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To provide internal auditors with a summary of the communications skills needed for a successful professional career in internal auditing.

A range of recently published (2000‐2004) publications, which aim to show the importance of communication skills to internal auditors, is reviewed to show internal auditors the importance of highly‐developed communication skills in almost every aspect of their activities.

Internal auditors need to possess excellent communication skills in order to succeed and advance in the changing, complex international global marketplace. Auditors utilize communication skills in almost every situation they encounter. Auditors must create an image of adding value to the organization and not just being investigators. Auditors must possess strong listening and interpersonal skills. Auditors have to be careful in using certain voice reflections when working with different types of individuals at various levels within an organization. Auditors must be aware of how their mannerisms impact auditees.

This paper identifies the importance of communication skills for internal auditors in their daily activities as professional auditors. Internal auditors will be more cognizant of the need to continually improve their communication skills throughout their professional career after reading this paper.

Engaging with stakeholders in “a personal, intimate way” (Men and Tsai, 2016, p. 932) or “includ[ing] the ‘personal touch’” (Kent and Taylor, 1998, p. 323) is often seen as desirable in internal communication management. While the importance of personal communication is undisputed from the perspectives of internal communication, its communicators, and from internal stakeholders, this is not true when it comes to the dimensions and characteristics that constitute an experience of communication as feeling personal. The present study aims to explore what makes communication personal from the employees' perspective.

The study used the Q methodology and Q method, thus focusing on an individual's subjective perspective. The Q methodology was implemented in the form of a Q-sort survey exploring the perceptions of 32 German employees (selected from a representative cross-section of 400 employees in Germany, using a balanced-block design to maximize heterogeneity).

The results show that while direct and dyadic communication is often perceived as personal, many other dimensions and characteristics are also considered “personal” in both the literature and based on stakeholder perceptions. The Q-sort survey revealed four perception types whose perceptions of communication as “personal” vary widely, with all these types rejecting non-human communicators.

This study contributes to the limited understanding of employees' perceptions of internal communication as “personal.” It shows how the Q methodology and Q method—a rarely used perspective—can complement existing theoretical and empirical research on internal communication. For internal communication management, the findings show that a “one-size-fits-all” approach must be questioned and that a communication team's involvement in personal communication can have negative consequences.

Although internal communication is perceived as one of the crucial elements for favorable internal evaluation of an employer brand (EB), the importance of internal communication for EB advocacy has been insufficiently theoretically problematized and related empirical evidence is almost non-existent. In this paper, the relationship between employees' satisfaction with internal communication and their perceptions of their employers' attractiveness is explored.

A questionnaire-based field research study was conducted on a sample of 3,457 Croatian employees. The Internal Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (ICSQ) (Tkalac Verčič et al., 2009) and the Employer Attractiveness (EmpAt) Scale (Berthon et al., 2005) were used for assessing internal communication satisfaction (ICS) and employer attractiveness (EA).

Findings reveal that respondents' overall satisfaction with internal communication in their organizations is significantly positively related with the overall attractiveness they assign to their employers, that all explored ICS dimensions are significant for the overall EA, and that each ICS dimension is significant for at least one EA dimension. The most relevant ICS dimensions for EA are “satisfaction with feedback” and “satisfaction with communication climate”.

A conducted large sample study is among the first quantitative empirical studies that proved that employees who are satisfied with internal communication are likely to see their employers as attractive. Moreover, findings point toward internal communication endeavors which add more value to developing an attractive internal EB.

The present study investigates the nature of newly formed organizations and how internal communication influences these entities, where change is inherent. Organizational life for government contractors is unusual in that employees experience routine changes to upper management, company values, goals and objectives every few years, which leads to the creation of a new consortium that is loosely coupled. Such research provides insight beyond the single-entity organization, which tends to dominate most public relations and internal communication literature.

Given the lack of research exploring consortia and internal communication to get beyond the homogeneous organization, an in-depth case study methodology was the most appropriate approach. A multi-site government contractor was chosen as the research site, relying on interviews and focus groups (n = 77) to collect data.

Effective internal communication practices are even more important for consortia, like government contractors, since employees of these organizations are guaranteed to experience frequent change. Therefore, communicating to the unknown audience, building trust in the absence of a prior connection, and preparing for the unintended consequences are imperative to navigating the complexity surrounding consortia forming and cultivating employee buy-in.

This study presents new, transferable knowledge of internal communication during consortia forming, where to be successful, internal communication needs anticipate the unintended consequences and develop a strategy around the uncertainty. Such strategy is about welcoming diverse voices and actively listening to their preferred needs. In addition, a definition of the unknown audience is provided.

The article has two major purposes. The first purpose is to examine the roles and practices of communication professionals in relation to internal aspects of crisis communication. The second is to suggest new roles and practices for communication professionals that will enable a strategic approach to internal crisis communication. This article is based on empirical material from a larger three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH) in Sweden.

This article is based on empirical material from a larger, three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH). For the purpose of this article the authors have mainly analysed transcripts of 24 semi-structured interviews that lasted 1-1.5 hours each. The authors chose to interview both communication professionals and other key persons/crisis managers in order to have the role and practices of communication professionals elucidated not only from the perspective of communication professionals themselves.

A conclusion from the case study is that communication professionals have a rather limited role in internal crisis communication. Their role is primarily focused on information distribution through the intranet, even though they are also involved in strategic managerial work during the acute stage of the crisis. The communication professionals are first and foremost called for once the crisis has already occurred, which can be seen as a “communication on demand” approach, which limits a strategic orientation. In this paper some new roles and practices for communication professionals are suggested, which involve a strategic approach and cover all the stages of crisis.

Future research needs to go deeper into the practices and processes of these roles.

Important prerequisites for fulfilling a strategic role as a communication professional are membership of the board, diversified communication roles, a developed managerial role, being closer to core operations, and legitimacy.

The absence of a strategic crisis management thinking and discourse in organisations delimits communication professionals to a technical role rather than a managerial and strategic role. Taking internal crisis communication seriously and adopting a broader view of crises will raise new demands on communication professionals, which go beyond the operational and tactical roles in the acute phase of a crisis.

The aim of this paper is to contribute with increased knowledge of the complex role of internal communication during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, the authors want to address the following research questions. How can the overall approach to internal crisis communication during the pandemic be interpreted, and what view of internal crisis communication does this approach reflect? What has been characteristic of the leadership communication during the pandemic? What do coworkers think of their communication role and how well does the internal communication support that role?

This article is based on a case study of an authority with 1,000 employees. The empirical material consists of both documents and interviews. The analyzed documents include steering documents, e-mails to managers from the support function and newsletters from the top manager. The 17 interviews comprise managers, coworkers and communication managers. All interviews were recorded and the authors have conducted verbatim transcriptions.

The pandemic is an example of a wicked problem that involves a lot of ambiguity. Often organizations try to handle wicked problems by trying to control it through traditional management skills and practices. A pandemic demands a leadership, culture and communicative approach that highlights the importance of coworkers. In the studied organization the authors found knowledge and rhetoric about the value of coworkers and communicative coworkership. However, top management does not encourage, support and award practices that are in line with the espoused culture. The key to success is top managers that walk the talk and act as role models.

Crisis managers and crisis communicators need to focus more on improvisation, flexibility, listening and how to approach and make sense of the uncertain. In general, there is a tendency to rely too much on simple tools and to oversimplify complexity. Complex crises such as the pandemic raise new demands on leadership. Effective crisis leadership in a complex crisis seems to be much more democratic and collaborative than often assumed. If coworkers are expected to act as ambassadors or organizational representatives, they also need to be given better support for that role.

This article highlights the importance of closing the gap between espoused and enacted culture in order to change from a managerialistic internal crisis communication to a process internal crisis communication approach.

This article explores how internal communication impacts happiness at work and intrapreneurship through the dimensions of communication climate and communication in meetings.

Literature analysis and quantitative empirical data collection are used to achieve this study's purpose. The study employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional, explanatory design. A questionnaire of closed-ended questions was used, adapted from validated scales for measuring constructs, and apply to 156 employees of industrial, service and commercial companies in the Northeast of Mexico. The analysis techniques used included exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

In the descriptive analysis of the data, the authors find that 57.7% of the sample is satisfied with the communication climate, 28.85% moderately satisfied, and 13.47% dissatisfied. Regarding the levels of happiness at work, high (71.15%), medium (21.15%) and low (7.7%) levels were found. In intrapreneurship, high (67.31%), medium (26.92%) and low (5.77%) levels were found. The exploratory factorial analysis showed that the instrument was adequate for measuring the variables. Good correlations were also found between the items that make up each variable. Finally, the relationship between internal communication, measured by the dimensions of communicative climate and communication in meetings, and happiness at work was verified using the structural equation technique. The latter has a positive impact on intrapreneurship.

This article has some theoretical and methodological limitations like any other academic work. They would be interesting to address in future research. In this way, it is possible to empirical examine the variables of intrapreneurship, internal communication and happiness (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2021c). The first is the study's cross-sectional design and data collection by a non-probabilistic sample, carried out in a single source. Both aspects mean that our study is not free of corresponding biases; this may result in the findings of the present work not being statistically correct. The second derives from the absence in the literature of structural equation modelling studies that analyse the constructs that make up the object of this academic work in a multidimensional way. However, although an influence I show between the variables, it is recommended to take the data with discretion. There is still a need for more empirical evidence to support these relationships before generalised results can be presumed. Despite the remarkable progress made in recent years in the literature on the three dimensions of this article, few scientific studies examine inferentially how internal communication and intra-entrepreneurship influence employees' happiness at work in today's digital society. The authors of this academic work consider it attractive for future research to address the analysis of internal communication strategic management models. It is a robust driver of intra-entrepreneurship and employee happiness in organisations (Galván-Vela et al., 2022a). In conclusion, from this heuristic perspective, companies can improve, on the one hand, their competitive position in the market. Their managers must cultivate an organisational culture that emphasises internal communication as a catalyst for innovation, employee loyalty, and productive efficiency. On the other hand, companies will be able to invigorate their corporate image to face the significant challenges in the globalised economy, thus to become sustainable, humane, ecological intra-entrepreneurial corporations (Galván-Vela et al., 2021a). It may lead to a more social, inclusive, prosperous and egalitarian ecosystem. In this way, it makes the culture of organisations around the pillars of happiness management, social marketing and the Sustainable Development Goals shine (Galván-Coronil et al., 2021).

This section does not attempt to argue that internal communication and intrapreneurship constitute two intangible resources that improve organisations' productivity and collective happiness (Lee and Kim, 2022). However, it is necessary to clarify that the results achieved in this academic study show two fundamental aspects. The first is to invite managers of companies in the post-Covid-19 era to cultivate a culture based on happiness management. It makes internal communication a fast vehicle that exponentially boosts intrapreneurship, among other things (Castillo-Abdul et al., 2021). To this end, their strategic management models must carry out a diametrical shift in their innovation and internal communication actions. On the one hand, it allows for building loyalty among their creative talent. It does this by creating an organisational climate that encourages interpersonal relationships, the spirit of teamwork, collaborative participation, and disruptive thinking (Thelen and Formanchuk, 2022). On the other hand, promoting an ethical, assertive and empathetic leadership style proactively stimulates the commitment, trust and passion for the work of all members of the company (Men and Yue, 2019). The second is to emphasise implementing a constructive, friendly and positive intra-organisational language. In this way, it is dynamising the collective happiness of its human capital through the figure of the Chief Happiness (Jiménez-Marín et al., 2021b).

Intrapreneurship, internal communication and happiness at work are topics of great interest in academic agendas in recent years. It is basically because these three dimensions, individually or jointly, have positive effects on the productivity of organisations. However, no research flow evidences our theoretical model proposed in this article. Therefore, there is a need for future studies that advance the literature in the area of business. In this way, we will have more data on how these constructs affect the life of organisations in the post-Covid 19 eras.

Relative to the increasing focus on organisations’ outward communication consistency and coherency, the internal communication taking place between different organisational functions is under-explored. The study aims to address the following two research questions: What form does cross-functional communication take within organisations? How do features of the communication work climate influence the form of cross-functional communication?

The study draws on qualitative data generated from semi-structured interviews with media and marketing managers from 33 professional football organisations operating in the English Premier League.

Thematic patterns between internal communication practices and different communication climates lead to the development of a new internal organisational communications typology, comprising: Type 1: collaborative symmetrical communication (cohesive climate); Type 2: unstructured informal communication (friendly climate); and Type 3: cross-functional silos (divisive climate).

Internal organisational communication practices are deemed fundamental to organisational success, yet there remains limited empirical evidence of the form such practices take or how they interact with features of an organisation’s communication climate. The study introduces a new internal organisational communications typology to develop and extend the theory and practice of internal marketing communications.

Effective internal communication is crucial for successful organisations as it affects the ability of strategic managers to engage employees and achieve objectives. This paper aims to help organisations improve internal communication by proposing theory with the potential to improve practice.

This paper identifies gaps in the academic literature and addresses calls for discussion and definition of internal communication, for theory on its mandates, scope and focus and to counteract the tendency to treat employees as a uni‐dimensional “single public”. To address these gaps, internal communication is defined and positioned within the corporate communication school of thought.

The paper proposes an Internal Communication Matrix which could be used to supplement other forms of internal situational analysis and as an analytical tool which may be applied to the strategic analysis, planning and evaluation of internal communication.

Strategic communication practitioners are offered a fresh perspective from which to consider internal communication. The Internal Communication Matrix proposed here could be used to supplement other forms of internal situational analysis and as an analytical tool which may be applied to the strategic analysis, planning and evaluation of internal communication. The internal corporate communication concept offers a lens through which communicators can consider communication strategy and tactics.

This paper's theoretical contribution is significant as it addresses gaps in the literature on internal communication. It does this by conceptualising a multidimensional stakeholder approach summarised in the Internal Communication Matrix. This approach is significant since it broadens previous approaches. The paper introduces the concept of internal corporate communication and argues that it should be a key focus for corporate communication theory and practice as it concerns all employees.

Considering the impact internal communication has on the performance of organizations, studies about internal communication are revisited in order to generate a deeper understanding about the disciplines that shape the topic and the main trends influencing both the academic and professional fields.

Departing from a communicational background, the authors integrate dispersed contributions from disciplines such as organizational communication, public relations, corporate communication and marketing communications, to the literature on internal communication.

The significant role played by internal communication is supported by scholars with different theoretical backgrounds. Despite the clear differences between disciplines, the defense of a strategized internal communication and a focus on the employee is widely accepted.

Both scholars and practitioners will need to keep adapting to a reality where: internal communication practices are not only managerial but also dependent on the inputs of the employees; the ability to listen and collect feedback is sacred, and internal communication plans are expected to be strategically implemented and measured.

By showing the plurality of disciplines that influence internal communication, a strategized multidisciplinary focus on the topic is encouraged.