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The purpose of this paper is to analyse how dialogue can be used to promote post-acquisition socio-cultural integration. Specifically, it addresses questions regarding when and how companies can utilise dialogue to generate positivity regarding socio-cultural integration.

A single case study approach was adopted owing to its suitability for creating in-depth understanding in the context of socio-cultural integration. Primary data were collected via interviews, an employee satisfaction survey, and participant observation. Secondary data were obtained from the case company’s internal materials, such as strategies, integration workflows, and employee magazines. Analysis methods included descriptive statistics and thematic qualitative analysis.

The findings suggest that dialogue can be used to create positivity regarding socio-cultural integration throughout the stages of unfreezing, moving, and refreezing by actively engaging employees in voicing, listening, respecting, and suspending. It is proposed that cultural conflict during post-acquisition socio-cultural integration can be overcome through the generation of positivity; dialogue enables the collective management of emotions during post-acquisition integration by offering a platform for creating positivity and social cohesion; and due to its collaborative and engaging nature, dialogue provides an especially effective means of communication for overcoming cross-cultural conflict.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to showcase dialogue as a specific means of communication for creating positivity during cross-border socio-cultural integration. This study reached beyond comparative cultural research to offer views on positivity, emotion during socio-cultural integration, and dialogue as means for overcoming cross-cultural conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical analysis of CSR communication posted on the websites of 70 companies listed on the main stock markets in German-speaking countries, the so-called DACH region. The results of this analysis offer answers to questions that are currently being discussed in the CSR literature, namely, on the importance attributed to stakeholder information vs stakeholder dialogues in (online) CSR communication.

Using a quantitative content analysis, the study examines the extent to which leading German, Austrian and Swiss companies are meeting communication and CSR-related requirements, especially regarding stakeholder dialogue and overall stakeholder involvement.

Drawing on Morsing and Schultz’s (2006) theoretical insights concerning stakeholder engagement, this study shows that current CSR communication primarily provides information for stakeholders and contains only a few elements of consultation with stakeholders. In addition, no elements indicating stakeholder involvement in decision processes were found. Data analysed in 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2016 for the German DAX companies allowed for comparisons over time. A closer examination of these data revealed increasing professionalism in CSR communication, especially in the provision and presentation of information. Regarding information clarity and opportunities for dialogue, however, the results show low progress. The criteria set developed for the study provides guidance for how companies can improve their CSR communication, but the findings on the long-term slow progress in stakeholder involvement, in some aspects even a decrease in dialogue, also raise questions about the (perceived) use of online CSR dialogues for companies.

Communication is viewed from a strategic instrumental perspective. The empirical analysis focusses on the technical possibilities offered by the internet to make CSR communications and reporting available and understandable to stakeholders and to promote dialogue with and among stakeholders.

By focussing on online CSR communication in the DACH region, this study contributes to the current state of research and offers several recommendations for practitioners; it particularly provides critical reflection on online stakeholder dialogues and related paradigms (constitutive vs functionalistic perspective).

Describes two‐way dialogue, between each side of industry, is a key element in social policy. Proposes to analyse and comment on some of the social dialogue, in particular both the role and significance of this notion in the soon‐to‐be enlarged Europe. Acknowledges that the ten candidate countries that join on 1 May 2004 must build a social dialogue and negotiate and conclude collective agreements.

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for improving performance dialogue with a specific process and framework, leveraging existing literature.

Building upon Mengis and Eppler’s (2008) framework for conversation management, this study follows an action research approach, involving a process of co-creation, split into several distinct stages including two series of 20 semi-structured interviews with top executives of a major pharmaceutical company. These executives were directly involved in using the performance measurement system (PMS) in order to provide guidelines for improving performance dialogue. The data were analysed using content analysis, and the authors helped to develop a solution.

The analysis reveals a variety of recurrent communicative challenges and practices, which all appear to be characteristic for the performance dialogue process. The proposed framework consists of four separate phases, namely: data collection and identification of the main under and over-performance gaps, root cause analysis and action plans formulation, dialogue and solution implementation and dissemination of best practices.

This research contributes to the literature by introducing work on organisational communication into the field of PMS, by proposing a communication model for performance dialogue implementation. Furthermore, it addresses companies’ issues on how to successfully use their PMS and proposes a framework with specific prerequisites to be put into practice. Finally, this study offers a different explanation in the form of the lack of performance dialogue for the failure of PMS, compared to the current explanations found in the literature.

Leadership can positively affect the work environment and health. Communication and dialogue are an important part in leadership. Studies of how dialogue is valued and handled in first‐line leadership have not so far been found. The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical understanding of how first‐line leaders at hospitals in western Sweden value and handle dialogue in the organisation.

The study design was explorative and based on grounded theory. Data collection consisted of interviews and observations. A total of 11 first‐line leaders at two hospitals in western Sweden were chosen as informants, and for four of them observation was also used.

One core category emerged in the analysis: leaders' communicative actions, which could be strategically or understanding‐oriented, and experienced as equal or unequal and performed equitably or inequitably, within a power relationship. Four different types of communicative actions emerged: collaborative, nurturing, controlling, and confrontational. Leaders had strategies for creating arenas and relationships for dialogue, but dialogue could be constrained by external circumstances or ignorance of the frameworks needed to conduct and accomplish dialogue.

First‐line leaders should be offered guidance in understanding the consequences of consciously choosing and strengthening the communication component in leadership.

The positive valuation of dialogue was not always manifest in practical action. One significant consequence of not using dialogue was that information with impact on organisational efficiency and finances was not communicated upwards in the management system.

This paper aims to propose a system that generates dialogue scenarios automatically in real time from Web news articles. Then, the authors used the Manzai metaphor, a form of Japanese traditional humorous comedy, in the system. The generated Manzai scenario consists of snappy patter and a humorous misunderstanding of dialogue based on the gap of our structure of funny points. The authors create communication robots to amuse people with the generated humorous robot dialogue scenarios.

The authors propose the following: how to generate funny dialogue-based scenario from Web news and Web intelligence, automatically? How to create direction of robots based on the pre-experiment? The authors conducted experiments from three viewpoints, namely, effectiveness of Manzai scenarios as content, effectiveness of Manzai-Robots as a medium and familiarity of Manzai-Robots.

In this paper, the authors find two points, namely, the new communication style called “human–robots implicit communication-and bridging the knowledge gap using Web intelligence, to communicate smoothly between humans and robots.

Numerous studies have examined communication robots that mutually communicate with people. However, for several reasons, communicating smoothly with people is difficult for robots. One reason is the problem of communication style. Another is knowledge gaps separating humans and robots. The authors propose a new communication style to solve the problems and designate the communication style based on dialogue between robots as “human-robot implicit communication”. The authors then create communication robots to communicate with people naturally, smoothly and with familiarity according to their dialogue.

This essay represents a dialogue between the two co‐authors about the role of intersubjectivity in their respective fields of research‐intergroup dialogue and communication at the end of life. Using dialogue and intersubjectivity as both the topic and the method of their inquiry, the authors work together to articulate the nature of intersubjective moments in interview research, the relationship between dialogue and intersubjectivity, the conditions under which they experienced it, and what such moments bring to the process and products of research grounded in participation. Engaging the concept of dialogue as praxis, the essay attempts to capture and illustrate dialogic engagement.

Societal developments and stakeholder awareness place responsibility and legitimacy high on corporate agendas. Increased awareness heightens focus on stakeholder relations and dialogue as key aspects in corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate identity and corporate communication scholarship, but the question remains how can dialogue be initiated and maintained? The purpose of this paper is to establish a framework for conceptualizing dialogue.

Through a review of CSR, corporate identity, corporate communication and stakeholder literature, a framework is developed taking into account the different stakes held by key stakeholder groups, i.e. consumers, investors, employees, non‐governmental organization and suppliers. Based on the discursive terms of form and script, we argue that different stakes condition different dialogical types.

The paper argues that the stakeholder orientations of the CSR, corporate identity and corporate communication disciplines can aid in strengthening dialogue. It is thus suggested that dialogue may be strengthened by constructing a framework which links the stakes held by key stakeholder groups to specific dialogue forms and scripts.

The practical implication of articulating stakeholder dialogue as scripted interaction is that organizations seeking to engage stakeholders strategically must understand and respect conventions and expectations.

The paper's contribution is to expand the notion of dialogue within communication research and to provide organizations with a framework for understanding stakeholder involvement in identity relevant issues of responsibility and legitimacy.

The purpose of this paper is to offer critical reflection on the role played by the concept of dialogue in public relations theory, pedagogy, and practice.

This paper is theoretical and therefore focused on the elucidation of the history, meaning, and application of “dialogue” in public relations in comparison with two other academic disciplines and professional fields: political science and organizational communication.

The paper argues that, despite the key normative position occupied by the concept of dialogue in much mainstream public relations scholarship, public relations as an academic discipline has not engaged extensively with the theory of dialogue. While other academic and expert practitioner fields have developed much theoretical reflection, a range of dialogical tools, and created spaces in which the expertise is applied, public relations' normative interest in dialogue seems not to have translated into developing expert dialogic tools or spaces in which public relations experts routinely use such tools.

The paper introduces literature and debates about dialogue largely ignored in the mainstream public relations scholarship and aims to stimulate fresh discussion about the nature of public relations knowledge and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to expand the Swiss Index of Customer Satisfaction (SWICS) model by investigating the role of customer dialogue in the interrelationships among customer satisfaction, customer trust, perceived value and customer loyalty upon Vietnam banking industry.

The conceptual framework was developed from both an exploratory research with focus group method and the literature. A structural equation model linking customer dialogue to customer satisfaction, customer trust, perceived value and loyalty is tested using data from a sample of 389 Vietnamese individual bank customers.

The results indicate the key role of customer dialogue in bank marketing since it not only has an independent impact on customer loyalty but also mediates the effect of customer satisfaction on loyalty completely and the relationship between customer trust and loyalty partially. Besides, the central role of customer trust was also highlighted since it mediates totally the effect of perceived value on both of customer dialogue and customer loyalty while explaining partially the path from customer satisfaction and customer dialogue.

First, regarding sample size, the authors have used suitable sampling methods with adequate sample representation. However, a larger sample size with more diverse age range and usage of various banking services may be more helpful and effective for the path analysis and managerial implication. Second, the authors have used only a limited set of measurement items due to the concerns of model parsimony and data collection efficiency. For example, perceived value can be measured upon more detailed dimensions, and yet the author focussed only on some selected measures based mainly on their relevance to the context studied.

The findings imply that building trust and engaging with customers better through communication are keys for Vietnamese commercial banks to gain more customer loyalty in such competitive conditions.

The study is noteworthy that it adds perceived value and customer trust in the SWICS model and investigates the interrelationships between all variables in a single model.