The impact of verbal communication on satisfying employees' social needs and the role of organizational identification

Employees which social needs are satisfied are more motivated to achieve better performance. This is in the best interest of an organization, as a social group, so it is important to know how to support employees in meeting the needs. In the previous studies in the field of organizational behaviour, internal communication and internal marketing, the relationship between verbal communication and the level of satisfying social needs of employees, as well as the role of organizational identification in this relationship has not been examined. The aim of this paper is to answer the question of how verbal communication affects satisfying employees'social needs. It is assumed that there is a direct and positive effect of verbal communication on both the level of satisfying social needs of employees and the level of organizational identification. It is also assumed that there is an indirect effect of verbal communication on the level of satisfying social needs of employees which occurs through organizational identification. It follows that verbal communication affects satisfying employees'social needs through organizational identification. To test the assumptions structural equation modeling was used and the partial least squares technique was applied. In order to collect the data, the survey (online questionnaire) was conducted in the last quarter of 2018 among employees in the territory of Belgrade, in Republic of Serbia. The obtained results confirmed the hypotheses. Verbal communication directly and positively affects the level of satisfying social needs of employees, but it also affects it indirectly through the increase of the organizational identification.