ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST RESEARCH PROGRAMME, KENYA

Abstract

Organizational communication has not only become far more intricate and diverse but also critical in organizational performance. This notwithstanding, organizational communication has been neglected by most institutions in Kenya. Furthermore, empirical evidence on the effect of organizational communication on employee performance is not clear. Based on this backdrop, the current study sought to fill this gap by examining the effect of organizational communication on employee performance at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya. The following specific objectives guided the study: to determine the effect of the communication channels on employee performance; to establish the effect of communication feedback on employee performance; to find out the effect of employee attitude towards organisation communication on employee performance and to examine the effect of organisational communication culture on employee performance at Kemri-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. A descriptive research design was employed to establish the effect of organizational communication on employee performance. The target population comprised of 704 management and staff of Kemri Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi. Slovin’s formula was used to calculate a sample size of 255 respondents. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data gathered was coded and tabulated to facilitate analysis using quantitative statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. Descriptive statistics included percentages and measures of central tendency. Multiple linear regression was used to model the relationship between organizational communication and employee performance. The study established that communication channels (p< .05), feedback (p< .05), employee attitude towards organisation communication (p< .05) and organisational communication culture (p< .05) significantly predicts employee performance. As such, it’s imperative for organizations to strive to create and maintain a positive employee attitude towards organizational communication by improving employee engagement levels in the organization as well as creating conducive work environment for employees because it was shown that employee attitude towards organisation communication affects employee performance.