Our colleague Matea Cvjetković successfully defended her dissertation "The Influence of Internal Communication on Employee Readiness for Change in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises", on April 11, 2025, at the University North in Koprivnica.

The dissertation’s focus was to examine the role of internal communication in developing employee readiness for change in small and medium-sized enterprises. Studying organizational change is particularly important in today’s business environment, which demands rapid adaptation to technological, market, and social challenges. Employee readiness for change has become a key factor in the success and sustainability of organizations. Although employees are the ones who feel the effects of change most directly, they often have the least influence on how those changes are implemented, which makes acceptance more difficult and lowers the overall success rate of change initiatives. This is why the research is directed toward understanding internal communication as a decisive factor in helping employees adapt to organizational changes.

Under the mentorship of Bojan Morić Milovanović, PhD, and co-mentorship of Tihana Babić, PhD, Cvjetković conducted research among employees in small and medium-sized enterprises and analyzed how various aspects of internal communication influence their readiness to accept organizational change. The results showed that internal communication satisfaction and the perceived quality of change communication are key factors in developing readiness for change, while information overload can diminish these positive effects.

Beyond its scientific contribution to a deeper understanding of communication processes in the context of organizational change, the research also offers practical recommendations for SMEs in developing more effective communication strategies.