Leadership Communication in Fostering Trust and Employee Proficiency among Public Sector Employees

Abstract

Effective leadership communication is widely recognized as a critical driver of organizational success, particularly in the public sector. This study examines the mediating role of trust in leadership between leadership communication and employee proficiency. Data were collected from 266 public sector employees using a structured survey questionnaire and subsequently analysed using SmartPLS to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings indicate that effective leadership communication positively influences trust in leadership, which in turn significantly increases employee proficiency. These results underscore the critical importance of communication as a strategic leadership tool for building trust, facilitating employee competence, and promoting organizational effectiveness. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the mechanisms by which leadership communication influences employee outcomes, providing practical implications for leadership development in the public sector context, and highlighting areas for future research on trust-based leadership dynamics.