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This study aims to explore how transformational leaders enhance public service employees’ growth satisfaction in the job and mitigate job stress and burnout, incorporating follower interpersonal communication satisfaction with the leader (IPCSL) as a mediator.

On the basis of the survey data collected from the Indian public service employees, regression analysis, bootstrapping and SOBEL test are used to test the proposed research model.

The findings highlighted a partial mediation of follower interpersonal communication satisfaction with leader between transformational leadership (TL) and public service employees’ growth satisfaction in the job. Although there was no significant direct effect of TL on job stress and burnout, the results underlined a significant indirect effect of follower IPCSL.

By examining the important role of follower IPCSL, this study unravels the precise intervening mechanism between TL and follower affective outcomes like growth satisfaction in job, job stress and burnout among public service employees.

The purpose of this study is to extend Bippus and Young’s (2005) study and examine the effectiveness of the “I-you,” “I,” “You,” “We,” “But” and Question-based “Why” statements from Winer’s (2021) verbal coding program of conflict management using Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory (SLT).

Mixed methods were used using 175 university students from Texas and New York. A cross-sectional convenience sampling approach was conducted. Survey data was collected using Qualtrics.

Descriptive results demonstrated that the “We” statement was the most passive, the “I-you” statement was the most assertive and the “But,” “I,” “You” and Question statements were perceived to be aggressive. In addition, assertive “I-You” statements were perceived to be more effective in resolving the conflict and maintaining a relationship, whereas aggressive statements were less likely to resolve the conflict and maintain the relationship. Qualitative themes also support the “I-You” statement as the most assertive, while the “But,” “You” and “I” statements were found to be the most aggressive statements.

Implications and applications are discussed to stimulate future research among researchers and practitioners when addressing conflict. Being aware of the verbal statements that de-escalate conflict may be helpful in solving conflict in interpersonal, family and professional relationships. Future trainings can adopt effective verbal statements to resolve conflict when experiencing anger issues. Future research can continue to investigate verbal communication statements using SLT to help practitioners and managers address conflict in interpersonal relationships.

This study examines verbal statements in relation to communication styles and conflict management.

Professional touching behavior (PTB), defined as intentional touching behavior that occurs between organizational members and that falls within the boundaries of appropriateness and professionalism in the workplace, is prevalent in organizations. Scholars from multiple disciplines, including human resources researchers, have acknowledged the importance of physical contact for facilitating interpersonal communication and relationship-building. However, PTB may not only elicit positive reactions from those who receive it but also negative reactions as well, with implications for social dynamics in organizations. PTB can, on the one hand, fulfill employees’ desires for interpersonal connection; at the same time, such physical contact at work can represent a threat to employees’ health. To explain the nature and implications of these divergent effects of receiving PTB, the authors draw upon sociometer theory and behavioral immune system (BIS) theory to model the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes via which, and the conditions under which, receiving such behavior will result in socially functional responses and prompt subsequent prosocial behavior, and when PTB will be perceived as a health risk and prompt withdrawal behavior. The theoretical framework of this chapter expands our conceptual understanding of the consequences of interpersonal physical contact at work and has important human resources management (HRM) implications for organizational managers.

In a world where different communication technologies support social connection, managing unavailability is as important as, if not more important than, managing availability. The need to manage unavailability becomes increasingly critical when users employ several communication tools to interact with various ties. A person's availability information disclosure may depend on different social relationships and the technologies used by the person. The study contributes to the literature by drawing on privacy management theory to investigate how users practice availability management and use its deceptive form, which is sometimes called a butler lie, with various ties across different messaging applications (apps) as part of their online privacy. Relevant factors in mediated communication, including facework, common ground, and interpersonal trust, are included in the developed model.

The authors conducted an online survey (n = 475) to explore the relationship between one's contact with different interactants (significant others, family members, close friends, acquaintances, groups of friends, and groups of acquaintances) and one's practice of availability management and use of butler lies with these interactants at different size levels on various messaging apps.

Factors such as facework, privacy related to technology, and privacy related to social relationships affect the practice of availability management and the use of butler lies. Notably, butler lies are used most frequently with acquaintances and groups of acquaintances and least frequently with significant others. Moreover, the practice of availability management and the use of butler lies are negatively moderated by people's conversational grounding and trust.

The study examined the practice of cross-app availability management with diverse social ties on mobile technologies, which is a socio-informatic practice that is widely adopted in the contemporary digital landscape but on which limited scientific and theoretic research has been conducted. No research has directly investigated users' availability management across multiple apps from a relational perspective. Building on the theoretical framework of privacy management, the paper aims to bridge the gap in the relevant literature. The results of this study can serve as a reference for library professionals to develop information literacy programs according to users' availability management needs. The results also provide insights to system designers for developing messaging tools.

The purpose of this study is to explore linguistic stylometric patterns encompassing lexical, syntactic, structural, sentiment and politeness features that are found in librarians’ responses to user queries.

A total of 462 online texts/transcripts comprising answers of librarians to users’ questions drawn from the Internet Public Library were examined. A Principal Component Analysis, which is a data reduction technique, was conducted on the texts and transcripts. Data analysis illustrates the three principal components that predominantly occur in librarians’ answers: stylometric richness, stylometric brevity and interpersonal support.

The results of the study have important implications in digital information services because stylometric features such as lexical richness, structural clarity and interpersonal support may interplay with the degree of complexity of user queries, the (a)synchronous communication mode, application of information service guideline and manuals and overall characteristics and quality of a given digital information service. Such interplay may bring forth a direct impact on user perceptions and satisfaction regarding interaction with librarians and the information service received through the computer-mediated communication channel.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the stylometric features encompassing lexical, syntactic, structural, sentiment and politeness using Principal Component Analysis have not been explored in digital information/reference services. Thus, there is an emergent need to explore more fully how linguistic stylometric features interplay with the types of user queries, the asynchronous online communication mode, application of information service guidelines and the quality of a particular digital information service.

This cross-sectional study had several objectives. This paper aims to study the direct effect of teleworking on interpersonal conflict, the mediating role that interpersonal conflict can play between teleworking and psychological well-being, the moderating role emotional intelligence (EI) can play between teleworking and interpersonal conflict and whether this moderation effect can, in turn, be associated with psychological well-being (moderated mediation effect).

Path analyses using Mplus software were performed on a sample of 264 employees from 19 small- and medium-sized organizations.

While teleworking was associated with lower interpersonal conflict, it was not associated with enhanced psychological well-being. Interestingly, workload seemed to be associated with higher interpersonal conflict, while decision authority and support garnered from one’s supervisor seemed to be associated with lower interpersonal conflict. Teleworking was indirectly associated with higher psychological well-being via interpersonal conflict. Finally, EI played a moderating role between teleworking and lower interpersonal conflict. This was, in turn, associated with higher psychological well-being.

EI is an essential skill to develop in the workplace.

A deepened understanding of the role played by EI at work could help organizations to provide positive work environments, both in person and online. This is especially relevant today, with the continued increase in teleworking practices and the resulting rapidly changing interpersonal relationships.

Integrating anxiety and uncertainty management (AUM) theory and theory of organizing, this study aims to contribute to the knowledge management literature by examining the interdependent and bidirectional nature of knowledge transfer between expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs). Specifically, the authors investigate how receivers’ cognitive response to senders’ behaviors during their interactions becomes an important conduit between senders’ behaviors and the successful transfer of knowledge.

The authors used the actor partner interdependence model to analyze data from 107 expatriate-HCN dyads. The authors collected the responses of these expatriate-HCN dyads in Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

Receivers’ interaction anxiety and uncertainty, as a response to senders’ relationship building behaviors, mediate the relationship between senders’ relationship building behaviors and successful knowledge transfer. When senders are expatriates, senders’ communication patience and relationship building behaviors interact to reduce the direct and indirect effects of both receivers’ interaction anxiety and uncertainty. However, when senders are HCNs, the moderation and moderated mediation models are not supported.

The study contributes to the knowledge management literature by investigating knowledge transfer between expatriates and HCNs using an interpersonal cross-cultural communication lens. The authors make refinements to AUM theory by going beyond the sender role to highlighting the interdependence between senders and receivers in the management of anxiety and uncertainty which, in turn, influences the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication. The study is also unique in that the authors underscore an important yet understudied construct, communication patience, in the successful transfer of knowledge.

The aims of this critical review are to identify the mentor characteristics that lead to superior mentoring outcomes and to provide human resources development (HRD) professionals with evidence-based suggestions for recruiting, selecting and training mentors to improve mentorship programme effectiveness.

The authors conducted a critical review of existing quantitative research on mentor characteristics that have an impact on effective mentoring.

The authors identified five key categories of mentor characteristics linked to successful mentoring outcomes: competency in context-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities; commitment and initiative; interpersonal skills; pro-social orientation and an orientation toward development, exploration and expansion.

There is limited research on the characteristics of ineffective mentor characteristics, exclusion of articles that used qualitative research methods exclusively and how technology-based communication in mentoring may require different characteristics. Most of the included studies collected data in the United States of America, which may exclude other important mentor characteristics from other non-Western perspectives.

To ensure that there is both a sufficient pool of qualified mentors and mentors who meet the desired criteria, focus on both recruitment and training mentors is important. Incorporating the desired mentor characteristics into both of these processes, rather than just selection, will help with self-selection and development of these characteristics.

Despite the ongoing interest in identifying effective mentor characteristics, the existing literature is fragmented, making this challenging for HRD professionals to determine which characteristics are crucial for mentoring relationships and programme success. Addressing this practical need, this critical review synthesises the research literature and identifies patterns and inconsistencies. Based on the review, the authors provide evidence-based recommendations to enhance the recruitment, selection and training of mentors.