A study of communication performance : investigating the factors affecting the communication performance in Thai Commercial Banks

Abstract

Despite the acknowledgement by numerous studies that communication is a key to organizational effectiveness, study of the communication performance is scarce. This research focuses on investigating the relationships of goal clarity, organizational culture, decentralization, and intercultural communication competence with communication performance in Thai commercial banks. A survey was conducted at the bank branches of seven Thai commercial banks that included both state-owned and private-owned banks. Due to the nature of the exploratory model of communication performance, some of the relationships among the variables have not been prominently established in the past; therefore the correlation method was used to analyze the relationships of the constructs. Goal clarity has received strong statistical support as a key factor in communication performance, followed by organizational culture, decentralization, and intercultural communication competence. However, when analyzing the relationships of these key factors with each communication performance domain (i.e. interpersonal, external, and internal communication performance), it can be seen that all of the factors are positively related to internal and external communication, but not to interpersonal communication. The findings strengthen two key factors, (i.e. goal clarity and organizational culture) contributing to the communication performance model in the context of Thai commercial banks. From a practical point of view, the findings provide knowledge for both state-owned and private-owned banks and guidance within the field of strategic organization communication as to what should be prioritized and encouraged to improve communication performance. Testing the causality of the relationships among constructs is recommended for future research.