Is My Boss Really Listening to Me?

The Impact of Perceived

Supervisor Listening on Emotional Exhaustion, Turnover
Intention, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Introduction:
This topic is concerned with exploring the role of supervisor listening and the emotional
conditions that listening facilitates. We have long known that employee voice is important
( Hirschman 1970) In particular less is known about the role of leaders listening and the
emotional conditions that listening facilitates in employees. Employees also react to whether
they perceive their supervisor as actively listening. The opportunity to speak is only one part of
the communication process between employees and supervisors. Yet while there has been a lot of
discussion and research on the antecedents and outcomes of voice (e.g. Morrison 2011).
Attentive listeners creates an atmosphere of safety to speak openly, create close warm friendship
and elicit positive perceptions of the listener ( Beukeboom 2009; Edmondson and Moingeon
1999).
The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by showing that employee perceptions of
supervisor listening are important for three different outcomes: emotional exhaustion,
organizational citizenship behavior and turnover intention. Additionally we address the question
of how employee perceptions of supervisor listening affects these outcomes.
As employee citizenship behavior, turnover intentions and emotional exhaustion are important
organizational outcomes and determine organization overall success (Motowidlo and Van Scotter
1994) Empirical work in the organizational behavior field indicates that individuals may be
more favorably influenced by supervisors who listen well( Ames et al 2012). In this paper we
suggest that employees recognize how supervisors listen and employee perceptions of being
listened to are related to positive and negative affective reactions to their supervisor listening
which in turn results in work outcomes such as turnover intentions, citizenship performance and
emotional exhaustion. For the two studies, we predict that perceived supervisor listening is (a)
related to supervisors listening behaviors (Study 1), (b) associated with employee work
outcomes (Study 1 and Study 2) and (b) that these latter relationships are mediated by distinctive
affective mechanisms (Study 2).
From this we contribute that listening is an important behavior that motivates employees to speak
up and may create a positive interpersonal work experience that reflects positively on the
organization and results into more positive work outcomes. Employees may react emotionally
when they believe that they are not being listened to may induces unpleasant experience which
can be frustrating and distressing and lead to negative perceptions of the source of listening.

1.2 Rationale of Study:

Recent research in the organization climate highlights the affects of perceived supervisor
listening on employees work outcomes. However a detailed research is required to uncover the
means through which Supervisor Listening help organizations to maintain their performance and
be competitive. Non effective listener in the organizations has been assumed to affect the
readiness of employees to work for organizational benefits which in turn is likely to affect the
companys overall performance. Furthermore the study elaborates that supervisor listening is
important and it is the employees perceptions of supervisory listening that matters because of
how employees feel emotionally about being listened to or not being listened to.
In particular, the study intends to find whether supervisor is listening or not which is assumed to
have major consequences for employees well-being and the organization as a whole.

1.3 Problem Statement:

The study attempts to highlight The Impact of Perceived Supervisor Listening and three
important outcomes of employees perception of supervisor listening that is Emotional
Exhaustion, Turnover Intention and Organizational Citizenship Behavior directed toward the
organization and investigating positive and negative affect as distinct mediating mechanisms.

1.4 Research Objectives:

The objectives of this study are:

To examine three important outcomes of employee perceptions of supervisor listening

that is emotional exhaustion, turnover intentions and organizations citizenship behavior
directed toward the organization.
To investigate the positive and negative effect of perceived supervisor listening on
employees performance.
To analyze how important it is for employees to feel listened to by their supervisors.
To examine how perceived supervisor listening influences these work outcomes and
specifically the mediating mechanisms of positive and negative affect.
How perceived supervisor listening is important for employee work related outcomes.
How supervisor listening affects proximal and distal outcomes in distinctive ways.
To highlight future research needed that may bring ways for enhancing organizational
overall performance.

1.5 Hypothesis:
H0: Perceived supervisor listening is not associated with low emotional exhaustion

H1: Perceived supervisor listening is associated with low emotional exhaustion.

H0: Perceived supervisor listening is not positively related to employee organizational
citizenship behavior
H2: Perceived supervisor listening is positively related to employee organizational citizenship
behavior.
H0: Perceived supervisor listening is not negatively associated with employee turnover intention.
H3: Perceived supervisor listening is negatively associated with employee turnover intention.
H0: The relationship between employee perceived supervisor listening and emotional exhaustion
is not mediated by negative affect
H4: The relationship between employee perceived supervisor listening and emotional exhaustion
is mediated by negative affect.
H0: The relationship between employee perceived supervisor listening and organizational
citizenship behavior is not mediated by positive affect.
H5: The relationship between employee perceived supervisor listening and organizational
citizenship behavior is mediated by positive affect.
1.6 Theoretical Model:

Supervisor
Listening

(Self-ratings)

Emotional exhaustion
Perceived Supervisor
Listening

OCBO

(Employee Ratings)
Turnover intentions

1.7 Research Design / Methodology:

1.71 Target Population:
The target population for this study comprises of employees from different companies
voluntarily participated in this survey study without monetary reward.
1.72 Sample Size:
The sample size consisted of 328 employees from wide range of job functions and jobs including
administration, engineering, finance, marketing and teaching.
1.73 Sampling Technique:

The sampling technique used is convenience sampling. Online surveys administered through
various online platforms and discussion platforms to reach a maximum variety in participant age,
educational background, job position and industry.
1.74 Data Collection Tool:
The type of data collected is primary. Questionnaire is given to the Employees to provide the
required information for analyzing the particular relations. Due to the time and resource
constraints the questionnaire method is appropriate for our study.
1.75 Data Analysis Technique:
Descriptive statistics are used to analyze the data, using graphs and frequency tables. To test the
current model correlation and multiple regression analysis has been used.
1.76 Data Analysis Tool:
The statistical tool used for data analysis is SPSS 20
1.8 Report Preparation:
Final report of this will be presented and prepared at the end of semester.