The Citadel

A leader’s motivating language (ML)—i.e. uncertainty reduction, corporate culture explanation, and expression of shared feelings—has the goal of bridging the distance between leader intent and employee understanding to positively influence employee outcomes. This study explores the effects of supervisors’ ML on employees ’ job satisfaction, perceived supervisor communication competence, communication satisfaction, and perceived leader effectiveness for two groups: employees with supervisory roles and those without supervisory roles. Multivariate data analysis results indicate that the influence of the three forms of ML communication on key employee outcomes varies for those who hold supervisor positions and those who do not