How dialogic internal communication fosters employees' safety behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As employees return to the workplace amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring safety and health at work remains a top priority for organizations. Grounded in dialogic theory and protection motivation theory, this study examines how dialogic communication, as a type of strategic internal communication, can encourage employees to engage in safety behaviors in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic via heightened efficacy and perceived threat. An online survey of full-time employees of different industries returning to the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic is conducted. Results suggest that the communal relationship of employees with their organization, influenced by dialogic internal communication, fosters their efficacy and perceived threat of COVID-19 in the workplace, which in turn increases their safety behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and internal communication studies are discussed.

Toward dialogue through a holistic measuring framework – the impact of social media on risk communication in the COVID-19

Purpose: Despite the huge potential of social media, its functionality and impact for enhanced risk communication remain unclear. Drawing on dialogic theory by integrating both “speak from power” and “speak to power” measurements, the article aims to propose a systematic framework to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The impact of social media on risk communication is measured by the correlation between “speak from power” and “speak to power” levels, where the former primarily spoke to two facets of the risk communication process – rapidness and attentiveness, and the latter was benchmarked against popularity and commitment. The framework was empirically validated with data relating to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) risk communication in 25,024 selected posts on 17 official provincial Weibo accounts in China. Findings: The analysis results suggest the relationship between the “speak from power” and “speak to power” is mixed rather than causality, which confirms that neither the outcome-centric nor the process-centric method alone can render a full picture of government–public interconnectivity. Besides, the proposed interconnectivity matrix reveals that two provinces have evidenced the formation of government–public mutuality, which provides empirical evidence that dialogic relationships could exist in social media during risk communication. Originality/value: The authors' study proposed a prototype framework that underlines the need that the impact of social media on risk communication should and must be assessed through a combination of process and outcome or interconnectivity. The authors further divide the impact of social media on risk communication into dialogue enabler, “speak from power” booster, “speak to power” channel and mass media alternative. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.