IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/lpadxx/v49y2026i2p85-96.html

How Managerial Communication Affects Work Engagement of Public Employees: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Lu Liu
  • Yahua Wang
  • Quanfeng Shu
  • Sha Jiemin

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between managerial communication and work engagement in the public sector, a topic that has not been fully explored. We surveyed 1,385 public employees who participated in China’s poverty reduction campaign from 2013 to 2020. The findings revealed that effective communication by leaders has a positive impact on employees’ work engagement, partially mediated by public service motivation. However, this article also found that the effect of communication on motivating public employees is weakened by relative deprivation. This article provides a nuanced understanding of how and when managerial communication improves work engagement in the public sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu Liu & Yahua Wang & Quanfeng Shu & Sha Jiemin, 2026. "How Managerial Communication Affects Work Engagement of Public Employees: Evidence from China," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(2), pages 85-96, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:lpadxx:v:49:y:2026:i:2:p:85-96
    DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2025.2453596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01900692.2025.2453596
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01900692.2025.2453596?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:lpadxx:v:49:y:2026:i:2:p:85-96. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/lpad .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.