Analysis of the Mexican women CEOs' communication style on employees' organizational trust during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study explores the communication style of Mexican CEOs, through internal communication, on organizational trust during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has lasted more than two years and in which leaders have had to persuade their workers to change or adopt new behaviors, putting organizational trust to the test. The angle of this work focuses on women CEOs in Mexico, where, according to the consulting firm Grant Thornton (2021), only 35% of companies are led by women, who are more likely to have their competence or authority questioned, according to McKinsey (2021). However, the objective of this study is not to make a comparison between the communication styles of male and female CEOs in Mexican companies, nor to evaluate whether through them they generate organizational trust derived from their gender; in this case, we explore the effect generated by the type of communication style used by women in executive management positions to generate trust in their collaborators.

The importance of knowing the communication style used by women executive managers to generate organizational trust is to contribute to understanding how organizational communication and the role of internal communication, specifically, affects employee trust and promotes equitable leadership opportunities for women in organizations. The context in which this research is conducted is also a key element to measure the importance of communication, according to Gallup in its study State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report, burnout or professional burnout syndrome related to the exacerbation of work stress, in which one of the causal elements is the lack of communication between boss and employee, aggravated worldwide with the pandemic by COVID-19.To examine the triad communication style, internal communication and organizational trust, an online survey was administered to 240 employees of two companies led by women. The items were adapted from instruments developed by Richmond and McCroskey (1990) on assertive and responsive communication styles; Mayer and Davis (2007) on organizational trust in leadership; and three questions on internal company communication channels and direct trust in the CEO.

The results of the study indicate that the communication style perceived by employees of companies led by Mexican CEOs is mostly responsive, and that the characteristics "sensitive to others" and "compassionate" stand out in it, which in turn supports their organizational trust. One of the most important findings of the study was that this perception was transmitted through written communication products, that is, through e-mail, leaving virtual meetings or videoconferences in second place.

The context in which this study was developed is crucial to keep in that perspective the results obtained, because although the communication style exercised by the CEOs during the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the respondents' trust and 66% of the answers were positive or very positive (i.e., "agree" or "strongly agree"), in the explicit questions about how much they trust their CEO, the percentage indicating "quite a lot" instead of "very much" was slightly higher, this could be explained by the general level of uncertainty.

Finally, among the limitations of the research, it is noteworthy that CEOs were not consulted as to whether the communication style perceived by their employees was indeed the one, they intended to display for their objectives related to organizational trust. In addition, a qualitative study was not conducted to deepen the scope of employees' needs with respect to the communication they perceived from their CEO in terms of organizational trust.