Management Communication Quarterly

This study proposes the Work-Related Emotional Communication model of burnout to explicate the relationships between processes of emotional work and emotional labor leading to burnout. The model was validated drawing on survey data from 2,067 practicing attorneys. Our analyses found emotional contagion to have a stronger positive influence on burnout through its direct effect on exhaustion than through its indirect effect on communicative responsiveness. Sensitivity to the Expressive Behavior of Others was a prominent influence on empathic communication. Inefficacy partially mediated the positive effects of exhaustion on cynicism. Surface acting did not contribute to inefficacy but had positive effects on exhaustion and cynicism. Deep acting had no apparent effect on burnout, whereas automatic regulation negatively influenced burnout. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications for future research and offer suggestions for management to work toward the reduction of worker burnout.

This study unpacks the complex relationship between corporate–nonprofit partnerships, corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, and stakeholder evaluations of fit. We move beyond the fundamental question of whether partner fit matters to questions about what types of messages matter, under what conditions, and to whom. We conducted an online experiment (N = 966) to test created fit messages’ ability to influence stakeholder perceptions of corporate–nonprofit partnership fit. Grounded in the symbiotic sustainability model, we find that created fit messaging results in stakeholders having more favorable evaluations of corporate–nonprofit partnership fit. However, we also identify differences in the effectiveness of created fit messaging across potential partnerships. In addition, we find, beyond message type and level of partner congruity, the degree of CSR activism influences stakeholders’ responses to created fit messaging in counterintuitive ways.

Situated in communication privacy management (CPM) theory, this study found that anticipated risk was the strongest predictor of minority religious identity disclosure at work. Older workers who regarded non-Christian belief or non-belief as central to who they were and who worked in smaller organizations disclosed their identity more than other participants. The follow-up analyses also revealed that the degree of disclosure varied by ethnicity, geographic region, religion, job rank, and membership in the organization’s dominant religion. Religious accommodation policy and religious centrality were associated with increased anticipation of benefits, which in turn was linked to increased disclosure. Finally, sense of belonging was associated with increased anticipation of benefits and decreased anticipation of risks, which also indirectly impacted disclosure. This study added more depth to CPM privacy rules and provided a broader understanding of minority religious identity disclosure at work. Recommendations for creating a religiously inclusive workplace and directions for future studies are provided.

The status of transgender rights presents a national crisis, and organizational communication scholars must mobilize activist scholarship in which the “T” in “LGBT” (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) matters in the argument presented and changes proposed. The purpose of this study was (a) to acknowledge transgender members as worthy of focused organizational study and (b) to theorize a transgender standpoint epistemology in an organizational context—an epistemology rooted in a standpoint marginalized at the societal level, within the LGBT community, and in communication scholarship. I discuss my collaboration with a community organization called Trans*Spectrum, where I conducted 10 in-depth interviews with transgender employees. The study illustrates how gender identity, performativities, and presentation, as well as agency and privilege, coalesce within the bounds of organizational rules and norms to permit only certain bodies to navigate the workplace in particular, uniform ways. The results show how organizations could better curate spaces for acknowledgment, accommodation, and acceptance.

Case study remains a foundation of past and present organizational communication scholarship. In this article, we show the value of supplementing traditional case-selection methods with positive deviance case selection (PDCS). PDCS is about identifying and investigating individuals, teams, and organizations whose communication is intentional, nonnormative, and honorable. PDCS supports the creation of analytic generalizations and transferable concepts that can be recommended or imitated to bolster communicative excellence and thriving in the workplace. The article explores the benefits of and techniques for PDCS and illustrates the unique strengths of PDCS with two recent examples in the organizational communication literature. Implications for method, theory building, and practice are discussed throughout the article.