How Supervisors’ Use of Motivating Language Influences Employee Attitudes and Supportive Behaviors: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Remote Work

Abstract

The rise of remote and hybrid work, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has brought new challenges for organizations’ internal communication. The increasing complexity of the modern work environment calls for effective leadership communication to keep employees engaged. The goal of this study is to examine how supervisory leadership communication, specifically supervisors’ use of motivating language, influences employee trust, engagement, and supportive behaviors toward the organization, with a focus on differences between remote and onsite settings. We conducted an online survey of 2,004 full-time U.S. employees across 18 industries, and data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group comparison. Results showed that supervisors’ use of motivating language significantly predicted employee trust, engagement, and supportive behaviors. Multi-group SEM revealed that work mode moderated several relationships: motivating language had a stronger effect on trust for onsite employees than remote employees, and trust had a stronger effect on supportive behaviors for onsite employees. In contrast, employee engagement showed a stronger impact on supportive behaviors for remote employees. These findings offer important insights for optimizing leadership communication across modern work environments and extending Motivating Language Theory to flexible work contexts.