Emails From the Boss—Curse or Blessing? Relations Between Communication Channels, Leader Evaluation, and Employees' Attitudes. (January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Braun, Stephan; Hernandez Bark, Alina; Kirchner, Alexander; Stegmann, Sebastian; van Dick, Rolf
• Is Part Of: International journal of business communication. Volume 56:Number 1(2019:Jan.)
• Page Start: 50
• Page End: 81
• Publication Date: 2019-01
• Subjects: e-leadership -- leadership -- communication -- face-to-face -- email; Business communication -- Periodicals; 658.45
• DOI: 10.1177/2329488415597516
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2329-4884

Abstract

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 toward 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.