Leadership communication has been linked to workplace respect and employee outcomes, yet the theoretical claim that it produces effects through relational quality rather than directly has not been systematically tested. Using survey data from 1,521 U.S. employees aged 24 to 35, this study found that the indirect pathway was supported: leadership communication predicted autonomous respect and respectful engagement; both respect forms predicted psychological safety, with respectful engagement showing a stronger association; and the full serial chain through psychological safety, meaningful work, and job satisfaction predicted reduced turnover intention. But, contrary to theory, leadership communication also had significant direct associations with all four retention-relevant outcomes. Prior research examining well-being and engagement outcomes found no such direct effects, suggesting that leadership communication’s direct role may depend on the outcome domain. We propose the Leadership Communication Process Model (LCPM) to account for this pattern. The model distinguishes a relational function of leadership communication, operating through relational quality, from an informational/sensemaking function, operating directly on evaluative judgments, and formalizes the outcome-domain dependency as a testable hypothesis.
As AI has become increasingly pervasive in customer service due to its convenience and efficiency, it remains unclear whether publics hold similar expectations of AI agents and whether the recommended empathetic crisis responses elicit the desired reactions used by AI agents. To answer these questions, a 2 (Crisis type: Competence-based crisis vs. Integrity-based crisis) × 2 (Crisis response agent: AI vs. Human) × 2 (Empathetic crisis response: present vs. absent) experimental design was conducted. The results showed that due to the differences between human and AI, an empathetic crisis response is not an integral component in a competence-based crisis across human and AI agents. In an integrity-based crisis, an empathetic crisis response is an essential component of a human agent’s crisis communication, as it enhances perceived sincerity and improves overall organizational evaluations. However, incorporating the same empathetic response in an AI agent’s communication may backfire.
Effective leadership communication is a part of organizational support, yet the mechanisms through which it shapes employee experiences remain underexplored. This study examines psychological safety as a mediating process linking leadership communication to job satisfaction and organizational assimilation among employees with disabilities. Drawing on organizational support theory and sensemaking perspectives, mediation models were tested using survey data from 201 employed adults who self-identified as having a disability. Results indicated that leadership communication was positively associated with both job satisfaction and organizational assimilation, and that psychological safety significantly mediated these relationships. To clarify the underlying processes, open-ended responses describing memorable leadership messages were analyzed. Participants who recalled messages emphasizing role clarity, guidance, and inclusion reported higher levels of satisfaction and assimilation, whereas generalized praise or motivational encouragement was associated with weaker outcomes. Together, the findings demonstrate that leadership communication influences employee experiences not only directly, but by shaping psychologically safe environments that support satisfaction and integration. This study advances theory by identifying psychological safety as a central relational mechanism through which perceived organizational support is enacted and highlights the importance of communication practices that move beyond policy compliance to support inclusive organizational design.
Cybersecurity breach communication is often assessed as disclosure, yet disclosure does not necessarily give stakeholders resources to act. This article develops jargon debt as the communicative burden created when technical precision, legal caution, and reputational self-protection are not translated into stakeholder-usable pathways. Using an incident-first, corpus-assisted analysis of 207 public texts linked to 120 cybersecurity incidents, the study compares SEC filings, customer notices, public statements, and breach-registry records through human-coded debt, actionability, translation mechanisms, incident-matched contrasts, cluster-robust models, close readings, and a refined proxy for protective-action infrastructure. Results show that genre matters more than surface simplicity: customer notices provide the strongest action infrastructure, registry records create visibility with minimal guidance, and remedy verification plus audience segmentation convert technical and legal detail into practical affordances. The article contributes to business, technical, information-systems, and corporate communication by theorizing disclosure as stakeholder-action translation. It offers a practical audit for breach-writing teams across genres.
Constructive voice is critical for organizational effectiveness, yet systematic research on whether and how leaders’ specific communication behaviors consistently motivate subordinates to provide constructive input remains scarce. Drawing on signaling theory, this study examines how leaders’ downward feedback-seeking influences subordinates’ constructive voice via perceived voice impact and investigates the moderating role of symmetrical internal communication. Using multi-wave, multi-source data from China, we find that downward feedback-seeking exhibits a curvilinear relationship with perceived voice impact, which subsequently enhances subordinates’ constructive voice, producing a curvilinear indirect effect. High levels of symmetrical internal communication dampen the adverse effects of excessive feedback-seeking and can even transform this nonlinear relationship into a positive linear one. These findings reveal a dynamic, nonlinear mechanism linking leader communication to subordinate constructive voice and underscore the pivotal role of organizational communication in shaping how subordinates interpret and respond to leadership signals.
Dissent is an important organizational process. Scholars often examine face-to-face dissent, but social media is increasingly central in dissent interactions. This study analyzed 592 organizational dissent tweets, also collecting the structure of users’ follower networks. Structural topic modeling revealed four topics of organizational dissent: (a) time and rhythms of work, (b) unreasonable expectations, (c) frustrations with people, and (d) emotional anguish. The COVID-19 pandemic shaped organizational communication in myriad ways, and sentiment analysis of our data collected in 2020 and 2021 revealed that tweets became less positive over time. Network structure also predicted sentiment, with tweet negativity highest with small follower networks and fewer connections among followers. We interpret these results in light of context collapse, with results extending dissent literature by highlighting the emotional nature of public dissent.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in organizational communication processes, enabling new forms of interaction in which human communicators and intelligent systems collaboratively produce and interpret messages. Despite growing scholarly interest, research on artificial intelligence in business communication remains fragmented across disciplines and theoretical perspectives. This study maps and synthesizes the emerging research landscape of AI-mediated organizational communication using a bibliometric approach. Bibliographic data were collected from the Scopus database using a structured search of titles, abstracts, and keywords related to organizational communication, business communication, and artificial intelligence. After applying document-type, language, and manual relevance screening procedures, the final dataset comprised 47 peer-reviewed journal articles. The analysis was conducted using the Bibliometrix R package and VOSviewer to examine publication trends, intellectual structure, and thematic development. In addition to the field-level analysis, the study conducted a journal-focused bibliometric assessment of the International Journal of Business Communication to examine how a leading discipline-defining outlet develops AI-related communication scholarship. The findings identify four major thematic clusters: AI applications in organizational communication systems, generative AI-assisted communication practices, AI-mediated interaction dynamics, and human competencies and governance in AI-enabled communication environments. Based on these results, the study proposes a conceptual framework explaining how AI communication affordances are actualized through human-AI interaction practices in organizations. The findings provide an integrative overview of the field and highlight future research directions for advancing theory and practice in AI-mediated business communication.
This study examines how leaders’ strategic use of motivating language, direction-giving, empathetic, and meaning-making, encourages employee support for Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA). Grounded in Motivating Language Theory and the Theory of Engagement, we argue that such communication enhances employees’ psychological meaningfulness of CSA and their perceived value alignment between the initiative and the organization. These perceptions serve as psychological mechanisms linking leadership communication to employees’ advocacy intentions, positive megaphoning, and organizational trust. An online survey of U.S. full-time employees revealed that all three language types increased perceived psychological meaningfulness, while only empathetic and meaning-making language strengthened perceived value alignment after accounting for employees’ personal issue attitudes. Both psychological meaningfulness and value alignment significantly predicted employees’ supportive responses. The findings highlight the distinct contributions of motivating language dimensions and emphasize their strategic importance for fostering employee engagement and internal support for organizational advocacy efforts.
Although enterprise social media (ESM) workgroups provide effective channels that enable employees to speak up, most employees tend to remain silent. This research aims to explain this phenomenon from the perspective of the voice bystander effect and, drawing on the arousal: cost-reward model, to explore when the voice bystander effect can be weakened. We used a scenario-based experiment (Study 1) to investigate the effects of group size on voice behavior and the moderating effect of the type of coworker voice. We also combined a critical incident technique with a scenario-based experiment (Study 2) to examine the effects of group size on voice behavior and the moderating effect of voice method. The results of these two studies consistently reveal that group size is negatively related to voice behavior. In addition, the type of coworker voice and voice method can weaken this effect. In the contexts of regular coworker voice and private voice, group size has no effect on voice behavior.
Chinese milk tea consumption is characterized by strong social engagement and a high degree of mediatization. This means that when crises occur, related incidents can rapidly escalate on social media, eroding public trust and undermining brand reputation and market performance. However, existing research on trust repair has paid relatively limited attention to emerging industries like the milk tea sector. This study adopts a multidisciplinary paradigm, integrating Image Repair Theory, Situational Crisis Communication Theory, the organizational trust model, and a linguistic approach to examine the dominant crisis types faced by Chinese milk tea companies, their trust repair goals, and corresponding linguistic realizations. The findings show that human error product harm, technical error accidents, and management misjudgments are the primary crisis types faced by Chinese milk tea companies. Across crisis types, these companies consistently prioritize repairing the benevolence dimension of trust. To restore this and other trust dimensions, they employ differentiated response strategies; notably, corrective action is necessary in nearly all crisis types. Chinese milk tea companies favor strategies such as admitting, appreciation, requesting, and exhortation. Further analysis shows that these strategies facilitate trust repair by constructing positive corporate images and mitigating responsibility attribution. By situating trust repair practices in the Chinese cultural context, this study extends Situational Crisis Communication Theory and Image Repair Theory by broadening the typology of crisis types and trust repair strategies. The paper concludes by offering practical suggestions for crisis management and trust rebuilding in similar industries.
This paper examines whether and how corporate insiders’ foreign experience affects firms’ voluntary narrative disclosures. Utilizing the setting of selective issuance of letters to shareholders by Chinese listed firms, we document a positive association between insiders’ foreign experience and the likelihood of issuing such letters. Consistent with the notion that international exposure improves information quality, letters from firms with foreign-experienced insiders exhibit greater readability and a more neutral tone. Mechanism analysis suggests that firms use these letters to signal their intention to enter international markets. Cross-sectional analyses reveal that the positive relationship between insiders’ foreign experience and the likelihood of issuing a letter is more pronounced for firms with higher media coverage and investor attention. Finally, we find that the effect of foreign experience is stronger when the insiders hold senior management positions or possess financial expertise. Overall, these findings suggest that foreign experience is a significant determinant of disclosure practices regarding letters to shareholders in China. JEL classification: M41, G34
This single case study examined how Goldman Sachs (GS) curates workplace attire representations on its official Instagram account to construct corporate identity following a dress code policy change in March 2019. Using multimodal content analysis (MMCA), a systematic methodology rooted in multimodal theory and semiotics, 126 images posted between March 2019 and October 2023 were analyzed. Images were coded for visual salience, multimodal attire, professional ensemble, and authenticity. Four thematic patterns were constructed: visualizing tradition through dress, constructing power multimodally, styling the details as semiotic expression , and performing authenticity in corporate storytelling. Findings demonstrate how organizations strategically curate workplace representations in mediated spaces to signal corporate identity. This study contributes to research on clothing semiotics, corporate identity construction, and multimodal organizational communication while advancing MMCA as a method for analyzing professional communication in digital environments.
By adopting a glocal approach that integrates Islamic values with globally generalized leadership communication types, this study theoretically proposes and empirically develops a scale of multinationals’ leadership communication in the MENA region based on expectations of local Muslims. Through an online survey in this region, the study identified three essential dimensions of Muslim participants’ shared expectations of leadership communication: benevolent-paternalistic leadership communication, transformational leadership communication, and recognition of Islam. Specifically, Muslim participants in this study expected leaders to communicate as benevolent paternal figures who inspire and support employees through open, honest, and mutual consultation. They also expect leaders to demonstrate transformational communication, characterized by care, wisdom, and innovation, while showing recognition and respect for Islamic ethics and values. Furthermore, the findings reveal that Muslims prefer interpersonal communication channels over mediated ones.
The purpose of this study was to better understand the importance of supervisor listening skills, particularly as they relate to subordinates’ intention to quit. Guided by construal level theory, the data were consistent with a model in which supervisor active empathetic listening skills (processing, sensing, and responding) affected subordinates’ intention to quit through the mediation of perceived organizational support. Processing and responding emerged as the two most influential predictors of the active empathetic listening behaviors.
The suppression of information from a project manager to a project sponsor might be based on perceived project sponsor behaviors. To gain greater insight into this phenomenon, an exploratory topic modeling analysis was performed on project manager responses ( n = 185) to an open-ended question related to the withholding of project information. A key conclusion of this study was that project managers may withhold information from project sponsors if they perceive unreceptiveness to receiving unfavorable project information. This study provides a foundation for future empirical research related to project manager perceptions of project sponsor behaviors within the context of project communication.
This study investigates how Social Media Monitoring by Workplace Contacts (SMMWC) shapes employees’ online disclosure and professional outcomes, drawing on Communication Privacy Management theory. We surveyed 302 working professionals in Pakistan to assess the impact of SMMWC on dimensions of online self-disclosure including breadth, depth, authenticity, and positive valence, and, in turn, impacts outcomes including job satisfaction, social capital and self-concept clarity. Results show that SMMWC does not uniformly restrict disclosure; instead, it encourages greater breadth, depth, and authenticity, while reducing positive valence. Mediation analyses reveal that authenticity strengthens both social capital and self-concept clarity, whereas positive valence undermines self-concept clarity. These findings challenge assumptions that monitoring primarily suppresses disclosure and extend communication privacy management theory by showing that employees strategically recalibrate boundaries to balance authenticity and impression management. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for understanding online self-presentation in digital environments.
In innovation-driven firms, internal communication about "failing fast" often clashes with the everyday practices that define what counts as failure. Cadence routines, KPI dashboards, and release meetings tend to equate failure with missing a ship date, quietly pushing safety and learning to the margins. Using structuration theory and structurational divergence as a lens, this article analyzes 98 interviews, meeting observations, and artifacts from a public-safety software company to show how these communication practices order risk, authority, and participation. The study extends organizational communication theory by specifying cadence selection and language convergence/meaning divergence as communicative mechanisms that link temporal routines and failure definitions to whose expertise travels when. Practically, it identifies designable communication interventions that help leaders keep learning and reliability decision-visible under deadline pressure.
This article expands on the global virtual team literature and the knowledge sharing literature by developing a conceptual model of the relationships among cultural distance, cultural intelligence, communication frequency, and communication quality on effective knowledge sharing within global virtual teams. It is posited that cultural distance will have a negative impact on communication frequency. Communication frequency will have a positive influence on communication quality and this relationship will be moderated by media channel richness and cultural intelligence. Furthermore, the higher levels of communication quality will increase knowledge sharing within teams. Propositions are developed drawing on the literature in communications, virtual teams, and knowledge sharing. Organizations can use the information presented here to structure global virtual teams for effective knowledge sharing and consider utilizing training programs to more effectively share knowledge.
How do we care for people during personal hardship at work? Research suggests that compassion helps individuals and organizations alike. But how do we effectively communicate compassion in mediated contexts, such as remote or hybrid workplaces? Compassion research emphasizes the importance of physical touch, presence, and close attention to nonverbal cues-all of which may be constrained in mediated channels. This exploratory mixed-methods study examines how recipients experience compassion in hybrid and remote working contexts. Our findings suggest that recipients in hybrid work arrangements overwhelmingly experience compassion face-to-face and espouse strong beliefs that face-to-face is the most appropriate channel for compassion, and yet, channel did not seem to impact evaluations of conversation quality and outcomes. We discuss theoretical implications for how people adapt to leaner media technologies, despite strong lay theories about the proper channels for compassion.
