The Role of Employee Voice in Enhancing Job Satisfaction Amongst Employees in Religious Media Organizations in Nairobi, Kenya: A Comparative Study of Radio Waumini and Hope FM

Abstract

Although internal communication has been widely studied, employee voice as a distinct aspect of internal communication remains unexplored. Therefore, this study sought to establish the role of employee voice as an aspect of internal communication in enhancing employee job satisfaction amongst employees in religious media organizations in Nairobi, Kenya. The study was guided by the motivation theory by Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs and Organizational Support Theory (OST) by Eisenberger, Hutchison and Sowa. Data collection was achieved through participant observation and structured interviews. The study employed a stratified sampling technique to identify 19 informants, 11 were from Hope FM and 8 were from Radio Waumini. Data was collected through participant observation and structured interviews using a participant observation guide and an interview guide respectively. The study established that employee voice was important aspect of internal communication that directly influences employee job satisfaction. While all employees from Hope FM who took part in the study revealed that the available employee voice was satisfactory and had positively contributed to employee job satisfaction. On the other hand, some employees from radio Waumini said the same thing to those from Hope FM. However, some employees from radio Waumini pointed out that the existing employee voice at radio Waumini was not satisfactory hence it had resulted to low employee job satisfaction. This points to a strong relationship between employee voice as an aspect of internal communication and employee job satisfaction.