Jacqueline Mayfield

• Texas A&M International University

This study examines whether a leader’s motivating language use cultivates individual follower gratitude and ultimately, work engagement and empowerment in both the USA and India. It also seeks to discover if the proposed model shows significant differences between the two national contexts. We examined our model by distributing questionnaires to a...

This paper presents an altruistic leadership theory based on evolutionary concepts. The theory proposes that natural processes selected for selfish behaviors, and that these selfish behaviors continue in modern humanity. However, while these selfish tendencies provided positive survival traits among ancestral populations, they induce negative behav...

This introduction explains our vision, inclusion criteria, and mission for a curated issue about business communication and COVID-19. We focus on the big picture of communication agility lessons from a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) environment. We also present a definition and a typology of agile business communication,...

This article aims to study the influence of leader motivating language on three elements of workplace spirituality. It is hypothesized that leader motivational speech will be positively related to inner life, sense of community, and meaningful work. Data from 337 individuals from the US was collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Results from parti...

This manuscript presents a study on how leader motivating language and follower self-leadership act to influence a follower’s feelings of psychological safety. This study found that both constructs significantly influenced psychological safety in samples from India and the USA. Additionally, this study found that this influence occurred through the...

This study examines the links between leader communication (as conceptualized through motivating language) and follower organizational identification as mediated by follower cultural knowledge and fit. Results show that motivating language has a positive and strong effect on follower organizational identification with a one standard deviation incre...

This chapter gives brief synopses of business communication theories which highlight the communicative nature and architecture of culture. These diverse theories emphasize the intersection between cultural communication and meaning as well as its impact on organizational/community members. Our definition of culture refers to mutual norms, beliefs,...

This chapter looks at the various disciplines that business communication has drawn from to collectively construct its unique identity. Understanding these traditions helps stakeholders in the field to better access the underlying assumptions that our theories incorporate. This knowledge also guides our awareness of where and why various theories m...

This chapter introduces contemporary and emergent business communication theories which our survey and scholarly polling may have overlooked, especially due to some being relatively new. We humbly acknowledge that our choices are not all inclusive. We may have missed some high-quality contributions. Nonetheless, these exciting developments were sel...

This chapter looks at business communication theories about processes that we use to better understand ourselves and our purpose at work. Unlike most business communication theories, those in this chapter examine what communication processes shape views of ourselves and our environment. As such, the phenomena these theories examine can influence a...

There are so many great sources on organizational communication theory to read. Here we present a non-exhaustive, eclectic list of recommended books and book chapters which have been written over several decades.

Theories in this chapter look at how communication flows between parties and what obstacles can impede or prevent this flow. Most of these theories give us insights into the transmission of information rather than the impetus for or effects of communication. However, theories such as Latour’s Actor-Network Theory examines the effects of disrupted c...

This chapter presents how we classified the business communication theories drawing on judges’ feedback. The judges rated the theories based on their importance, scientific support, application in business settings, and how well known the theory is. Based on the ratings in these four areas, we classified the theories into core theories (theories wi...

This chapter includes major theories about how communication is or is not transmitted, received, and interpreted, including actual barriers to conveyance of meaning and transparency. With the exception of genderlect theory (Tannen Gender and conversational interaction. Oxford University Press, 1993, You just don’t understand. HarperCollins, 2013),...

This chapter summarizes the major contributions of this book (the categorization of and advancement of business communication theory), discusses why these contributions matter, and presents important future aspirations for moving forward. These aspirations include the significance of improving work experiences and outcomes, breaking down the theore...

This chapter presents how we developed our initial list of business communication theories, expanded the list, and what outside advice we drew upon to finalize the list. We developed the initial list from our own knowledge and examining theories presented by major business communication journals. We then expanded the list by examining other sources...

Typologies help us by grouping related items together into sensible groupings. With theories, a typology can help us to better understand where theories have similarities and where they complement each other. This chapter presents a typology of business communication theories that categorizes theories based on how researchers use them. For our typo...

This theory lays out the need for strong theory in the field of business communication. A set of strong, widely recognized theories can improve the field in many ways. Theory helps improve research in the field by giving us a uniting scaffold that we can build upon. The chapter also describes how such a set of theories can help the field’s reputati...

The theories in this chapter take a different approach to business communication than those in the other chapters. The theories presented here mainly focus on why we should undertake business communication rather than how we do business communication. The theories also present meta-views of business communication in that some present an overarching...

This chapter presents theories that examine how organizational structures (such as organizational hierarchies and physical items) influence organizational communications. The chapter also presents the influence organizational communications have on organizational structures. Most of the theories presented in this chapter have at least an implicit p...

Motivation and persuasion are at the heart of most organizational communication. In fact, many business communication theories are linked to rhetoric, a key theory in this category. Simply stated, motivational and persuasive messages guide how we get things done in organizations. Just as important, these same messages impact the well-being of organ...

Purpose While there has been an abundance of research on the positive outcomes of creative environment, little work has been done on how creative environment influences the general work outcomes of noncreative specialist workers. The paper aims to fill this void by examining the influence of creative environment on absenteeism among garden variety...

This book examines the major business communication theories, delving into their relationships and practical applications. Many business communication studies lack a strong theoretical grounding—a deficit that creates difficulties for researching business communication phenomena and building upon previous studies. The book addresses this issue by c...

Purpose This manuscript presents guidelines for how managers can use communication (motivating language) to increase the feedback they receive from their followers. Design/methodology/approach These guidelines were developed from careful analysis of leader motivating language and follower voice literature. Findings Analysis results lead research...

This article presents a theory of empathetic leadership and its initial test. Empathetic leadership provides a model of how leader understanding and support improves follower behaviors and affective states. For this article, we explored the link between empathetic leadership and follower performance. Specifically, we tested the causal processes by...

Purpose This paper aims to examine how companies can increase employee retention through job embeddedness. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted a job embeddedness perspective to explain how different components of job embeddedness-fit, links, and sacrifice can contribute to employee retention. Findings The authors developed a practi...

This chapter explores motivating language’s empathetic language dimension. We begin with including a broad scope of empathy—civility, perspective taking, empathy, and compassion—to capture this form of leader talk. This chapter also explains how leaders incorporate diverse and progressive categories of empathy or emotional bonding with followers in...

This chapter presents three forms of strategic ML use—(1) organizational level: internal, (2) organizational level: external, and (3) team based. In all three cases, leaders must have a clear idea of what they need to accomplish and their constituents’ characteristics. By understanding these two factors, a leader can tailor her or his ML use to max...

In this chapter, we examine many ways to expand ML research. First, we look at how ML directly influences someone’s motivation. We also look at how ML operates over time through adjustments to ML messages. We then provide ideas on how to translate ML from a leader-to-follower theory to a theory that can operate between any two people, including one...

Motivating language theory has proven to be remarkably generalizable across many different settings. This stability, in part, comes from ML’s firm theoretical grounding, available quality measures, and parallel development using different analytic methods. Its foundation has lead to a theory that generalizes across most national culture groups, wor...

This chapter explores the meaning-making dimension of motivating language. We define workplace meaning and discuss why it is vital to employee motivation, performance, and well-being. We also link meaning-making language to key related theories, such as the job characteristics model, sense making, interpersonal sense making, the theory of purposefu...

This chapter revisits how far motivating language has come and about its integration with a bigger picture, namely a culture of mindful, collaborative communication. Motivating language is an important expression of respectful leadership, where speakers consciously own and take responsibility for their language. This talk is a relational, socially...

In this chapter, we introduce the inception, foundations, research findings, and current inquiry about motivating language theory. This theory was originally conceptualized by professor Jeremiah Sullivan as a communicative path to enhance follower motivation and related outcomes through mindful and strategic leader speech. These forms of talk are e...

This chapter describes why all motivating language factors must be used in a coordinated fashion for maximum outcomes. Each facet plays a unique role in leader-to-follower communication that cannot be replaced by the other facets. In addition, a deficit in one facet will create problems in a worker’s situation that will blunt the effectiveness of t...

Motivating language theory foundations rest on evidence that links it to important workplace outcomes. This chapter summarizes existing research on motivating language and its outcomes using multiple relationships and outcome measures. We present ML’s outcomes in three sections: outcomes that primarily benefit organizations, outcomes that primarily...

In this chapter, we discuss direction-giving language, the motivating language dimension most frequently used in organizations. Direction-giving language communicates the vision’s goals, what followers need to do to accomplish them, how the work should be carried out, and what rewards can be expected. Effective direction-giving talk involves transp...

This study investigates the relationships between the external influence of leader motivating language (ML), each of the major dimensions of self-leadership (SL)—behavioral strategies, constructive thoughts strategies, and natural rewards strategies—and their respective links with the outcomes of employee job satisfaction, performance, and intent-t...

This book presents the findings, applications, and theoretical underpinnings of a unique leadership communication model: motivating language theory. Drawing from management, social science, and communication theories, motivating language theory demonstrates how leader-to-follower speech improves employee and organizational well-being and drives pos...

Garden variety creativity has a vital but often overlooked role in business. Garden variety creativity happens whenever someone develops a new way of dealing with a workplace issue. It contrasts with institutional creativity—actions meant to develop radical new business methods and products at an organizational level. Institutional creativity advan...

Purpose This paper aims to examine how leader communication can help foster an employee’s ability to set and achieve goals and align these goals with organizationally relevant purposes. Design/methodology/approach To better understand this process, the authors use two well-supported theories – motivating language to provide a framework for underst...

Purpose This paper provides guidelines for how leaders can use human resource department capabilities to improve organizational performance and related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach To develop these guidelines, existing best practices were examined and distilled into concise recommendations for organizational leaders. Findings Examination...

Motivating language (ML) is a leader oral-communication strategy which has been significantly linked to such positive employee outcomes as higher job performance, increased job satisfaction, lower intention to turnover, and decreased absenteeism. However, most ML research has not targeted an organizational system at multiple levels. In brief, we ha...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose motivating language as a mediator to increase the positive effects of servant leadership on subordinates’ outcomes. The authors propose that motivating language acts as a mediator to transmit servant leadership traits and enhances the positive impact that servant leadership verbal behavior has on em...

This study examines the link between strategic leader verbal communication and effective employee decision making. Results show that leader communication (as measured by the motivating language scale) is significantly and positively related to augmented worker decision making. Structural equation modeling results indicate an expected 2.5% improveme...

This study extends motivating language theory (MLT) to clarify how top leaders can construct and transmit strategic vision communications and related values messages to improve organizational performance. The propositions and models configure MLT’s utility for transmitting vision and values through CEO language, and also expand the existing MLT fra...

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in global worker preferences for job attributes and incentives at the national cultural level, knowledge that is key to the architecture of effective human resource systems. Design/methodology/approach – A Bayesian latent growth curve (LGC) model was used to test data from the World and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to foster organizational–citizenship behavior (OCB), which offers benefits including improved competitive advantage and employee welfare. Design/methodology/approach – This paper defines OCB, discusses its benefits and limitations and offers advice on interventions. Findings – It is argued tha...

Purpose – This paper discusses how simulations can be used to improve organizations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview of three major simulation methods – Petri nets, system dynamics, and agent based modeling. Findings – The overview shows that while each method has different complexity levels and more appropriate areas...

Leadership language and its effects on employee affect and outcomes have experienced significant advances in research progress and practice in recent years. Communication researchers have explored and developed persuasive/framing models for practice to bridge the gap between leader intent and employee outcomes through verbal communication with the...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictive influence of national cultural models on national infrastructure development. The national culture models of Hofstede, GLOBE, Ronen and Shenkar, and the World and European Values Survey (WEVS), were measured and compared to ascertain the best prediction fit for national infrastructu...

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings There is an obvious...

Purpose – The article aims to describe a comprehensive performance feedback system that will enhance organizational learning and development. Design/methodology/approach – This model is based on a review of best feedback practices and theory. Findings – Good performance feedback must be part of an overall organizational strategy. Practical implicat...

This paper investigates the relationships between the level of spousal support that a dual career marriage participant receives and the individuals job satisfaction and work stress. Results indicate that a high level of spousal support leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. Data analysis also suggests that gender moderates the relationship bet...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the motivating language (ML) theory conceptualization by examining the role of leader-level communication (as compared to the current dyadic level conceptualization) in employee performance and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Partial least squares (PLS) analysis is used to test how le...

A scale is presented to measure worker creative environment perceptions. The scale has good measurement properties, is brief enough for easy administration, and can be used on a wide range of garden variety creativity workers. Structural equation modeling testing of the underlying factor structure showed 3 significantly interrelated latent variable...

This study investigates the relationship between strategic leader language (as embodied in Motivating Language Theory) and employee absenteeism. With a structural equation model, two perspectives were measured for the impact of leader spoken language: employee attitudes towards absenteeism and actual attendance. Results suggest that leader language...

E-training is becoming an important part of organisational practices intended to support the workforce. This study examined links between a worker's perceptions of a first-time e-training program and two outcomes: The worker's attitude towards sexual harassment, and the worker's expected behaviour in dealing with it. Using a structural equation mod...

Purpose – The paper aims to share research findings to date, explain the conceptual model, and discuss workplace implementation options. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents concept applications for improved leader communication based on existing research and future potential. Findings – The paper finds that motivating language is signi...

This paper provides evidence on the necessity of congruency between leader behavior and communications in order to maximize worker outcomes. The study uses structural equation model comparisons to test competing models of leader communication and behavior. Results show that the best model is one where leader behavior (as encapsulated through the LM...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for how leaders can nurture and develop worker garden variety creativity. Design/methodology/approach – This model was created by synthesizing existing research and literature on leadership and garden variety creativity. Findings – Findings' synthesis yielded a testable and implementable m...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the creative environment's effect on a worker's intent to turnover. It was designed to investigate the creative environment's role on garden variety creativity (non-elite) workers' organizational outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was used to collect data from a heterogeneous sample of garden varie...

This study presents findings on the link between leader motivating language (ML) use and worker intent to stay. Structural equation modeling indicated that ML use significantly improves worker intent to stay—with a 10% increase in ML leading to an approximate 5% increase in worker intent to stay. Also, analysis showed that the full ML model better...

Purpose To analyze the relationship between an organization's generic strategy and its longevity. Design/methodology/approach Companies in the USA, comic book industry were classified in the Miles and Snow generic strategic types. An ANOVA test was then used to determine the relationship between these strategic types and organizational longevity (...

The World Wide Web presents many opportunities for improving the instructional quality of international business communication related classes by providing access to a large variety of information sources. These sources can be used as supplements to traditional texts, as the basis for specific program assignments, or even as the main focus of a cou...

In 1978, Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) to protect the civil rights of motherhood in the workplace. Since then, the act's interpretation has been altered by various court decisions. These changes, along with more working women, make PDA compliance more complex. This challenge is reflected by a 39% increase in Equal Employmen...

In this article, the authors present a set of useful Web sites for enhancing and supplementing human resource courses and training programs, especially those that deal with the legal and regulatory aspects of the human resources (HR) function. These Web sites provide valuable information on pertinent HR compliance issues as well as information that...

Traditional conceptualizations of leader-worker oral communication have been unidimensional among management theorists (Yukl, 1989). Despite urgings by academics and managers for more research, little investigation has been con ducted into the specific roles that language plays in strategically transmitting leader behavior. In response, recent lead...

This paper proposes a training/research agenda for teaching leaders strategic language. Strategic language is defined by motivating language theory (Sullivan, 1988) as leader-to-subordinate oral communication that increases the likelihood of such desirable worker outcomes as high performance levels and job satisfaction. Motivating language has been...