Do We See Eye to Eye? The Relationship Between Internal Communication and Between-Group Strategic Consensus

Abstract

Although organization-wide strategic consensus is considered a prerequisite for effective strategy execution, research analyzing the degree, content, and antecedents of strategic consensus between hierarchically distant employee groups is limited. The present study addresses this issue by using the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire to examine the relationship between internal communication and between-group strategic consensus. To test these assumptions, data were collected from the top management team and lower-level employees of a hospital. The results indicate that a multifaceted operationalization of strategic consensus should be used because between-group consensus varies according to the content domain under investigation. Second, the findings indicate that it is important to analyze the direction of between-group disconsensus because employees can overestimate or underestimate the importance of strategic priorities. Third, the results indicate that the perceived quality of organizational information, organizational integration, and vertical communication (in contrast to horizontal communication) are associated with higher levels of strategic consensus.