Date of Conferral

4-21-2026

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Management

Advisor

Meridith Wentz

Abstract

Business leaders are concerned that change leaders’ communication strategy impacts organizational productivity and performance. These challenges can be attributed to business leaders and human resources managers not understanding the relationship between employee motivation, engagement, productivity, and leaders’ communication strategy. Grounded in the composite conceptual framework of Kotter’s eight-step model for change and the Burke-Litwin causal model of organizational performance, the purpose of this quantitative correlational project was to examine the relationship between employee’s motivation, engagement, productivity, and leaders’ communication strategy. The participants were 77 human resources professionals in the United States with at least 5 years of experience in their role who completed items from the Multidimensional Work Motivational Scale, the Utecht Work Engagement Scale, the Employee Productivity Scale, the Perceived Leadership Communication Questionnaire Other Rater. The multiple linear regression model predicted a statistically significant relationship between employee’s motivation, engagement, productivity and leaders’ communication strategy, F(3,73) = 6.429, p < .001 with an R2 of .209 and an adjusted R2of .176. Among the predictors, employee engagement was the only significant variable (β = .501, p = .013). A key recommendation is for business leaders to build trust, improve everyday leader communication, utilize servant leadership, and apply the Johari Window to facilitate successful change efforts. The implication for positive social change includes the potential for business leaders to foster environments that allow for growth, acceptance, and trust, which leads to employees making contributions to their communities.

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