Emails from the boss – curse or blessing? Relations between communication channels, leader evaluation and employees’ attitudes
The present research investigates if and how a more digitally-centered communication between supervisors and employees satisfies employees’ needs regarding the communication with their supervisors, and influences employees’ attitudes towards the supervisor and the job. In a cross-sectional online study, 261 employees rated their supervisors’ actual and ideal use of different communication channels (i.e., telephone, face-to-face, email) regarding quality and quantity. Employees’ job satisfaction and their perceptions of their supervisors’ effectiveness and team-identification were measured as dependent variables. Employees perceived face-to-face communication to be of higher quality than telephone and email communication, and they indicated a preference for more face-to-face communication with their supervisors than they actually had. Moreover, the perceived quality of communication, especially via face-to-face, was strongly and positively related to the dependent variables. These results provide insights into potential problems of increasing E-leadership in organizations. We conclude with recommendations to reduce these problems.
Published
Braun, S., Hernandez Bark, A., Kirchner, A., Stegmann, S., & Van Dick, R. (2019). Emails from the boss – curse or blessing? Relations between communication channels, leader evaluation and employees’ attitudes. International Journal of Business Communication , 56, 50-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488415597516.