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The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of small business managers ' objectives and preferred methods of communicating on the communications aspect of accountants ' advisory relationship with small business. Through exploring and reporting on these issues, the paper seeks to contribute to understanding of accounting ' s capacity to satisfy the communication needs of its users.

The study employs a mixed methodology, comprising a questionnaire to access evidence from small business managers and semi-structured interviews with accountants, which provide a complementary perspective to accountant/small business communications. The analysis of the findings is informed by media richness theory.

Small business managers prefer direct forms of contact with their accountants and the richness of verbal communications. This is demonstrated in accountants ' use of visual and audio cues, including reinforcing and adjusting techniques, which enhance the appeal and utility of verbal communications. Accountants ' documents have been relegated to a supplementary reinforcing function in the profession ' s communications with small business. Small firm managers ' objectives influence their interest in and use of accounting information and the communications approach that their accountant implements. The findings indicate that accountants adopt communications approaches with small business managers, which satisfy the communication needs of the economically significant small business sector, a significant user of accounting information and services.

The paper contributes to redressing a gap in the accounting discipline ' s literature regarding accountants ' communications with small business, while offering insights that may be useful to practitioners in their advisory relationships with small business managers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the communication preferenc;s reported by different generations in the Indian workplace, as well as investigating the relationship between communication preferences, communication climate and employee satisfaction with the organizational communication. The authors therefore examined managers’ preferences for different communication media across two different generations, as well as their perceptions of the communication climate and their overall satisfaction with their organizations’ communication.

The authors tested an interaction model comprising ease of use of communication medium, communication climate and communication satisfaction, on 822 Indian managers belonging to two different generations. In doing so, they used a survey to investigate managers’ preferences for different media, their perceptions of the communication climate within their organizations and their overall satisfaction with the communication that takes place. The authors drew on studies on media richness theory, on communication climate and on inter-generational differences.

The findings show that while communication satisfaction in general was low across both generations, Generation Y employees recorded the lowest levels of satisfaction. In addition, a manager’s generational category does not moderate the relationship between media use and communication satisfaction, but it does moderate the relationship between communication climate and communication satisfaction. In terms of the ease of use associated with different types of media, the differences between the generations were largely stereotyped, although moderate media (VC, chat, voicemail) were preferred over rich media (face-to-face meetings) or lean media (fax, memos and emails), by all managers.

Senior management in India must shed their bureaucratic mind-set to promote openness in the communication choices that are considered acceptable, leading to more effective decision-making and problem solving. Mobile phones, chats, wikis, podcasts, video-conferencing and email should be officially embedded into the organizational communication culture to facilitate state-of-the-art knowledge management practices. More multi-generational teams and mentorship programmes need to be implemented to make a wider variety of media acceptable to all managers, which will in turn improve communication satisfaction.

This study is original in that it unpacks the influence of media use and communication satisfaction across Gen X and Gen Y, who will be moving into more senior positions in India in the next decade. In doing so, it provides a snapshot of organizational communication in an important emerging economy and provides recommendations as to how organizational communication may be made more effective in the future. Organizations in India and elsewhere can improve their organizational communication by enhancing transparency and by making a wider variety of media accessible, and therefore acceptable, to different generations of managers.

The rise of the digital era has greatly transformed communication, enabling it to transcend time and geographic boundaries. Generation Z grew up in this era and was exposed to a wide range of communication options, including in-app messaging, video calls, and social media platforms. Increased connectivity made possible by technological advancements has resulted in changes in communication etiquette and opened up more room for miscommunication. Despite heavily engaging in digital communication like text or in-app messaging, this generation still prefers to communicate face-to-face.

Political marketing is unable to reach out or influence voters as it once did. This study aims to identify means for political marketers to effectively reach to voters. Specifically, this study examines the role of different WOM/e-WOM political messages (shallow vs deep) delivered through various communication channels on voters’ message evaluation, believability, attitude towards the message and communication, message involvement, voting intentions and WOM/e-WOM intentions.

Two experimental design studies were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Data were collected from age-based voting cohorts through snowball sampling and online consumer panels.

The results suggest that political WOM/e-WOM messages received via different communication modes are perceived differently by age-based voting cohorts in terms of message evaluation, believability and attitudinal dispositions. The perceived credibility of the communication source makes a difference in such evaluations and dispositions. Also, the complexity of message impacts behavioral intentions of age-based voting cohorts differently. Older (younger) voter cohorts are more receptive to complex and detailed (short and brief) messages. Political message involvement mediates the relationship between message believability and voting intentions, as well as WOM/e-WOM intentions.

The results are limited in terms of generalizability due to the experimental nature of the studies. Future research may seek to use actual candidates and examine the effects of moderators such as the cognition-based needs of respondents to engage in central or peripheral processing.

Political marketers can achieve greater credibility and effectiveness and partially restore political marketing’s reputation by honoring three guidelines: construct shallower (or deeper) political marketing messages when targeting younger (or older) voting cohorts through internet-connected (or traditional) delivery modes.

This paper explores an important but under-researched area in political marketing (i.e. the use of WOM/e-WOM messages in political marketing) and identifies important differences in attitudinal and behavioral dispositions of age-based voting cohorts impacted by the choice of communication mode and message complexity. Moreover, the perceived credibility of the communication source (sender) can sway communication mode preferences for age-based voting cohorts.

From literature, an uncovered issue around the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) is detected: the influence of sensorial preferences on the relationship between social media communication and CBBE. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects produced by social media brand communication – both firm-created content (FCC) and user-generated content (UGC) – on CBBE, according to the sensorial preferences in the beer industry.

A literature review has been used to develop a research model and hypotheses. The research is based on online survey carried out on a sample of 183 valid questionnaires of Italian active fans and followers in the beer industry. A multi-group analysis applied to structural equation modeling is used.

The sensory dimension prevails limiting the operating range of brand awareness that does not strongly affect CBBE. In brand equity development’ process, non-sensorial users do not consider sensorial preferences. The brand equity can become stronger by stimulating the reaction of customers through firms’ communication by using social media platforms. Therefore, the quality of peer interactions in the social media communication has a positive impact on brand loyalty. When firms use social media communication to increase overall brand equity, they have to foster and monitor FCC and UGC responses that affect different CBBE components.

The paper provides empirical evidence about the relationship between social media communication and CBBE, according to the importance given to sensorial preferences by beer lovers. This can be considered as the first study on this specific topic focused on the CBBE issue.

This paper reports on a preliminary investigation into the instructional preferences of students from Confucian‐heritage backgrounds studying in a transnational Master of Business Administration (MBA) program of an Australian university. This is part of a long‐term undertaking to ensure that teaching and learning arrangements in the MBA program are improved. The teaching and learning environment of the program is characterised by an intensive teaching regime which utilises a mixed mode of face‐to‐face and online delivery which promotes independent and collaborative learning. The aim of the investigation was to provide lecturers with an understanding of the students’ instructional preferences so that, where possible and appropriate, they can better assist the students to meet the learning objectives of the MBA program. Questionnaire data was collected from students studying the MBA in English (EMBA) in both Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as students studying the MBA in Chinese (CMBA) in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The findings demonstrate that whilst students ranked teacher‐directed, face‐to‐face instructional delivery highly, some students also indicated that an independent, online learning environment had advantages even though it was their least‐preferred approach to learning. These findings provide lecturers with insights into their students as learners and this is particularly useful in terms of informing planning processes for how to best assist students to work productively and successfully in the face‐to‐face and online teaching and learning environment.

This paper aims to identify the rudiments of an organizational communication framework which can serve as a facilitator of a positive diversity climate, which, in turn, could enhance the integration of locals into the expatriate-dominated workforce of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As UAE citizens constitute a small minority of the workforce, the local style of communication is not, ipso facto, the dominant one in organizations.

The study elicited 458 Emirati respondents’ narratives of positive and negative workplace communication experiences. The authors identified emerging themes to highlight the key features of interpersonal interactions likely to foster or hinder a supportive diversity climate.

The critical incidents reported are interpreted in terms of UAE cultural traditions, more specifically, the communication patterns valued by local workers.

Outside of the Arabian Gulf, there are perhaps no other national workforces that are so multicultural that local communication strategies are overshadowed. This research is, therefore, a pioneering attempt to re-establish a preference for indigenous communication practices to facilitate the workforce localization policies that are present in many Gulf countries.

The communication preferences identified could inform the implementation of an organizational communication model centered around indigenous communication preferences, including the communication strategies that would be most effective for organizational leadership to use. At the same time, this could contribute to the creation of a positive diversity climate that, in turn, could decrease levels of attrition among Emirati employees and enhance workforce localization.

This study represents an innovative attempt to construct a communication model around which a positive diversity climate can coalesce and, in so doing, it serves as an initial contribution to the management of diversity within the context of Arabian Gulf workplaces.

The purpose of the article is to provide practical recommendations and insights for leaders and/or organizations to consider as they guide new middle managers in their efforts to develop a preliminary foundation for effective communication practices.

The article is framed within the context of new middle managers. Emphasis is placed on providing examples of ways that leaders and organizations can assist or guide new middle managers in developing a foundation for preliminary communication practices.

Guidance from upper-level leaders related to the foundation should include, among other things, an overview of expectations, organizational goals, and vision. The article also includes some examples of preliminary communication practices that upper-level leaders might suggest for consideration by new middle managers. The examples include, preferred communication channels, preferences related to responsiveness, preferred characteristics of electronic communication, being intentional, and promoting balance/wellbeing.

Middle managers are important to the success of organizations. The role of middle managers encompasses several requisite skill sets. Among those skill sets is the need for effective communication. The article approaches the topic of effective communication in the context of new middle managers, with an emphasis on leader/organizational guidance that can contribute to a preliminary foundation for effective communication practices. The foundation and examples can then serve as a platform for ongoing development of a more comprehensive communication plan.

This study aims to compare predictions from media synchronicity theory (MST) with the influence of personality variables in an attempt to explain how negotiators choose the communication media for negotiation.

The authors examine media choice in two scenario-based experimental studies with students (n = 209) and professionals (n = 302) in a negotiation setting. For the analysis of the data, the authors use multilevel modeling.

This study offers support for the central proposition of MST, namely, that the type of communication subtask (conveyance or convergence) determines the degree of media synchronicity needed and therefore media choice (face-to-face or email). The support for its boundary conditions and contingent situational determinants is weaker. With the affect for communication channel scale, this study also captures individual media preferences for face-to-face or email communication, which have consistent influences on negotiators’ media choice. The personal influence variables on average account for similar variance in the data compared with the MST-based determinants.

This study sheds new light on diverging empirical results concerning media influences in negotiation and offers some reconciling suggestions. Furthermore, this study is the first to test boundary conditions of MST. Also, it stresses the importance of negotiators’ media preferences for media choice.

Relatively little is known about marketing communications within the context of special events. The aim of this paper is to begin to address this gap in knowledge by analysing managerial practice, consumer perceptions and preferences in relation to marketing communications for this market offering.

A case study analysis of Festival Melbourne 2006 was undertaken using marketing communications collateral, ethnographic (participant observations) and interview (in‐depth and focus group) data.

A centralised approach to marketing communications was adopted for this event, but was difficult to implement. In addition, it was found that the marketing communications in situ did not assist attendees to make the most of their event experiences. It was also found that research participants prefer to receive information about special events passively.

With the increasing levels of globalisation and standardisation in the event sector there is a need to attain a balance between centralisation and adaptation in relation to marketing communications strategies and their implementation. Furthermore, it is imperative that marketing communications are integrated across all stages of consumption.

This study adds to the body of knowledge about marketing communications, and more generally within events. It also adds to the debate surrounding the integration of marketing communications.