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Communicative leadership: Fostering co-worker agency in two Swedish business organizations

Solange Hamrin (Department of Media and Communication, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden)
Catrin Johansson (Department of Media and Communications Science, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden)
Jody L. S. Jahn (Department of Communication, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA)

Corporate Communications: An International Journal

ISSN: 1356-3289

Article publication date: 4 April 2016

2989

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the knowledge of how leadership concepts are embraced by leadership actors and perceived to influence relationships between leaders and co-workers. Specifically, the authors aim to investigate how leaders and co-workers discursively construct the concept of “communicative leadership” and its practices and perceive that communicative leadership influences relationships, work processes, and agency.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed interviews with leaders and co-workers in two Swedish business organizations about their understandings and experiences of leadership.

Findings

Communicative processes that enhance co-worker agency, defined as a capacity to act; include: facilitating autonomy, sharing responsibility, and mutual participation. Relational and discursive leadership processes such as responsiveness and dialogue were seen to enhance mutual participation in both organizations. Broader Swedish cultural macro discourses shaped the leader/co-worker relationship, making agency a relational accomplishment rather than an individual phenomenon.

Research limitations/implications

This study relies on data from individual and focus group interviews, rather than direct observation of leadership processes.

Practical implications

Findings suggest that organizations would benefit from making explicit their goals and expectations for communicative leadership in their respective social and cultural contexts.

Originality/value

The authors provide new theoretical and empirical knowledge of leaders’ and co-workers’ discursive construction of a leadership concept; leadership communication research in the Swedish context; empirical research on communicative leadership as an empowering form of leadership communication; and how leadership communication discourse on a micro level is connected to organizational and macro-social cultural levels.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper relates to the research project “Communicative Leadership – Analysis and Development of Core Competence”, funded by the Swedish Knowledge Foundation (Grant No. Dnr 2010-0226) between 2011 and 2013 at Mid Sweden University, DEMICOM· CORE, Department of Media and Communication, Sundsvall, Sweden.

Citation

Hamrin, S., Johansson, C. and Jahn, J.L.S. (2016), "Communicative leadership: Fostering co-worker agency in two Swedish business organizations", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 213-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-05-2015-0025

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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