Hiring Managers’ Impressions of Business Communication’s Legitimacy

Abstract

Data from a survey of 864 executives and managers with hiring authority suggest that business communication has external legitimacy regardless of program sponsorship and that hiring managers favor courses that comprise the business communication curriculum, such as public speaking, leadership, business management, and interpersonal communication. Findings from the study can give students guidance when selecting coursework electives and writing résumés, guide faculty in making curricular and advertising decisions, and support the legitimacy of the business communication curriculum.

Rebuilding From the Ground Up: Employer and Alumni Perspectives for Course Redesign

“…These decisions often impact program-level or college-level curriculum discussions. Thus, the results of these studies support the legitimacy of business communication curriculum with internal audiences, such as administrators and collegewide faculty (Engstrom, 2019). It is important to have both internal (e.g., administrators and collegewide faculty) and external (e.g., employers and alumni) acceptance of business communication for curriculum and employability success (Krapels & Arnold, 1996, as cited in Engstrom, 2019).…”

“…In a business communication course, communication skills are the primary focus of the course. As Engstrom (2019) suggested, sharing the results of the study with internal stakeholders did indeed help with discussing and advocating for a business communication course across business disciplines. The study also directed our aim for other skills we could develop within this business communication course.…”

Achieving Legitimacy Through Gender Equality Policies

“…Gender equality policies and strategies need to be communicated. The literature has pointed out key tools for gender equality communication strategies, such as: storytelling (Golant & Sillince, 2007), rhetoric (Marais, 2012; Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005), other impression techniques (Engstrom, 2019) and signaling (Higgins & Gulati, 2006; Lee et al, 2018). However, managers must consider that communication must be based on true gender equality actions, because otherwise the moral legitimacy of the organization could be compromised (Windscheid et al, 2018).…”

Accessible Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of an Online Module

“…More than ever, the ability to adapt communication to the needs and preferences of the target audience has become a valuable skill in the workplace (Coffelt & Smith, 2020). Increasingly, companies expect their employees to show interpersonal skills that allow them to communicate clearly with colleagues, investors, customers, the media, and other stakeholders (Engstrom, 2019). The importance that is attributed to effective communication is not surprising when considering that businesses that produce clear, transparent, and straightforward messages tend to attract more investments and a higher number of loyal customers (Y.…”