Leader Communication During Environmental Shocks: Message Translation and Its Impact On Employee Behaviour

Authors:

Abstract: Environmental shocks (e.g., fraud, COVID-19, climate shifts) have the potential to substantially impact business operations. In the recent case of COVID-19, strategies leaders adopted to navigating this environmental shock was often under the microscope with employees and external stakeholders critical of leader communication processes and strategies, particularly as these relate to navigating conflicting and competing demands between maintaining fiduciary commitments and the human impacts within and beyond organisations. The ‘right’ communication processes are vital to securing employee compliance with evolving organisational responses rather than eliciting employee dissatisfaction or ‘push back’. In three studies, we examine the effect of leader communication processes and strategies on employee responses to navigating environmental shocks. We show that how leaders frame an organisational crisis (i.e., as either helpful or harmful to business longevity) as well as the type of environmental shock (i.e., COVID-19 or fraudulent financial behaviour) shapes the responses of employees in meaningful ways.

Track: COMM

Keywords: Communication; Leadership; Environmental Shocks; Organisation