Public Relations Review 45 (2019) 101764
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Public Relations Review
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pubrev
Full Length Article
Creating a positive emotional culture: Effect of internal
communication and impact on employee supportive behaviors
T
Linjuan Rita Men⁎, Cen April Yue
University of Florida, United States
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Keywords:
Emotional culture
Internal communication
Symmetrical communication
Leadership communication
Responsive communication
Employee supportive behaviors
The study surveyed 506 employees in the United States to test the effect of internal communication (i.e., corporate-level symmetrical and leadership-level responsive communications) on
fostering a positive emotional culture characterized by companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude. In addition, we tested the interplay between corporate internal communication and a
positive emotional culture and its influence on supportive employee behaviors, specifically, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and employee advocacy. Results indicated that symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication cultivated a positive emotional culture in organizations. Such culture also fostered employee OCB and advocacy.
Moreover, corporate symmetrical communication directly and positively influenced employee
OCB. Finally, this study found that employee OCB positively affected employee advocacy. The
theoretical and practical implications of the findings for public relations scholars and practitioners were discussed.
1. Introduction
Emotional culture, compared with cognitive culture, affects organizational behaviors in a different way (Robinson, Watkins, &
Harmon-Jones, 2013). Unlike cognitive culture, which guides how organizational members think and behave, emotional culture sets
the tone for how organizational members feel. Despite the increasing recognition of the importance of how employees feel and what
emotions they experience within their respective organizations, limited scholarly attention has been given to the emotional aspect of
organizational culture. Specifically, the current study examines a positive emotional culture, characterized by companionate love,
joy, pride, and gratitude, its antecedents, and its employee outcomes. Companionate love comprises feelings of affection, caring,
compassion, and tenderness for others (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016). A joyous workplace makes employees smile and think creatively
(Karl & Peluchette, 2006). Pride arises when employees are immersed in a positive, encouraging work environment and when they
develop a sense of identification with their organization. In this work, we also examine gratitude, which is generated when a positive
outcome related to oneself is attributed to the contributions of others (Michie, 2009).
The role of internal communication in shaping organizational culture has been widely recognized by management communication
and public relations scholars and practitioners (e.g., Men & Bowen, 2017; Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier, 2002; Sriramesh, Grunig, &
Dozier, 1996). To expand the theoretical knowledge of internal communication and emotional culture, the primary purpose of the
present study is to investigate whether and how corporate symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication
can induce a positive emotional culture. As the normative model of how public relations should be practiced, symmetrical communication model advocates a dialogue between organizations and stakeholders in search of mutually agreeable solutions. Within the
⁎
Corresponding author at: Department of Public Relations, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-8400, United States.
E-mail address: cicirita@gmail.com (L.R. Men).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.03.001
Received 15 January 2019; Received in revised form 5 March 2019; Accepted 16 March 2019
Available online 01 April 2019
0363-8111/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Public Relations Review 45 (2019) 101764
L.R. Men and C.A. Yue
internal context, the symmetrical communication model emphasizes “trust, credibility, openness, relationships, reciprocity, network
symmetry, horizontal communication, feedback, adequacy of information, employee-centered style, tolerance for disagreement, and
negotiation” (Grunig, 1992, p. 558). Responsive leadership communication is characterized by leader responsiveness, empathy,
friendliness, compassion, and listening, with a focus on the relational aspect of leaders’ daily communication (Men, 2015).
This study also intends to demonstrate why and how a positive emotional culture matters for organizational effectiveness. It then
examines how internal communication and a positive emotional culture interact with each other to influence employee supportive
behaviors, specifically, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and employee advocacy. OCB occurs when employees go beyond
the core job obligations and voluntarily act in such a way that promotes the effective functioning of their organization (Organ, 1988).
Employee advocacy, like OCB, is considered as an extra-role behavior. While OCB primarily focuses on employees’ voluntary behaviors within their organization, employee advocacy refers to employees’ external behaviors in support of their organization.
This study contributes to the literature by improving our theoretical understanding of the role of emotional culture in the
workplace. Moreover, the findings highlight the pivotal role of internal communication in fostering a positive emotional culture
within an organization. This study provides significant practical implications for management communication and public relations
professionals with regards to the value of building a positive emotional culture and finding ways to foster such a culture through
internal communication efforts.
2. Literature review
Few concepts in organizational theory have faced such diverse interpretations as “organizational culture” (Barney, 1986). Barney
referred to organizational culture as “a complex set of values, beliefs, assumptions, and symbols that define the way in which a firm
conducts its business” (1986, p. 657). Similarly, Sriramesh, Grunig, and Buffington, 1992 argued that organizational culture provides
“a broad base of worldview… that affects all decisions in the organization.” From the perspective of organizational internal publics,
public relations scholars (e.g., Sriramesh et al., 1996; Men & Bowen, 2017) have pointed out that communication among employees
often indicates the type of culture present in their organization. Therefore, employees are the “best sources of information” to better
understand organizational culture (Sriramesh et al., 1996, p. 243). Although the concept of “culture” has been defined from various
perspectives, past studies almost exclusively conceptualized culture from the perspective of cognition, emphasizing its role in shaping
how organizational members should think and behave within the workplace (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016).
2.1. Conceptualizing emotional culture
Despite the notion that “emotions are an integral and inseparable part of everyday organizational life” (Ashforth & Humphrey,
1995, p. 98), organizational leaders do not manage emotional culture as much as cognitive culture (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016).
According to Barsade and Knight (2015), emotional culture includes “behavioral norms, artifacts, and underlying values and assumptions reflecting the actual expression or suppression of the discrete emotions comprising the culture and the degree of perceived
appropriateness of these emotions, transmitted through feeling and normative mechanisms within a social unit” (p. 24). These norms,
artifacts, values, and assumptions are not only descriptive in depicting the actual emotional culture being expressed in organizations,
they are also prescriptive in reflecting espoused values that may not capture the organizational reality. This conceptualization also
reflects two mechanisms through which employees perceive and enact emotions: “feeling mechanisms” and “normative enactments.”
In feeling mechanisms, employees genuinely experience positive emotions at work. They also generate positive emotions through
emotion contagion, a subconscious process in which they first feel coworkers’ positive emotions and then internalize these emotions
as their own (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993). In normative enactments, employees engage in norm compliance even though
they do not really feel the same emotions (Levy, 1975). Normative enactment is viewed as strategic acting to match group expectations (Parkinson, 2005). Eventually, employees who start out enacting positive emotions are likely to feel those emotions.
This study focuses on examining positive as opposed to negative emotions as manifestations of a positive emotional culture.
Drawing from the literature, the four positive emotions of our interest are companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude.
Companionate love, despite being a fundamental human emotion, has rarely been examined in the organizational or communication
literature. Employees experiencing a culture of companionate love show sensitivity to others and develop an interdependent relationship with other organizational members (Gonzaga, Keltner, Londahl, & Smith, 2001). The second discrete emotion of investigation, joy, is an important indicator of superior organizational performance (Joyce, 2003). A joyous culture elicits effective
team performance (Rhee, 2006), appeals to top talents, and creates a competitive advantage for organizations in this regard (Barsade
& O’Neill, 2016). An emotional culture of joviality and of companionate love supplement each other in decreasing employee risktaking behaviors (O’Neill & Rothbard, 2014).
In the organizational setting, employees’ sense of pride arises from experiencing group cohesion and team success (Swanson &
Kent, 2017). Following Swanson and Kent (2017) definition, we define an emotional culture of pride as characterized by employees’
feelings of importance, value, and admiration of their job and organization. Workplace pride is an organization’s strategic asset,
which links to positive employee behaviors and business success (Katzenbach, 2003). Finally, we examine the emotional culture of
gratitude, which indicates the appreciative atmosphere perceived by all organizational members. McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons,
and Larson, (2001) found that people who feel grateful not only engage in prosocial behaviors toward their own benefactors but also
toward others. Gratitude is often expressed through explicit words and actions, and as such, it can be highly contagious among
employees.
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2.2. Internal communication
Internal communication is about “managing interdependence and building mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and its employees” (Men & Bowen, 2017, p. 12). It is through internal communication that organizational leaders shape and
transmit values and missions of the organization to employees and therefore involve employees in fulfilling bigger organizational
purpose (Mayfield & Mayfield, 2018; Welch, 2011). Public relations literature on internal communication has been lacking but the
topic is on the rise in recent years (Tkalac Verčič, Verčič, & Sriramesh, 2012; Welch, 2012). The internal communication system
mainly comprises three components: corporate internal, leadership, and peer (horizontal) communication (Men & Bowen, 2017).
Corporate internal communication is often initiated from the communication department. Communication departments “provide
control over message timing and wording” and reach employees through mass communication channels, such as the intranet, e-mail,
social media, and newsletter (Men & Bowen, 2017, p. 3). Meanwhile, leadership communication exerts a key influence on employees.
On the one hand, the senior leadership sets the tone for internal communication and shapes an organization’s reputation. On the other
hand, the supervisory leadership is viewed as the most trustworthy source of accurate, timely, useful, and job-related information
(Allen, Jimmieson, Bordia, & Irmer, 2007; Larkin & Larkin, 1994).
Corporate communication and leadership communication play different roles in influencing organizational and employee outcomes. Recognizing such a difference, we decided to explore how corporate-level symmetrical communication and leadership-level
responsive communication (supervisory level), two excellence features of the internal communication system, contribute to the
development of a positive emotional culture in organizations.
2.3. Corporate symmetrical communication
Grunig and Hunt (1984) first defined the four models of public relations that encapsulate the typical ways by which it is practiced.
The two-way symmetrical model has been suggested as the most effective model for achieving organizational excellence (Grunig
et al., 2002). The basic premise of symmetrical communication is how organizations, individuals, and the public use communication
to adjust their thinking and behavior in order to create mutually beneficial relationships instead of seeking to control or manipulate
other parties. Symmetrical communication emphasizes understanding, collaboration, responsiveness, and a balance of power and
interest (Grunig et al., 2002). It should be noted that Murphy (1991) proposed a mixed-motive model which claims that organizations
and their publics communicate and act on a continuum from pure advocacy to pure accommodation. Grunig et al. (2002) acknowledged Murphy’s view and further clarified the role of two-way symmetrical model as a way of “reconciling the organization’s
and the publics’ interests” instead of advocating “total accommodation of a public’s interest” (p. 309). From an internal communication perspective, many empirical studies have shown the positive role of symmetrical communication in fostering quality employee–organization relationships (Jo & Shim, 2005; Kang & Sung, 2017; Men, 2014a), employee engagement (Kang & Sung, 2017;
Lockwood, 2007), and positive employee communication behaviors (Kang & Sung, 2017; Kim & Rhee, 2011).
Internal communication and organizational culture have a reciprocal relationship (Berger, 2008; Sriramesh et al., 1996). On the
one hand, culture influences internal communication by providing a prevailing worldview and context, thereby influencing verbal
and nonverbal languages used in daily communication, as well as the values and meanings embedded in decision making (Sriramesh
et al., 1996). On the other hand, scholars proposed to examine organizational culture from a communication perspective (Bormann,
1985; Pacanowsky & O’Donnell-Trujillo, 1983). This line of thinking contends that internal communication plays an active role in
shaping and changing organizational culture—a notion that corresponds with the purpose of the present study. For example, Sriramesh articulated that “changing the communication systems of an organization may be one of the ways of changing the culture”
(1996, p. 238). Similarly, Kennedy (1983) referred to effective communication on how to build a strong corporate culture. Thus,
communication practitioners, upon sensing the need for change in organizational culture, should grasp the strategic opportunity to
propose a new communication model. Moreover, Sriramesh et al. (1996) argued that symmetrical communication fosters a participative organizational culture, wherein employees carry strong organizational missions and managers demonstrate sincere care for
employees as well as value equity and consensus. These scholars noted that symmetrical internal communication can be the starting
point for communication professionals to affect organizational culture.
To date, the literature has largely ignored the role of communication in fostering a positive emotional culture, which is a unique
facet of organizational culture. Nevertheless, the key characteristics of symmetrical internal communication, as reviewed above,
indicate that organizational members working in an open communication environment characterized by trust, symmetry, and reciprocity are likely to experience an overall positive emotional culture. In other words, employees are happy knowing their voice and
opinions are being valued in their organization. Sincere and open communication also creates a warm atmosphere and thus keeps
employees connected to a companionate culture of love. In addition, organizations’ willingness to share power with employees in
decision-making can lead to employee gratitude. The trust and care employees perceive from a reciprocal dialogue with organizations
are likely to foster employee pride for being part of a cohesive and caring group. Therefore, we argue that the practice of symmetrical
internal communication can engender a positive emotional culture featured by companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude.
H1. Corporate symmetrical communication positively influences a positive emotional culture.
2.4. Responsive leadership communication
Leadership communication is implicit in leadership behavior and thus has not been sufficiently emphasized in communication or
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management literature (Mayfield & Mayfield, 2018). Nevertheless, leaders’ talk supposedly takes up to 80% of leaders’ time, and most
of the talk involves subordinates (Van Quaquebeke & Felps, 2018). This study decided to apply the framework of socio-communicative style developed in instructional context to examine leaders’ responsive communication style and its influence on organizational- and employee-level outcomes. First proposed by Richmond and McCroskey in 1985, assertiveness and responsiveness have
been identified as the two main dimensions in communication style research (Waldherr & Muck, 2011). Assertive communicators are
typically described as independent, forceful, and dominant; they also have a strong personality and take control in initiating,
maintaining, and terminating conversations (Richmond & McCroskey, 2000). In comparison, responsive communicators are otheroriented and have others’ feelings, concerns, and needs in mind (Richmond & Martin, 1998). Words often used to describe responsive
communicators include “helpful, responsive to others, sympathetic, compassionate, sensitive to the needs of others, sincere, gentle,
warm, tender, and friendly” (Richmond & McCroskey, 1990, p. 449). Responsive communicators are viewed as more socially attractive than assertive individuals (Sullivan, 1977).
Studies conducted across various settings have consistently shown the positive role of responsive communicative style; for instance, students demonstrated satisfaction, trustworthiness as well as high motivation and willingness to communicate with responsive instructors (Aylor & Oppliger, 2003; Martin & Myers, 2006; Wooten & McCroskey, 1996). Instructors with a responsive
socio-communicative orientation also reported higher level of job satisfaction (DiClemente, Ditrinco, Gibbons, & Myers, 2013). In
addition, in exploring effective physician-patient communication, researchers have found that both physician assertiveness and
responsiveness were related to physician credibility while physician responsiveness was highly associated with patient satisfaction
(Richmond, Smith Jr, Heisel, & McCroskey, 2002). Other organizational research has endeavored to untangle the association between
supervisors’ communication styles and their personal characteristics (e.g., Cole & McCroskey, 2000; Porter, Wrench, & Hoskinson,
2007; Teven, McCroskey, & Richmond, 2006). For instance, Porter et al. found that employees’ perceived supervisor responsiveness is
positively related to supervisor extraversion and negatively related to neuroticism and psychoticism (2007). More recently, public
relations scholars have spearheaded efforts to apply the socio-communicative style to studying executive leadership communication
and employee communication. Men (2015) and Tsai and Men (2017) examined the role of CEOs’ responsive and assertive communication styles in influencing the organization’s relationship quality with both internal and external publics. Although responsive
and assertive communication styles have been argued to be important components of effective communication(McCroskey &
Richmond, 1996; Merrill & Reid, 1981), past findings seem to suggest that responsive leadership communication is more effective in
nurturing relationships and generating positive organizational outcomes compared with assertive leadership communication.
Therefore, to develop a normative model of a positive emotional culture, the present study focuses on leaders’ responsive
communication. Responsive leaders have a low level of verbal aggressiveness and are more likely to listen with patience and
compassion (Martin & Anderson, 1996). They also carry facial animations and open body gestures when it comes to nonverbal
communication (Richmond, 2002), suggesting a high nonverbal immediacy (Rocca, Martin, & Toale, 1998). In addition, research in
interpersonal conflict showed that responsive individuals have a collaborative tendency in conflict situations and have the highest
chance to manage conflicts through emotions and logic (Lashbrook, Lashbrook, Larsen, & Buchholz, 1978). Thus, given that responsive leaders are good at expressing their feelings and emotions and are oriented toward cultivating good relationships in their
interactions with employees, we argue that responsive leadership communication can be an effective approach in fostering a positive
emotional culture. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:
H2. Responsive leadership communication positively influences a positive emotional culture.
2.5. Employee supportive behaviors
Another purpose of the present study is to examine how internal communication and a positive emotional culture interact to
influence employee OCB and advocacy. We deem social exchange theory (SET) (Blau, 1964) as the theoretical underpinning of this
proposed relationship. The basic assumption of SET is that “individuals enter into a relationship with others to maximize their
benefits” (Aselage & Eisenberger, 2003, p. 491). In the organizational context, organizations provide “material and socioemotional
benefits” in exchange for employees’ “loyalty and effort” (p. 491). According to SET, employees who receive highly valued “socioemotional resources” from their organization can experience a degree of indebtedness, which subsequently causes a sense of
obligation to repay their organization (Saks, 2006, p. 603). Therefore, employees reciprocate by demonstrating positive attitudes and
behaviors, such as engaging more in their work (Wayne & Green, 1993) and performing OCB (Bowler, 2006; Organ, 1988). Empirical
evidence shows that organizational support, a good working condition, and trust in supervisors are important factors that elicit
employee reciprocation (Aselage & Eisenberger, 2003; Folger & Konovsky, 1989). Overall, SET has been applied in a myriad of
organizational studies to explain the motivational factors of positive employee behaviors (Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996).
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) describes employees’ discretionary behavior, which is defined as “behavior that is not
an enforceable requirement of the role…behavior being rather a matter of choice…not necessarily recognized and rewarded by the
organization” (Khan & Rashid, 2012, p. 84; Organ, 1988, p. 4). Past studies have linked OCB with effective organizational performance and success (Organ, Podsakoff, & MacKenzie, 2006). For example, Katz (1964) argued that organizational effectiveness relies
on the voluntary efforts of employees, especially in circumstances where formalizing roles in organizations is difficult (Bowler,
Halbesleben, & Paul, 2010).
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2.6. Emotional culture and OCB
Organizational culture plays an important role in promoting OCB (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2004; Werner, 2000). In a supportive
culture, employees are “valued as human beings, not just as cogs in a machine” (Harrison, 1987, p. 13). Therefore, they tend to
reciprocate by performing above and beyond the call of duty (Wayne, Shore, & Liden, 1997). Research also suggests that OCB likely
occurs when employees are emotionally attached and identified with their organization (Efraty & Wolfe, 1988; Lewicki & Bunker,
1996). Scholars recently started to examine the effect of discrete organizational emotions on employee attitude and behaviors. They
found that organizational pride positively influences OCB (Helm, 2013; Helm, Renk, & Mishra, 2016), employee creativity (Gouthier
& Rhein, 2011), and job satisfaction (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). Other emotions like joy are linked to good team performance
(O’Neill & Rothbard, 2014; Rhee, 2006). Meanwhile, companionate love is positively related to job satisfaction and organizational
commitment but negatively related to employee absenteeism (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016). A positive group affect is identified as a key
incentive for positive employee work behaviors, such as proactive (Tsai, Chen, & Liu, 2007) and citizenship behaviors (Dalal, Lam,
Weiss, Welch, & Hulin, 2009). Therefore, a positive emotional culture filled with companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude can
motivate employees to reciprocate by engaging in OCB (Organ, 1988). Thus, this study suggests the following hypothesis:
H3. A positive emotional culture positively influences OCB.
2.7. Internal communication and OCB
2.7.1. Corporate symmetrical internal communication and OCB
Symmetrical internal communication, as a positive and ethical communication model, advocates openness and transparency and
empowers employees in decision-making. It showcases organizations’ “employee-centric values and organizations’ genuine care and
concern for employees’ interests” (Men & Bowen, 2017, p. 174). Numerous research has demonstrated that symmetrical internal
communication contributes to various employee outcomes, such as job satisfaction, perception of relationships with organizations,
employee engagement, and positive employee communication behavior (Jo & Shim, 2005; Kang & Sung, 2017; Kim & Rhee, 2011;
Men & Stacks, 2014). It has also been negatively associated with employee turnover intention. One recent study specifically found
that OCB is influenced by employees’ communication satisfaction, thus pointing to the need to create a positive communication
environment to foster employees’ extra-role (non-mandatory) behavior (Chan & Lai, 2017). Although abundant research has focused
on identifying the antecedents of OCB (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000), few studies have investigated the role of
communication (see exceptions: Chan & Lai, 2017; Moideenkutty, Blau, Kumar, & Nalakath, 2006; Kandelousi & Abdollahi, 2011;
Walden & Kingsley Westerman, 2018). Therefore, we base our rationale on SET and argue that employees who benefit from corporate
symmetrical communication are likely to repay their organization by demonstrating OCB.
H4. Corporate symmetrical communication positively influences OCB.
2.7.2. Responsive leadership communication and OCB
Supervisors’ communication effectiveness has been consistently associated with positive employee outcomes, such as employee
engagement, employee–organization relationship, and employee satisfaction (Men, 2014a, 2014b). We have previously argued that
employees likely perceive humanistic care from the management that is not merely task-oriented. Responsive leaders fulfill this need
by communicating with warmth, tenderness, and sincerity and in return, employees go the extra mile in performing beyond the call of
duty. One study found that perceived supervisor listening, a key aspect of responsiveness, is positively associated with OCB (Lloyd,
Boer, Keller, & Voelpel, 2015). Another study associated leaders’ social skills—a predisposition that shares similarity with responsiveness in the relationship management aspect—with building trust and eliciting OCB (Krishnan & Arora, 2008). Thus, this study
proposes the following hypothesis:
H5. Leadership responsive communication positively influences OCB.
2.8. Emotional culture, OCB, and employee advocacy
Even though employee advocacy has not been extensively researched in strategic communication scholarship, it has become a
buzzword in the professional literature (Men, 2014a). A review of recent studies has revealed the trend of viewing employees as
credible corporate ambassadors and brand advocates due to their neutral role compared to communication professionals (Center &
Jackson, 2003; Men, 2014a; Mishra, Boynton, & Mishra, 2014). Kim and Rhee (2011) conceptualized employee communication
behavior to highlight employees’ roles as organizational advocates, including megaphoning, their external communication behavior
about their organization, and scouting, their voluntary communication efforts to bring relevant information to their organizations.
Despite certain conceptual overlaps with positive megaphoning, employee advocacy is an influential and behavioral construct that
goes beyond the communicative dimension. Employees who are corporate advocates not only communicate positively about their
company, but also engage in other supportive actions, such as volunteering in local communities, to promote their company’s social
responsibility initiative.
In this study, we define employee advocacy as employees’ voluntary behavior in forwarding and sharing positive information
about their organizations, as well as in recommending, supporting, and defending their organization to the external public through
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their words and actions (Men, 2014a; Walden & Kingsley Westerman, 2018). Following this conceptualization, empirical studies
evidenced that leaders’ open communication, organizational symmetrical communication, employee-organization relationships, and
employees’ organizational commitment all contributed to fostering employee advocacy (Men, 2014a; Walden & Kingsley Westerman,
2018). Drawing from SET and existing studies indicating the vital role of culture in influencing employee behaviors, a positive
emotional culture can also motivate employees to engage in external advocacy. Employees who work in a joyous and caring environment can be intrinsically motivated to engage in positive word-of-mouth in their conversations with friends and family.
Likewise, a culture filled with pride and gratitude can stimulate employees’ willingness to defend and promote their organization
because they likely internalize their organization’s issues and success as their own. This brings us to another hypothesis.
H6. A positive emotional culture positively influences employee advocacy.
Even though Van Dyne, Graham, and Dienesch, (1994) conceptualization of OCB involves “advocacy participation,” it emphasizes
employees acting as internal change facilitators by “making suggestions… and encouraging other employees to speak up” (Kim, Lee, &
Hwang, 2008, p.181). Therefore, to enhance conceptual clarity, we argue that it is beneficial to distinguish between OCB and
employee advocacy due to employees’ differential orientation toward internal (within organizations, i.e., OCB) versus external
(outside of organizations, i.e., advocacy) extra-role behavior. The positive outcomes of OCB, such as seeing the success of their
organization, may encourage employees to engage in external advocacy. In other words, employees who are already internal advocates of their organization tend to do the same externally. Therefore, the last hypothesis is stated.
H7. OCB positively influences employee advocacy behavior.
3. Method
The hypothesized model (Fig. 1) was tested through an online survey of 506 employees who worked in 19 diverse industry sectors
in the United States in February 2017, with the assistance of a global provider of survey services, Survey Sampling International (SSI)
(http://www.surveysampling.com/). To obtain a representative sample with comparable genders, age groups, and corporation sizes
across various income and education levels, we used stratified and quota random sampling strategies. The final sample included
56.3% males, 43.7% females, as well as 53.6% non-management and 46.4% management employees. The average age of the respondents was 46, and the average corporate tenure was 11 years. Approximately 62.5% of the respondents held at least a bachelor’s
degree.
3.1. Measures
The study used a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) to measure the focal concepts (i.e.,
corporate symmetrical communication, responsive leadership communication, positive culture, OCB, and employee advocacy behavior). All measurement items used were adopted from the previous literature and then modified to fit the context of this study.
Before administering the questionnaire to the participants, an online pretest was conducted with 100 randomly selected respondents
through SSI. Our preliminary analysis of the reliability and validity of measures demonstrated satisfactory results.
Corporate symmetrical communication was assessed using seven items developed by Dozier, Grunig, and Grunig, (1995) (e.g.,
“Most communication between management and other employees in this organization can be considered a two-way communication,”
“This company encourages different opinions’’ α = .92). Responsive leadership communication was measured with nine items
adopted from Richmond and McCroskey (1990) (e.g., sincere, friendly, and compassionate, α = .98). To operationalize a positive
emotional culture, 13 items adapted from the literature (i.e., Allen, Machleit, & Marine, 1988; Barsade & O’Neill, 2016; Todd &
Harris, 2009) were utilized. Specifically, employees were asked to report the extent to which they agreed with the words describing
the prevailing emotions in their organization and their feelings about its atmosphere, climate, or culture. Four items were used to
Fig. 1. Hypothesized model of internal communication, positive emotional culture, and supportive employee behaviors.
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measure emotional culture of joy (i.e., delighted, happy, joyful, and excited, α = .97); three items measured the culture of companionate love (i.e., affectionate, loving, and compassion, α = .93); three items measured the culture of pride (i.e., proud, superior,
worthy, α = .88); and three items measured the culture of gratitude (i.e., grateful, thankful, appreciative, α = .81). The measurement
of employee supportive behaviors of organizational citizenship and employee advocacy were adopted from Men and Bowen (2017).
OCB was measured with four items (e.g., “When the workload is most intense, I work extra hours by shortening usual breaks or
staying at work later than usual,” “Even when it is not required, I try to guide the new members of my department,” α = .70).
Employee advocacy was measured with three items (e.g., “I speak favorably about this company in public,” “I defend the company
when hearing criticisms from others,” α = .89). To test the hypothesized model, structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was
employed using the AMOS 24.0 software.
4. Results
The proposed model was analyzed and interpreted by employing structural equation modeling analysis using the AMOS 24.0
software. In the structural model, the unidimensional variables of corporate symmetrical communication, responsive leadership
communication, OCB, and employee advocacy were treated as observed variables. A positive emotional culture was treated as a latent
variable with the sub-dimensions of companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude.
The test of the initial SEM model revealed acceptable but not good fit to the data: χ2(16) = 77.56, p < .001, χ2/df = 4.85,
RMSEA = .09 (90% confidence interval: .07–.11), SRMR = .04, TLI = .97, and CFI = .98. Based on the modification indices, the
model was slightly modified by adding one error covariance between the two sub-dimensions of a positive emotional culture,
companionate love, and joy.1 Byrne (2001, p. 111) argued that “forcing large error terms to be uncorrelated is rarely appropriate with
real data.” Allowing error covariance within the same construct can explain content redundancy. The modified model demonstrated
excellent fit with the data: χ2(15) = 20.62, p = .149, χ2/df = 1.37, RMSEA = .03 (90% confidence interval: .00–.05), SRMR = .02,
TLI = .997, and CFI = .998.
To identify the model with the best fit, one theoretically plausible competing model, in which a positive emotional culture fully
mediates the effects of corporate symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication on OCB, was compared with
the hypothesized model. The result showed that the competing model fit was significantly worse than the hypothesized model, Δ
χ2(2) = 20.62, p < .001. Therefore, the hypothesized model was retained as the final model (see Fig. 2). Six structural paths demonstrated significant results at the p < .001 or p < .01 level.
4.1. Hypotheses testing
Hypotheses 1 and 2 proposed the positive effects of corporate symmetrical communication and leadership responsive communication on fostering an organization’s positive emotional culture. Results confirmed both hypotheses. Specifically, corporate symmetrical communication demonstrated a strong positive effect on organizational positive culture (β = .75, p < .001), indicating that
a positive culture of companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude is likely nurtured when organizations’ communication system and
climate are two-way; symmetrical; emphasize listening, reciprocity, and feedback; and value employees’ voice and inputs. Likewise,
leaders’ responsive communication demonstrated a significant positive effect on organizational positive culture (β = .09, p < .05),
although to a lesser extent as compared to the effect of corporate symmetrical communication. The finding indicates that when
organizational leaders at different levels communicate in a responsive, friendly, warm, compassionate, and caring manner, such a
communication style contributes to the development of a positive culture characterized by companionate love, joy, pride, and
gratitude.
A secondary focus of the study was to examine the effects of a positive emotional culture on employee supportive behaviors,
namely, OCB (Hypothesis 3) and employee advocacy (Hypothesis 6). Results showed that the emotional culture of companionate
love, joy, pride, and gratitude strongly and positively influenced OCB (β = .23, p < .001) and employee advocacy (β = .60, p <
.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 3 and 6. Therefore, when organizations’ atmosphere and culture are characterized by compassion,
caring, tenderness for others, joy, delight, a sense of pride, gratefulness, and appreciation, employees are more likely to reciprocate
with a discretionary behavior inside their organization and advocate for their organization externally.
Hypotheses 4 and 5 predicted the positive effects of corporate symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication on employees’ OCB. Results showed that, as hypothesized, corporate symmetrical communication strongly and positively
influenced OCB (β = .26, p < .001), indicating that an employee-centered communication system that cares for employees’ interests
and concerns, as well as values employees voice and feedback is likely to promote employees’ discretionary and helping behaviors in
their organization, thus supporting Hypothesis 4. However, contrary to our expectation, responsive leadership communication did
not show a significant direct effect on OCB, failing to support hypothesis 5.
Finally, Hypothesis 7 proposed a positive association between employees’ citizenship behavior inside their organization and
advocacy behavior outside of it. Results supported this hypothesis. Specifically, OCB demonstrated a strong positive effect on employee advocacy (β = .34, p < .001). Thus, the more the employees engage in discretionary efforts inside their organization, the
greater the likelihood that they will defend and advocate for their organization externally.
1
The error covariance between companionate love and joy, both of which are basic human emotions (Allen et al., 1988), was .45.
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L.R. Men and C.A. Yue
Fig. 2. Results of the hypothesized model.
Coefficients are standardized regression weights. For the sake of brevity, the error terms of indicators and disturbances of endogenous variables were
omitted from the figure. *** p<.001, * p < .05.
4.2. Indirect (mediation) effects
Apart from hypothesis testing, we conducted a formal test of indirect effects using a bootstrap procedure (N = 2000 samples) to
further explore the role of a positive emotional culture in the relationship between internal communication and employee supportive
behavior. Results showed the significant indirect effects in paths from corporate symmetrical communication (β = .18, p = .018
[95% CI: .04 to .27]) and responsive leadership communication (β = .02, p = .018 [95% CI: .00 to .05]) to OCB through an
organizational positive emotional culture. Therefore, a positive emotional culture mediates the effects of internal communication on
OCB at the corporate and leadership levels. In addition, indirect effects in paths from corporate symmetrical communication to
employee advocacy through a positive emotional culture and OCB were significant, β = .61, p = .004 [95% CI: .56 to .69], suggesting that a positive emotional culture and OCB are mediators in the relationship between corporate symmetrical communication
and employee advocacy.
5. Discussion and conclusions
The purpose of this study was to explore the role of internal communication in fostering a positive emotional culture characterized
by joy, companionate love, pride, and gratitude, and how these two factors interact in promoting employee supportive behaviors.
Results provided significant implications for management communication and public relations scholars, practitioners, and organizational leaders. These implications are further discussed below.
5.1. Internal communication and emotional culture
This study showed that corporate symmetrical communication contributed to the development of a positive emotional culture. A
symmetrical internal communication system is employee-centered and one that values reciprocity, openness, trust, and feedback.
When employees’ desire to be heard, valued, and empowered is satisfied, and when they feel the care, respect, and mutual reliance
from engaging in open and equal communication with their organization, they can be happy, proud, appreciative, and affectionate.
Previous scholars noted that symmetrical communication is vital in shaping organizational culture (Sriramesh et al., 1996). For
instance, a symmetrical internal communication system has been associated with a participative organizational culture, which
emphasizes employee input, participation, sharing, collaboration, and shared decision-making (Grunig et al., 2002). The current
study’s finding expands the literature by suggesting that symmetrical communication not only matters for how employees think and
behave (i.e., cognitive culture) but also how they feel (i.e., emotional culture) in their organization.
The study also showed that leadership responsive communication positively influenced the formation of a positive emotional
culture. Employees interact with their direct supervisors daily (Men & Bowen, 2017). Thus, how supervisors communicate or interact
with subordinates exerts a strong influence on how subordinates feel about their supervisors and the overall working culture. The
study findings show that supervisors who demonstrated warmth, friendliness, compassion, understanding, and sincerity in their
communication with subordinates induced the growth of happiness, companionate love, pride, and gratitude among employees.
Responsive leaders who placed great emphasis on the relational dimension of management and were sensitive to employees’ feelings
and concerns (Richmond & Martin, 1998) likely garnered favorability from employees, thereby fostering a positive emotional culture
in their organization. Overall, the finding contributes to the emerging literature, which identifies the crucial role of leadership
communication in generating positive organizational and employee outcomes (Men, 2015; Tsai & Men, 2017). In other words,
leaders’ communication behavior and style affect their organizations’ culture and climate and their employees’ experiences and
feelings.
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5.2. Influence of emotional culture and internal communication on employee supportive behaviors
As predicted, a positive emotional culture positively influenced employee OCB. SET provides a solid theoretical support to this
finding. A positive emotional culture characterized by joy, companionate love, pride, and gratitude is a highly valued socioemotional
resource provided by organizations. Employees who receive this type of socioemotional resource can sense a strong support and
goodwill from their organization. As a result, employees feel obligated to repay their organization by performing a discretionary
behavior that is not part of their job description. The literature has consistently shown that OCB is the key consequence of a good
organizational culture (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2004; Werner, 2000). This study supports and even extends the line of research on
OCB and culture, mainly by attributing employee OCB as a reciprocal behavior to a positive emotional culture from which they
benefit. Moreover, this finding demonstrates that nurturing a positive emotional culture is just as important as building a healthy
cognitive culture given that emotional culture can directly affect employees’ behavior. Employees working in a positive emotional
culture can be altruistic in helping coworkers, respectful to organizational members, concerned about the welfare of their company,
and can engage in extra-role activities.
Moreover, a positive emotional culture can lead to increased employee advocacy. The present study not only enriched the
growing research interest in employee advocacy (Men, 2014b), but also delved into organizational culture and pointed out the critical
role of emotional culture in generating employees’ positive external behavior. To return their organizations’ favor for creating a
positive working culture, employees are more likely to speak in favor of their organizations in public, support, and defend them when
criticisms arise. Such a result highlights the idea that the emotional culture perceived internally by the employees has a significant
influence on their external behavior.
Corporate symmetrical communication also directly affects employee OCB, indicating that a two-way, equal dialogue could be a
key motivator for employees to exceed their respective job obligations. This finding not only concurs with arguments made by
previous scholars that symmetrical internal communication contributes to employee work engagement (Men & Stacks, 2014) and
positive employee–organization relationship (Jo & Shim, 2005; Kim & Rhee, 2011), but also extends the scope of employee outcomes
from the attitudinal to the behavioral level. However, responsive leadership communication demonstrated no significant direct effect
on OCB despite having an indirect effect through emotional culture. This result may be attributed to the fact that a positive emotional
culture is a prerequisite for responsive leader communication to affect OCB.
5.3. Theoretical and practical implications
The findings of the study provide important theoretical and practical implications. First, theoretically speaking, and with a
particular emphasis on organizational emotional culture (i.e., a positive culture characterized by companionate love, joy, pride, and
gratitude) the study fills the research gap in organizational culture research, which predominantly focuses on the cognitive aspect of
culture. The theorization and operationalization of emotional culture sets a benchmark for future research along this line. Second,
from an internal public relations perspective, the study enhances the theoretical understanding of the dynamics among internal
communication, emotions, and workplace culture. By demonstrating the positive effects of corporate-level symmetrical and leadership-level responsive types of communication on a positive emotional culture, as well as supportive employee behaviors, the study
expands the internal communication literature and provides additional evidence on how communication strategies at various levels
promote a positive culture and drive organizational effectiveness. In addition, the study conceptualized supportive employee behaviors by integrating internal citizenship and external employee advocacy behaviors. Demonstrating how supportive employee
behaviors are promoted by corporate and leadership-level types of strategic communication and a positive emotional culture, the
study confirms that the value of internal communication goes beyond changing employee perceptions and attitudes or developing
mutually beneficial relationships (Men & Bowen, 2017), more importantly, it changes employee behaviors in accordance with the
needs of the organization.
The study also provides important implications for management communication and public relations professionals.
Organizational leaders have long been managing how employees think and behave. However, they are either unaware or feel incapable of managing how employees feel at work. Others may even think that managing employees’ emotions is unprofessional or
beyond the scope of their duty (Barsade & O’Neill, 2016). However, the current study suggests that managing emotional culture is
vital and should thus be considered as a key element of effective leadership. A positive emotional culture elicits positive employee
behaviors which, in turn, enhance organizational effectiveness. Thus, communication professionals should help educate leaders about
their role in fostering a positive emotional culture. Practitioners should show empirical evidence that supports the connection between a positive emotional culture and positive employee and organizational outcomes.
Our findings also suggest that internal communication unlocks the secret of a positive emotional culture. Hence, leaders or
managers should communicate in a responsive manner. A positive emotional culture is formed when leaders show care, warmth,
empathy, sincerity, and willingness to listen. Thus, communication professionals should equip leaders with communication guidelines and remind them to pay attention to employees’ daily concerns and feedback. Meanwhile, communication managers should be
involved in organizational decision-making to ensure that an employee-centered symmetrical communication system exists, in which
trust, reciprocity, employee feedback, and voice are highly valued.
5.4. Limitations and future directions
Despite the original findings and important implications, this study has several limitations. First, this study employed a cross9
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sectional survey design, which could not establish the order of effects among variables. The application of SEM remedied the issue,
but future research should examine the true causal relationships among variables using a longitudinal or experimental design. In
addition, researchers can utilize qualitative methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and case studies, to gain an in-depth understanding of why a positive emotional culture matters and exactly how internal communication can foster a positive emotional
culture. Furthermore, this study only explored the responsiveness dimension of socio-communicative style. Although it has been
identified as a significant factor in cultivating a positive emotional culture, future studies should also include assertiveness to
compare their respective roles and potential interactions in affecting emotional culture and employee behaviors. Moreover, given the
innate connection between organizational culture and organizational identity as organizational identity has been suggested a selfreflective product of the dynamic processes of organizational culture (Hatch & Schultz, 1997), it is worthy of examination how
organizational identity could potentially mediates the effect of emotional culture on various employee and organizational outcomes.
Likewise, how emotional culture may be associated with other strategic communication outcomes, such as employee–organization
relationship, employee engagement, and internal reputation, deserves more scholarly investigation. Finally, this study focused on
supervisory leadership communication from the employees’ perspectives. Future scholars can investigate the communication style of
organizations’ top management as they set the tone for internal communication (Men & Bowen, 2017). Gathering inputs from top
leaders and communication managers can generate additional information on the role of emotional culture and how to strategically
cultivate a positive emotional culture that eventually leads to positive employee outcomes and organizational success.
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