An exploration of South African corporate communication practices and trends
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- Articles
- Submited: October 16, 2022
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Published: October 17, 2022
Abstract
This study explored the status of corporate communication in selected South African companies.
The main purpose of the study was to determine the levels of corporate communication knowledge
and practical abilities of top corporate communication professionals. The research design adopted
was a mixed method approach utilising a sequential transformatory model. The sample, selected
through purposive and convenience sampling, consisted of twenty-six professionals drawn from
a wide range of businesses and sectors in South Africa.
The study indicates that corporate communication professionals deal with stakeholder-relationship
management and perceive their roles as being strategic, then managerial, and lastly technical
in nature, which is however often not practically applied. Furthermore, the study alludes to the
fact that the corporate communication professionals concerned had a basic understanding of
the strategic issues where the strategic implications of issues of publicity, company image and
reputation were seemingly grasped by professionals. This highlights the need for continuous
training in corporate communication - particularly at the strategic level- although it is apparent
that corporate communication professionals need to be schooled continuously in a fundamental
understanding and analysis of power relations, ranging from the most basic interpersonal levels
to the socio-political contexts. Such training may allude to how these contexts, these relations,
affect the way in which practitioners put it into practice. The study forms part of an international
benchmarking survey that aims to contribute to a better understanding of corporate communication
best practices worldwide.
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