The effect of emotional stability on powerful leaders' affective and attitudinal feedback reactions

Jana Niemann, Barbara Wisse, Diana Rus, Nico W. Van Yperen, Kai Sassenberg

OnderzoeksoutputAcademicpeer review

Samenvatting

To date, organizational behavior research has mostly concerned itself with factors influencing low power individuals’ reactions to feedback. However, high power individuals are also often confronted with feedback. In this study, we focus on differences between high and low power individuals’ affective and attitudinal reactions to unfavorable feedback. Understanding how high and low power individuals differ in their reactions to unfavorable feedback is important in order to reap the beneficial effects of unfavorable feedback and at the same time minimize its potentially negative consequences. Following insights into emotional stability and power, we propose that emotional stability reduces negative reactions to unfavorable feedback particularly in high power individuals. We conducted two experimental studies wherein we assessed participants’ emotional stability and randomly assigned them to a high or low power condition. After task completion participants received negative performance feedback. In line with our hypothesis, we found in both studies that, with higher levels of emotional stability, only high power individuals were less likely to experience anger and shame in response to negative feedback. Our data also show that anger towards the feedback provider, contrary to shame and self-directed anger, mediates the interactive effects of emotional stability and power on liking and perceived ability of the feedback provider and feedback acceptance. Our results point to the importance of personality in high power individuals’ feedback reactions. Practical implications for organizational feedback procedures are discussed.
Originele taal-2English
TijdschriftAcademy of Management Proceedings
Volume2011
Nummer van het tijdschrift1
DOI's
StatusPublished - jan.-2011

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