When Leaders' Language Motivates Employees to Be Proactive:The Role Of Meaningfulness and Vitality

Today's volatile and uncertain environment and the pressure for continuous improvement require leaders to play a key role in fostering and nurturing employees' proactivity at work. Leaders' communication skills are one of the key tools by which effective leaders motivate employees to achieve organizational goals. In this study we tested a model in which leader motivating language (manifested as direction-giving, empathy and meaning-making) fosters the development of employees’ proactive behaviors by shaping a psychological context of meaningfulness and cultivating employees' motivational state of vitality. The findings indicate that leader motivating language is related both directly and indirectly, through psychological meaningfulness, to employee vitality. The findings also indicate that psychological meaningfulness and employee vitality are mediating mechanisms through which leader motivating language can result in enhanced employee proactivity. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.