Digital corporate communication and organizational listening

Human communication theory and disciplinary theory in corporate communication and cognate fields such as organisational communication and public relations emphasise two-way, dialogic interaction. As communication scholar Robert Craig succinctly says, communication involves speaking and listening. But research reveals a dominant focus on speaking in corporate communication and related fields, and a lack of listening. Addressing this gap in corporate communication is a challenge due to scale (the large number of stakeholders with whom many organisations need to engage), delegation to various departments such as customer relations and HR, and mediation of the voice of stakeholders in many forms such as submissions, reports, and written complaints, as well as online. However, digital corporate communication provides new opportunities not only to speak to stakeholders, but also to listen to them. This chapter examines how organisational listening can be enhanced as part of digital corporate communication to gain increased understanding, insights, and stakeholder engagement.