Organizational or corporate purpose (i.e., “Purpose”) guides an organization’s actions and clarifies the reason for its existence. Literature suggests communication as a missing element in purpose research, indicating public relations research can significantly contribute to purpose-driven organizations. In addition, to implement Purpose, employees play a key role by enacting it in their daily practices. Purpose, in turn, helps employees find meaning by linking their actions to a broader societal impact. Hence, this research first developed and validated a two-dimensional measurement for employee-centric purpose communication (ECPC): purpose articulation and reporting (dimension 1) and purpose reflection and learning (dimension 2). It then examined the effects of ECPC, an organizational factor, on employees’ purpose implementation, which further leads to the positive outcomes of their attitudes and behaviors toward their work, organizations, and society. By surveying 427 full-time employees, the results showed that ECPC positively affects employees’ purpose implementation—1) purpose knowledge, 2) purpose internalization, and 3) purpose contribution. In addition, employees’ purpose implementation behaviors fostered their positive behaviors on their job and social impact behaviors. The results contribute to the theorization of ECPC and provide practical implications on how organizations can communicate about Purpose with their employees and strategically leverage ECPC to strengthen employee engagement with Purpose. Through ECPC, employees are not only inspired to perform meaningful tasks but also gain a clear understanding of how their work contributes to society, fostering their social impact behaviors that extend beyond job roles. • Organizational or corporate purpose is a guiding principle that steers an organization’s behaviors. • The lack of communication in purpose research makes it a key focus for purpose-driven PR. • Employee-centric purpose communication has two dimensions: purpose articulation/reporting and reflection/learning. • An activity-based ECPC measurement was developed and validated. • ECPC positively affects employees’ purpose implementation and other employee outcomes.
Chen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.