a delphi study to identify standards for internal communication

In recent years, significant advancement has been made in establishing standards for measuring external public relations efforts. Little has been done, however, to standardize measurement for those responsible for internal communication. Employees are critical to the success of any organization, and the effectiveness of communication with them is of paramount importance. Seeking to rectify this gap, the Institute for Public Relations and the Commission on Research, Measurement, and Evaluation created an international 11-member task force comprising academics and practitioners in 2015 to develop internal communication measurement standards. The task force identified and tentatively defined possible standards for internal communication. The researchers of this study extended the global task force’s initial work by conducting a Delphi study in 2016 with a purposive sample of 22 internal communication thought leaders to determine if a wider audience of internal communication practitioners agreed with the task force’s recommended standards and definitions. This research describes the findings of the Delphi study and introduces and defines measurement standards that internal communication practitioners can use to create more effective communication plans and measure the value communication bring to their organizations. The proposed standards also supersede the current "engagement" catchall goal that tends to be amorphous and difficult to address. In the future, the researchers plan to test the reliability and validity of the internal communication standards developed in this study, so that practitioners can measure in a consistent and comparable manner—the ultimate goal of standardization.