Measuring employee advocacy: scale development and its communication-based antecedents

Purpose Despite growing interest in employee advocacy in both practice and scholarship, no psychometrically validated measurement instrument exists for this construct. This study pursues two objectives: (1) to develop and validate a new employee advocacy scale, and (2) to test the scale's nomological network by examining how internal communication strategies influence employee advocacy through organizational identification (OID) and employee-organization relationships (EORs). Design/methodology/approach Scale development followed established best practices, including domain specification, content validation by expert judges using the content validity index exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). To test the nomological network, a survey of 580 employees from medium and large US corporations was conducted, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationships among symmetrical communication, transparent communication, OID, EORs, and employee advocacy. Findings The scale development process produced a six-item unidimensional measure with strong psychometric properties. SEM results revealed that transparent communication had significant positive effects on both OID and EORs, which in turn drove employee advocacy. Symmetrical communication also demonstrated a direct positive effect on employee advocacy. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to employees in medium and large US corporations, which may restrict the generalizability of findings across different organizational sizes, sectors, or cultural contexts. Future research should replicate and extend the scale validation across diverse samples and industries. The nomological network tested here represents an initial validation and should be expanded with additional antecedents and outcomes. Practical implications Organizations seeking to cultivate employee advocacy should invest in symmetrical and transparent internal communication practices. Communication professionals can use the validated scale as a reliable tool to measure and monitor employee advocacy, enabling more evidence-based evaluation of internal communication programs and advocacy initiatives. Originality/value This study makes two original contributions. First, it provides the field with a rigorously developed and psychometrically validated instrument for measuring employee advocacy, addressing a critical gap in the public relations and internal communication literature. Second, it offers empirical evidence of the internal communication mechanisms that foster advocacy, advancing theoretical understanding of how organizational communication shapes employee behavior.