By Moses Nosike

Research from health communications expert, Nathaniel Godwin has found that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to increased demands for organizations to prioritize social good and employee health communications, especially during public health crises.

Godwin, an alumna of Kaduna State University conducted a study that examined how selected organizations communicated during the pandemic and found out that although communication messages were made available to employees in the thick of the pandemic, there were evidence that some aspects were for corporate benefits and not genuine public interest communications for social good.

Findings from the groundbreaking study revealed the need for organizational health literacy, in that employees will be able to access, understand, and use health information from their organizations to make informed health decisions during crises.

Speaking on the method of the study, Godwin said, “the study adopted an in-depth interview method and collected data from the leadership of the top sectors (hospital industry, oil and gas and mining industry) in West Virginia and used multi-stage sampling to derive its sample”.

“The result showed that employees have placed increased expectations on organizations to communicate for social good, as a priority over profit-oriented messaging.” Nathaniel’s study was presented at the 2024 Public Interest Communications Summer Conference in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A, with participants applauding a seeming new dawn for organizational communication.