Casual yet Crucial: How informal nonwork-related communication shapes transformational leadership in hybrid work environments

Abstract

Based on social information processing theory, this study investigates the role of informal leader-follower communication for transformational leadership (TFL) and job satisfaction across different work settings. Using both a daily diary study and an experimental vignette study, we found that informal interactions are significantly associated with perceptions of TFL and partially moderate the relationship between TFL and job satisfaction. However, such informal exchanges decline on remote workdays, potentially undermining leadership effectiveness in hybrid and fully remote contexts. Based on these insights, we recommend that leaders proactively foster both trivial and meaningful informal communication with their followers on remote workdays, and that organizations establish norms and occasions that support casual, nonwork-related exchanges among employees.