Corporate Volunteer Communication: An Exploratory Study Of A Private Conglomerate In Manila, Philippines

Abstract

The study analyzed the role of communication and other perceived factors in predicting employee participation in a corporate volunteering (CV) setting. These factors included self and other-oriented motives of employees, characteristics of the CV programs and communication practices (independent variables) as influencing actual volunteering behavior (dependent variable).

Guided by a modified model of Sekar and Dyaram (2017) on corporate volunteering, data were gathered through a survey among 280 randomly selected employee volunteers of San Miguel Corporation in Manila and environs from November 21, 2019 to December 21, 2019.

Correlations and test of significance established that all these independent factors influenced employee volunteerism. However, self-oriented motives and characteristics of the corporate volunteering SMC’s volunteer programs had the highest correlations with employee participation.

Critical in establishing the reputation of SMC as having an effective CSR/CV program that encouraged volunteerism especially among the millennial staff, was effective communication. Both internal communication and interpersonal communication channels maintained a healthy communication climate conducive to better engagement and organizational citizenship. The multi-platform communication system was targeted for individuals and groups involving face-to-face, two-way communication; it was anchored on hierarchal, organizational, and collective structures; and it maximized the used of printed, electronic, and interpersonal media- to share and pass on that ‘culture’ of voluntarism as a continuing legacy of the company among its employees.