| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation explores the influence of leaders’ prosocial framing on coworkers’ intent to provide social support to fellow coworkers. This study contributes to the growing literature on positive organizational communication scholarship (POCS) by investigating the relationships among framing, prosociality, compassion, and social support in leadership, peer coworker relationships, and organizational communication contexts. This dissertation followed two 3 x 2 experimental designs—a pilot and a study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of six hypothetical conditions. Conditions differed in terms of type of leader message [i.e., Autobiographical Prosocial Leader Message (APLM), prosocial directive, or control group] and type of relationship with peer coworker (i.e., close or distant). In the hypothetical scenario, a coworker (close or distant) is experiencing a personal hardship that may interfere with work. Participants indicated their intent to provide social support and fear of expressing compassion to the coworker. Hypotheses state APLM messages increase employees’ intention to provide instrumental social support, emotional social support, and decrease fear of expressing compassion as compared to the other experimental conditions. Additionally, hypotheses state that participants in the APLM condition perceive the hypothetical leader as more credible that those assigned to other hypothetical leader message experimental conditions.
A pilot sample of full-time working adults (N = 112) participated in the experimental survey design. Results indicate a significant main effect for type of coworker on intention to provide emotional social support and instrumental social support to a peer coworker. Participants assigned to the close coworker condition were more likely to show more intent to provide emotional social support and instrumental social support than those participants assigned to the distant coworker condition. Results indicated a main effect for leader message on decreasing fear of expressing compassion to peer coworkers. Specifically, participants assigned to the APLM condition reported lower levels of fear of expressing compassion to coworkers as compared to coworkers assigned to the prosocial directive and control condition leader messages.
Another sample of full-time working adults (N = 225) participated in a replication of the experimental survey design. Results indicate a main effect for type of coworker on intention to provide emotional social support and instrumental social support. Participants assigned to the close coworker condition were more likely to provide social support compared to participants assigned to the distant coworker condition. Results indicated leaders in the APLM condition were perceived to be more credible than leaders in the control condition. After one of the manipulation checks was not successful, participants assigned to the prosocial directive were removed from further analysis. A final subset of the sample consisting of full-time working adults (N = 148) were included in the 2 x 2 experimental survey design. Results indicate a main effect for type of coworker on intention to provide emotional social support and instrumental social support. Participants assigned to the close coworker condition were more likely to provide social support compared to participants assigned to the distant coworker condition. APLM and type of coworker interacted. Specifically, in the presence of APLM, participants were more likely to provide emotional social support to a distant coworker as compared to participants assigned to the control/distant condition. Results also indicated leaders in the APLM condition were perceived to be more credible than leaders in the control condition.
This dissertation contributes to organizational communication research in several ways: First, this dissertation contributes to the leadership framing literature, specifically in terms using the framing device of autobiographical stories. Second, by sharing an autobiographical story about experiencing a personal hardship, a leader’s credibility was not harmed. Third, this dissertation demonstrates differences in communication markers associated with type of coworker relationship. Fourth, a unique contribution of this study of organizational communication is that it included a measurement of participants’ fear of expressing compassion to others. Overall, this dissertation takes a Positive Organizational Communication Scholarship (POCS) approach in its contribution to Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS). This dissertation concludes with practical implications, limitations, and future directions that result from this study.
Keywords: leadership framing, autobiographical stories, prosocial motivation, peer coworker relationships, emotional social support, instrumental social support, fear of expressing compassion, workplace compassion, leadership credibility, Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), Positive Organizational Communication Scholarship (POCS). | en_US |
