The current study examined the influence of supervisor communicator competence and leadership style on employee job and communication satisfaction. Participants were 220 individuals (116 men and 104 women) working full-time for a variety of companies in the Midwest. The findings indicated a strong relationship between supervisors' communicator competence and their task and relational leadership styles, with supervisor communicator competence being a stronger predictor of employee job and communication satisfaction. More specifically, the findings indicated that supervisor communicator competence accounted for 68% of the variance in subordinate communication satisfaction and nearly 18% of the variance in subordinate job satisfaction. More important, these findings provide an association between communication, leadership, and employee job and communication satisfaction.

This study examined the association between supervisors' mentoring and verbal aggression and their subordinates' perceived communication satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The findings of the 200 full-time working adults who participated in the study supported prior research indicating positive relationships between mentoring behaviors by supervisors and their subordinates' communication satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction, and negative relationships between supervisors' verbal aggression and their subordinates' communication satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Results of a regression analysis indicated that supervisors' verbal aggression was a greater negative predictor of subordinates' outcomes than was mentoring a positive predictor, supporting the presence of a negativity bias in the supervisor-subordinate relationship. Additionally, path analysis indicated that communication satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between supervisor mentoring and subordinate organizational commitment, whereas communication satisfaction served as a suppressor between mentoring and subordinate job satisfaction.

The purpose of the current study was to extend organizational communication scholarship by examining the influence of culture on the use of motivating language by supervisors in Mexican organizations. Furthermore, the influence of motivating language on employees’ perceptions of their supervisors’ communication competence and their own job satisfaction and organizational commitment was examined. Participants included 158 full-time employees from a number of organizations located in Mexico. The current findings indicate that supervisors in organizations located in Mexico, tend to use direction-giving language most frequently followed by meaning-making language and empathetic language. Direction-giving language was also indicated as the greatest predictor of communication and organizational outcomes. A discussion of the current findings highlighting expectancy violations theory was also offered.

This study sought to extend prior research by examining the prevalence of relational maintenance behaviors between coworkers and the impact of such behaviors on the work-related attitudes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, communication satisfaction, and work alienation. The finding indicated that more than 88% of the employees who participated in this study engaged in coworker relational maintenance strategies, with conflict management, shared tasks, and positivity reported most often. Additionally, significant relationships were found between coworker relational maintenance behaviors and the work-related attitudes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, communication satisfaction, and work alienation. A detailed discussion highlighting the relevance of these findings to communication scholars and business professionals is also provided.

This study extended communication scholarship by examining the influence of cultural congruency between micro- and macro-cultures regarding power distance on Mexican employees’ communication behaviors, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Included were the responses from 168 full-time nonmanagement working adults of Mexican origin working in Mexican organizations. The current study was grounded by the theory of independent mindedness. The findings offered support for the value of cultural congruency between the societal culture (macro) and the organizational culture (micro). Additional findings indicated that power distance, avoidance messages, communication apprehension, and communication satisfaction, were all positively related to the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of Mexican employees.