Rethinking communication principles to Foster Internal Communities: a South African retirement village case study

Abstract

Rethinking internal communication from a community perspective has been advocated, but little is available on the communication principles underpinning internal community building. This qualitative case study of a South African retirement village, where semi-structured interviews with management, as well as focus groups with residents were used to collect data, enabled the inductive identification of four communication principles that foster internal communities within this non-traditional internal context: participation and collaboration; shared values (both of which were previously identified in the building of communities); inclusivity and a sense of belonging; and transparency and ethical communication (of which neither was previously linked to internal community-building). These four principles align with the two-way symmetrical communication worldview and the African philosophy of ubuntu; their identification extends the public relations body of knowledge on community building through internal communication in the South African context.