Communication on Impressions About New Employees

One of the pitfalls of past research in upward influence communication is that messages are often categorized using more than one characteristic. This categorization has made it difficult to understand how different mes-sage characteristics affect supervisors ’ perceptions about employees. Given the importance of supervisor perceptions for the future of employees in the organization, this study uses principles of language expectancy theory (LET) to explore how message content (benefit organization vs. no benefit) and delivery style (aggressive vs. nonaggressive) in upward communication situations affect perceptions of personal reputation and work competence. Participants, acting in the role of supervisors, read one of four scenarios and evaluated a new employee. Results suggest that delivery style and mes-sage content independently influence the supervisor’s willingness to grant a request as well as influence perceptions of personal reputation, whereas perceptions of work competence are primarily affected by message content. Implications of results for theory and practice are discussed