This study on the first test of an instrument designed to measure the quality of
communication in municipalities has some limitations that might be addressed in
future research. The study was implemented in four municipalities and, although these
were one small, one big and two middle-sized, ranging from 25,000 to 280,000
inhabitants, the results cannot simply be generalised to all such organisations. On a
more general level only a few observations could be made. Alongside similarities the
results also showed a different pattern for each individual municipality, and it was the
individual pattern that made the results useful in identifying areas for improvement.
The applicability of the research method for other municipalities is promising. The
method worked well in cases where the motivation to learn from the findings was high.
The respondents were positive about the research method and were prepared to use the
findings to further improve communication quality. Any structural improvement in
communication quality will, however, only appear if the quality cycle is implemented
more often. This is a direction for further research.