The relationship between academicians' views on internal communication and their levels of employee engagement

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between academics' views on internal communication and their levels of employee engagement at Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University. The study followed an exploratory sequential mixed method design, with a population of 773 academics working at the university during 2023-2024 academic year. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were held with academics selected via maximum variation sampling to deeply explore their views on internal communication. Qualitative content analysis revealed seven themes: individual aspects of communication, social aspects of communication, organizational aspects of communication, characteristics of internal communication, organizational culture and climate, environmental factors, and leadership and management. The qualitative findings formed the basis for the planning of the quantitative phase. In the quantitative phase, data were collected from 289 academics selected via convenience sampling using a Personal Information Form, the Inventory of Communication Analysis in Academic Context (AOİAE), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9). Analyses were conducted in SPSS 27 using descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The findings showed that academics generally view internal communication positively, but not entirely sufficient; their employee engagement is high, and both variables differ significantly based on demographic variables. In addition, a statistically significant and negative correlation was identified between internal communication and work engagement. Given that higher AOİAE scores reflect more negative communication perceptions, this finding indicates a strong and significant relationship between negative communication perceptions and low levels of work engagement.