Mediation of The Superior-Subordinate Communication In Determining Work Engagement Among Bureaucrats

This study aims to investigate how the superior-subordinate communication mediates policy formulation and employees' dedication in work engagement among the serving bureaucracy in Punjab (province of Pakistan) government. The study used a cross-sectional design vis-à-vis survey method to collect data from a representative sample (n=250) of serving bureaucrats of the Punjab government. The findings showed that there was a positive association between policy formulation (PF) and dedication towards work engagement (WE). Furthermore, the findings revealed that the relationship between policy formulation (PF) and dedication towards work engagement (WE) was partially mediated by superior-subordinate communication (SSC). The study addressed the research gap regarding the association of the policy formulation (PF) and dedication towards work engagement (WE) by examining the mediation of superiorsubordinate communication (SSC) in their association by progressing the LMX theory in a less researched context of Pakistan. The results explained how more sophisticated work engagement could be achieved in the implementation of the policies by improving the communication channels between superiors and subordinates among the different ranks of the bureaucrats. Keyword: Superior-subordinate communication (SSC), Policy formulation (PF), Work engagement (WE), Leader-member exchange theory LMX, Bureaucracy, Government of Pakistan. 1 Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan 2 Assistant Professor, Centre for Media and Communication Studies, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan 4 Lecturer, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan Raza et.al Communication between Superior & Subordinate 280 Introduction Effective superior-subordinate communication is key to the success of an organization. The public policy formulation is a critical element in the pre-decision stage of the policymaking comprising to fix the goals and externalities of each possibility (Kisby, 2011). For instance, it includes classifying a set of strategic alternatives and public policy instruments to resolve a problem (Winska, 2010). Besides, the rules should not be very rigid to make the organization automatic machinery (Hodson, Martin, Lopez, and Roscigno, 2012). The research shows the significance of open communication within the organization to ensure the consultation process in the formulation of the policy (Sethi and Seth, 2009). For example, having the consultation and brainstorming among the policymakers and the implementers can result in more workable policies. In this regard, supporting evidence is available in the literature for the rational decisionmaking models based on the proper feedback of the implementers (van den Hove, 2007). As a result, a set of objectives is prepared for the ultimate resolutions from which policymakers select by judging the practical viability and political recognition (Evans and Wellstead, 2013). In addition to the inspiration and contribution, the involvement of civil society, employees working in the field, communal groups, and NGOs are instrumental in devising the policy strategy. However, the notion of the policy formulation remains unaddressed without considering the participation of the stakeholders to clarify the roles and feedback from them, which may affect their work engagement towards the implementation of the policy (Bakker, Albrecht, and Leiter, 2011). Therefore, Journal of Media Studies 35(2) 281 considering the role of superior-subordinate communication may give a more detailed insight into the underlying managerial communication issue. The policymakers give the course in terms of the policy and the administrative performances relying on their work engagement with dedication (Jenaro, Flores, Orgaz, and Cruz, 2011). Previous studies suggested the availability of the communication channels within the organization to get feedbacks and consultation of the implementers to have a positive impact on the managerial outcomes. (for example, see, Ahmed, Shields, White, and Wilbert, 2010; Dasgupta, Suar, and Singh, 2012). In the administrative context, superior-subordinate communication has been mostly mentioned as the key element among the stakeholders of any organization. Put it differently, the superiorsubordinate communication, by providing the openness and feedback mechanism within the hierarchy of the organization remains significant in attaining the goals like job satisfaction (Limbu, Jayachandran, and Babin, 2014). Moreover, upwards communication remains a very crucial dimension of the superiorsubordinate communication in terms of the implementation of the initiatives taken by the top management. Therefore, policy implementation related outcomes in public sector organizations may be facilitated when there is an upward and downward effective communication within the organization (Cooren, Kuhn, Cornelissen, and Clark, 2011). However, little research is conducted to explain how superior-subordinate communication mediates policy formulation and work implementer engagement in the context of the Pakistan public sector organizations. This is Raza et.al Communication between Superior & Subordinate 282 the theoretical and contextual contribution of this study in line with the Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX theory). Many studies have explicitly considered superiorsubordinate communication as an important factor that affects numerous organizational performancerelated results (Yrle, Hartman, and Galle, 2002). For instance, some studies in this area demonstrate that the superior-subordinate communication has an encouraging influence on job approval and in accomplishing the goals set by the organization, performance assessments and analysis, and impact on relations among the management and employees (Steele and Plenty, 2015). This study, therefore, assumes that superior-subordinate communication is a mediating variable that may increase or decrease the performance in terms of the work engagement in implementing the policy. It also addresses the gap in the strategic communication literature, that is to say, how the improved superior-subordinate communication may advance the work engagement which may improve the policy formulation process in a government organization. In addition, according to the authors’ knowledge, no study in the past utilized the primary data gathered from the in-service bureaucrats of Pakistan. Thus, this study, by utilizing the primary data provides insight into the largely undocumented government sector organizations of Pakistan. Literature Review and Theoretical framework Leader-Member Exhange Theory The leader-member exchange theory (LMX) deals with the diverse mutual relations of the leader and the employees of their teams within the organizational setting (Kuvaas, Buch, Dysvik, Journal of Media Studies 35(2) 283 and Haerem, 2012). With such diversity, LMX provides an opportunity to understand and examine the manager and team’s relations by considering complex phenomena involved to influence the superior-subordinate relations (Walumbwa et al., 2011). The antecedents, recommended in the LMX theory, include the leaders’ attributes, followers’ attributes, and interactive relations. Furthermore, all these mentioned antecedents have a range of outcomes such as intention, performance, satisfaction and attitudinal outcomes (Vidyarthi, Liden, Anand, Erdogan, and Ghosh, 2010). Therefore, LMX provides a well-established criterion to evaluate certain outcomes as many recent studies have adapted to measure organizational activities-related outcomes. However, previous studies such as (Walumbwa et al., 2011) also recommended examining other possible antecedents in the LMX theory to better understand the role of superior-subordinate communication in the organizational hierarchies. In this regard, policy formulation is one of the possible variables which may directly be related to the employees’ performance, furthermore, which is directly related to the motivation of the employee's work engagement (Flores, Orgaz, and Cruz, 2011). Thus, it remains unclear in the public organization settings that how it may facilitate the several functioning of the organization such as employees’ work engagement. We consider the work engagement as the possible positive outcome in case of the positive superior-subordinate communication between the high hierarchies of the Pakistani government organization. In this way, this study extends the LMX Raza et.al Communication between Superior & Subordinate 284 model by adding the new possible antecedent of the policy formulation which remains detached from the LMX model. By doing so, the study proposes a mediation model whereby superior-subordinate communication mediates policy formulation and employees' work engagement. Previous studies recommended identifying the possible antecedents of the Leadermember exchange theory (LMX) to fully understand the factors that affect the employees’ performance. This study fills this research gap and extends the LMX model by examining the direct and indirect effect of the novel antecedent of the policy formulation on employees' work engagement. In addition, no previous study considered the mediating role of superiorsubordinate communication in policy formation and employees' work engagement in the context of public-sector organizations. Lastly, in this vein, the proposed study is unique in the sense that it utilizes primary data collected from the in-service bureaucrats of Pakistan. Superior–Subordinate Communication Superior–subordinate communication defines the procedures and communications that the superiors use with subordinates to accomplish assignment aims and uphold their associations (Miles, Patrick, and King, 1996). In an administrative background, SSC has been l