Investigating communication flows and communication channel preferences among Thai state enterprise employees

The objective of this study was to investigate Thai state enterprise employees’preferences in communication channels in an upward flow (with supervisors) and a downward flow (with subordinates) and to examine the differences between the upward and downward flows of communication. This study focused on communication channels, namely, face-to-face communication and Instant Messaging (IM). The participants were sixty-eight Thai state enterprise employees in managerial level. The research instrument was an online questionnaire, and the participants were asked to indicate frequency of using communication channels for work-related purposes. The results revealed that the employees frequently used face-to-face communication and IM in both an upward flow and a downward flow. Face-to-face communication was used to convey negative messages and to communicate in an upward flow more frequently, while the employees were more likely to use IM for sending neutral and informative messages in a downward flow. The results also suggested that the employees tended to communicate with their supervisors less frequently than their subordinates.