The Positive Emotions We Carry at Work: An Emotional Lens of Internal Communication

Abstract

This study surveyed 538 full-time employees in the United States to examine how internal communication across different organizational levels relates to employees’ emotional functioning and well-being. Drawing on social cognitive theory and the theory of social sharing of emotions, we examined organization-level symmetrical internal communication, characterized by openness, mutual understanding, employee voice, and responsiveness, and leader-level motivating language, including direction-giving, empathetic, and meaning-making language, as communication contexts associated with employees’ emotional efficacy, positive emotion sharing, and emotional exhaustion. Results showed that symmetrical internal communication was positively associated with emotional efficacy, while motivating language was associated with both emotional efficacy and positive emotion sharing. Emotional efficacy was further associated with greater positive emotion sharing, which was linked to lower emotional exhaustion. Additional analyses of motivating language dimensions showed that these associations were primarily driven by meaning-making language. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. International Journal of Business Communication, 2026 · DOI ↗