A Study of External Communication and Its Effectiveness in Public Institutions: A Case of the National Commission for Civic Education (Ncce), Ghana

Abstract

A well informed and responsible citizenry are assets to national development and must therefore be fully equipped with requisite knowledge to perform their duties and responsibilities. Effective communication between public institutions and their publics is one key way to accelerating development and engaging citizens. This study sought to investigate from the point of view of the public, communication channels used by public institutions in communicating with their external publics from the perspective of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) of Ghana. The research, situated in Schramm’s communication model and the media richness theory, assessed publics’ knowledge of the work of the NCCE, their perception of the NCCE, channels used by the NCCE in its communication and feedback processes. A multi-stage sampling approach was employed to sample and administer survey questionnaires to a total of 150 respondents in Ga Central Municipal, specifically Sowutuom and Taborah localities and in Adentan Municipal, specifically New Adenta and Adjriganor localities. The research found that citizens mainly preferred visual communication, specifically, television and social media owing to several factors such as motion and the feel of reality where most sensory organs are active, followed by audio and text communication. The research also found that NCCE communicated using television, radio, outdoor media, social media, community engagements and print media from the publics’ perspective. However, although there was no significant difference in channel used in communicating and receiving information between NCCE and its publics, the research recommended that public institutions communicate through publics preferred media and use a media mix approach in communicating to segmented audiences based on intensive understanding of the communication process.