Team Listening Environment (TLE) Scale: Development and Validation

Abstract

Although past research has focused on the individual's ability to listen and on the broader concept of communication satisfaction, limited attention has been devoted to the listening environment. This article develops the construct and measurement of a new scale, Team Listening Environment (TLE). Team listening environment is defined as the individual's perception of behaviors demonstrating genuine attention and understanding by team members. This article investigates the individual perception of the listening environment within a variety of academic and professional contexts.Three studies were conducted for rigorous analysis of this latent construct using confirmatory factor analysis in the structural equation modeling function of EQS 6.1. Results suggest that TLE is a valid construct and a contributor to workplace commitment.

Extracting Meaning and Relevance from Work

“…The Listening Environment was measured using seven items of the Team Listening Environment scale by Johnston et al (2011). Based on the context of a manufacturing firm, the words "people in my plant" were substituted for "work group members" where appropriate.…”

“…Yet, while business communication researchers have documented with clarity the strong, positive links between effective communication processes and organizational attributes and outcomes (cf. Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008), the listening environment 1 suffers as an overlooked but potentially critical attribute of organizational communication, despite listening being promulgated by theorists as worthy of research attention in the context of organizational performance (Brownell, 1994;Gilchrist & van Hoeven, 1994;Jacobs & Coghlan, 2005;Johnston, Reed, & Lawrence, 2011). Gilchrist and van Hoeven (1994) conceptualized listening as an organizational attribute reflecting the extent to which employees ascribe positive value to the organization's responsiveness to employee input.…”

“…In concordance, Brownell (1994) views a listening environment as perceptions of the enduring attributes of the organizational communication climate used to create a shared understanding and meaning. More recently, researchers provided empirical evidence to validate the team listening environment construct as a subdimension of the greater communication environment (Johnston et al, 2011).…”

Leadership Communication on Internal Digital Platforms, Emotional Capital, and Corporate Performance: The Case for Leader-Centric Listening

“…Some other research focuses on team-and organization-level listening (Johnston, Reed, & Lawrence, 2011;Johnston & Reed, 2017). While this research does not examine listening competencies of leaders, it suggests that leaders are responsible for developing positive listening environments.…”

The Impacts of Team Listening and Unscheduled Meetings on Team Coordination

“…Yet, research about listening has focused primarily on interpersonal communication, not team communication. Until recently, no listening assessment had been developed to examine the listening environment for teams (Johnston, Reed, and Lawrence, 2011). Therefore, little is known about how much a positive team listening environment impacts team performance.…”