The Link Between Leadership Style, Communicator Competence, and Subordinate Satisfaction

• In Event: Communicating Worldviews: Communication Competence and Issues in Graduate Student Teaching, Training, and Mentoring

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of supervisors’ leadership style and communicator competence on subordinate job and communication satisfaction. Participants N = 220, (116 men and 104 women) included individuals working full-time for a variety of companies in the Midwest. The findings indicated a link between supervisors’ communicator competence and both task and relational leadership styles, with communication competence having the greatest predictability and influence on subordinate job and communication satisfaction. More specifically, the findings indicated that supervisor communicator competence accounted for 68% of the variance in subordinate communication satisfaction and nearly 18% of the variance in subordinate job satisfaction. More importantly, these findings provide a link between communication, leadership, job satisfaction, and communication satisfaction.

Author

• Paul E Madlock, West Virginia University