Abstract
This study examines how supervisory leadership communication during the COVID-19 pandemic fostered employee trust through the lens of motivating language theory. Drawing insight from self-determination theory, this study also reveals the mediating effects of employees’ psychological need satisfaction for competence and relatedness in this process, which help explain how supervisory leadership communication influences employee trust. Through an online survey of 393 full-time employees from various organizations in the U.S., results showed that supervisory use of meaning-making (0.15), empathetic (0.60), and direction-giving language (0.27) during the pandemic all showed significant positive effects on employee trust toward leadership and the organization directly, and indirectly through satisfying employees’ psychological need for competence and relatedness. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Highlights
This study examines how supervisory leadership communication during the COVID-19 pandemic fostered employee trust through the lens of motivating language theory
This study intends to examine the impact of supervisory leadership communication on employee trust toward the leader and the organization during the COVID-19 pandemic through the theoretical lens of motivating language theory (MLT)
This study examines the influence of supervisory leadership communication on employee trust during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
This study examines how supervisory leadership communication during the COVID-19 pandemic fostered employee trust through the lens of motivating language theory. Supervisors are arguably the most trustworthy source of information for employees (Legood et al, 2016; Men & Bowen, 2017; Whitener et al, 1998) During turbulent such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of supervisory communication is perceived to be even more crucial as employees expect to hear from their direct managers information that can ease concerns about uncertainties (Skiba & Wildman, 2019) and receive clear guidance to help them to navigate disrupted work routines. This study intends to examine the impact of supervisory leadership communication on employee trust toward the leader and the organization during the COVID-19 pandemic through the theoretical lens of motivating language theory (MLT). To further examine how exactly leader use of MLT influences employee trust, the study incorporates employee psychological need satisfaction stemming from self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 2000) as the potential mediator that delineates the process
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