Organizational employee listening competency for participatory employee communication: Employee perspectives

This study proposes participatory employee communication as a conceptual framework for exploring and developing excellent organizational employee listening characteristics. Further, this study aims to address key characteristics of internal organizational listening competency, with 20 in-depth interviews with full-time US employees. From the interview data, 12 characteristics emerged in three critical dimensions of cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies in listening. The findings indicate that employee listening should be considered part of the participatory organizational communication system and culture, supported by organizational structure, policies, procedures, and culture, and grounded in mutual orientation, which values employee voices as legitimate and valuable partners for organizational success. Based on the findings, the study proposes an organizational framework for employee listening competency with four dimensions and 13 attributes.