| Abstract [eng] |
Employee ambassadorship is becoming an increasingly important part of organisations' communication strategy. Organisations are increasingly encouraging employees to speak on behalf of the organisation, to talk about the organisation's culture, values and experiences both internally and externally. However, the academic literature on ambassadorship programmes tends to study the activities of ambassadors from the perspective of organisational benefits. In contrast, the employee's perspective, motives, needs and personal benefits are more often in the background. Ambassadorship can be an authentic communication tool that allows employees to express pride in the organisation and organisations to use employee experiences as a credible reputational endorsement. This benefits both organisations by providing a credible and human means of reputation building, and the employee with opportunities to fulfil himself, develop his existing competences, be noticed and appreciated. Objective - To uncover the motives and value of employee ambassadorship. The aims: 1. To describe the genesis, concept and characteristics of employee ambassadorship. 2. Identify the motives for becoming an ambassador and the value of ambassadorship for ambassadors. 3. To develop a methodology to study the motives and value of employee ambassadorship. 4. To explore the motives and value of employee ambassadorship. To understand why employees, choose to engage in such activities and what they get in return, this paper conducted a literature review and quantitative research. The theoretical part of the thesis analyses the genesis, the concept, the motives and the value of ambassadorship for employees, drawing on academic sources. Based on the theoretical part of the thesis, five main motives are identified: intrinsic motivation, emotional well-being, friendship at work, social prestige and influence and organisational reputation. The most significant personal values were also identified: professional competence, self-fulfilment, social capital, job satisfaction and desire for recognition. The empirical part of the study involved a quantitative study to find out what motives motivate employees to engage in ambassadorship and what personal values are provided. It also sought to find out how personal values influence motives. The results show that the strongest motivators for employee ambassadorship are intrinsic motivation, emotional well-being and a positive organisational reputation. Employees who feel a sense of professional growth, fulfilment and recognition and appreciation within their organisation are also more likely to engage in ambassadorial programmes. Statistical correlation analysis showed that the personal values gained through ambassadorial activities can act as long-term motivators to support employees' ambassadorial activities. These results allow the formulation and presentation of practical recommendations for employees and organisations seeking to improve the effectiveness and development of employee ambassadorship programmes. They point to the importance of not only creating the conditions for ambassadorship, but also how to better meet the needs of employees in terms of emotional security, competency development opportunities and recognition. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of employee ambassadorship programmes from an employee perspective. |
