based on these arguments, downward, upward, and lateral communication can make different
effect sizes on job performance.
Some factors such as job tenure can confound the relationship between internal communication
and job performance (Nwata et al., 2016). To explain, employees who had worked for more years
in the organisation are more likely to muster the communication system provided and would be
more efficient in using it to accomplish job goals. It is also possible that people with higher
education will have better abilities to use communication systems provided. Employee category
(i.e. senior, middle, and junior level) can also serve as a confounding variable because employees
at the top have better control over the communication system and can better leverage experience.
Thus, tenure, education, employee category, and the other variables can confound the relationship
between internal communication and job performance. Given the above arguments, the following
hypotheses are tested in this study:
H1a- Internal communication in terms of downward communication is significantly associated with
employee performance.
H1b- Internal communication in terms of upward communication significantly influences employee
performance.
H1c- Internal communication in terms of lateral communication significantly influences employee
performance.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol.8, Issue 2, Febraury-2021
communication and job performance. Also, in the study of Shonubi & Akintaro (2016), this finding
is confirmed anecdotally through a careful explanation of a conceptual framework, though this
study did not focus on a specific type of communication. Given this finding, the university can
benefit from taking measures to eliminate weaknesses in upward communication and improving
the extent to which it supports a two-way communication process.
Data analysis also confirmed that lateral communication makes a positive effect on job
performance. In other words, job performance increases as the effectiveness of lateral
communication increases. Yet, this type of communication makes the lest effect on job
performance, which may be as a result of the common instance where communication between
members of the same team, especially at lower management levels, lacks efficient support tools
and protocol (Dhumah et al., 2015; Nwata et al., 2016). This notwithstanding, the positive effect of
lateral communication on job performance is in harmony with the literature, at least in terms of
some previous studies (Asamu, 2014; Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014; Dhumah et al., 2015; Nwata
et al., 2016) conducted, including those carried out in Ghana, though not in the higher educational
sector. Having emerged as the weakest determinant of job performance, management of UEW is
encouraged to take steps to improve lateral internal communication.
To add to the above, downward communication makes a significant positive effect on job
performance. This finding suggests that job performance increases as the effectiveness of
downward communication increases. The university and possibly other organisations can
therefore increase and maximise job performance by taking measures to improve the
effectiveness of downward communication. This result is also consistent with findings reached in
other studies (Asamu, 2014; Owusu-Boateng & Jeduah, 2014; Dhumah et al., 2015; Nwata et al.,
2016) conducted in and outside Ghana. It is worth stressing that support for the above findings by
studied focused on higher educational institutions is unidentifiable and is weak. Future
researchers are therefore obliged to replicate this study in the sector of higher educational
institutions to enhance the foundation for appraising the consistency of its findings.
The confirmed effect of internal communication on job performance in this study supports the Job
Characteristics Theory, which asserts that some skills (i.e. communication) predicts performance
indicators such as employee or job performance. This confirmed relationship also connotes the
possibility of communication ability being captured into the framework of skills recognised by the
JCT. Moreover, in terms of the positive association between internal communication and job
performance in this study, Goleman’s (1995) theory of emotional intelligence is supported. This
theory contends that effective communication and the application of emotional intelligence are
necessary for achieving performance in leadership. In some other studies (Asiamah, 2017),
communication powered by emotional intelligence has been found to predict job performance. So,
this study supports Goleman’s theory as well. In short, this study’s theoretical position is
supported by the data.
Worth mentioning is the fact that this study’s effects were reached after controlling for potential
confounding variables. By capturing these covariates, this study contributes to the literature by:
(a) demonstrating how to control for potential lurking variables in testing relationships; and (b)
producing more precise estimates that are not subject to the influence of alternative explanatory
variables. It can therefore be argued based on this study’s findings and deductions from some