The rate of growth-employee empowerment relationship in SMEs: a rich communication perspective

Dr. Du received an RRU Internal Grant for Research to study the management practices that entrepreneurs empower and communicate to their employees in high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises.

How does the rate of growth impact the employee empowerment relationship in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), from a rich communication perspective? This research examines the management practices that entrepreneurs empower and communicate to their employees in high-tech SMEs. Dr. Du’s research results provided empirical evidence to testify the relationships among company growth rate, employee empowerment and use of corporate communication channels. In particular, the research findings revealed a negative relationship between SMEs growth rate and employee empowerment, and confirmed the indirect effect of corporate communication channels on employee empowerment. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This research has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically speaking, the empirical data from high-tech SMEs contributed to our understanding of growth rate of SMEs by extending the discussion to the context of Chinese high-tech SMEs, given the combined features of institutional, industrial and cultural contexts; Second, it contributed to the literature on organizational employee empowerment. In particular, we found the indirect effect of corporate communication channels on the relationship between growth rate and employee empowerment which shed light to the understanding of communication mechanism of employee empowerment in different organizational contexts. Regarding practical implications, first, this research suggested entrepreneurs need fully realize the influence of employee empowerment during different stages of company growth, and strategically manage employee empowerment to reach the potentials of employees; Second, it recommended SME managers and practitioners to understand and select necessary corporate communication strategies and channels when considering employee empowerment, as a way to facilitate firms’ growth. Last but not the least, it called for managers and practitioners to be aware of the relationship between institutional, industrial and cultural contexts that companies embedded and their impact on company management practices, considering global volatile business environment.