Engaging Startup Employees via Charismatic Leadership Communication: The Importance of Communicating “Vision, Passion, and Care”

Abstract

This study explores how startup leadership communication influences employee outcomes. Specifically, drawing upon interdisciplinary insight from public relations, leadership, and managerial psychology, this study tests how startup CEO charismatic leadership communication, which is characterized by envisioning, energizing, and enabling behaviors help nurture quality employee relationships with the startup and engage startup employees. Employees’ psychological need satisfaction was examined as a potential mediator in this process. This study sets its context in mainland China where startups are rapidly developing alongside increased governmental policy and financial support encouraging innovation. Through a quantitative survey of 1,027 Chinese startup employees from a variety of industries in China, this study showed that startup leader charismatic communication meets employee psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which ultimately contributes to quality employee-startup relationships and employee engagement. This study provides important theoretical implications for public relations, internal communication and management scholars and offer practical insights for entrepreneurs and startup leaders on how to utilize strategic communication to engage startup employees.

Service Orientation and Customer Performance: Triad Perspectives of Sales Managers, Sales Employees, and Customers

“…First, they set and communicate a clear vision to their employees [ 94 ]. The top-down approach of delivering the service vision would likely affect employees who exhibit similar service attitudes.…”

Entrepreneurs as influencers: the impact of parasocial interactions on communication outcomes

“…In the past, research on the social media communication of start-ups has been focused on the organizational level of the communication (Olanrewaju et al , 2020; Pakura and Rudeloff, 2020; Pakura et al , 2020; Rudeloff et al , 2021; Rudeloff et al , 2022), while the examination of the personal communication activities of entrepreneurs has been limited to internal relationships (Men et al , 2021a, 2021b). We close this research gap by providing the first quantitative evidence for the positive impact of an influential entrepreneur’s external communication on OPR and further communication outcomes with external stakeholders.…”

“…Consequently, prior studies have examined entrepreneurs' online social media behavior (Turan and Kara, 2018). Also, in the context of start-up CEO communication, the creation of employee-organization relationships through entrepreneurial leadership communication has been investigated (Men, 2021a(Men, , 2021b. However, influential entrepreneurs who may impact the perceptions and attitudes of external stakeholders, such as customers, via social media have not been explored.…”

Political Leaders’ Communication Strategies during COVID-19 in Highly Infected Countries: A Scoping Review

“…Crisis communication involves navigating myriad factors: the nature and severity of the crisis, the cultural and socio-political milieu, and the credibility and authority of the leaders themselves [2]. These elements all influence the strategies adopted by the leaders to manage public perceptions and responses.…”