How empathic concern helps leaders in providing negative feedback: A two-study examination

摘要

The role of leader empathic concern is examined in the context of negative feedback delivery. We argue that leader displays of empathic concern decrease negative affect and increase positive affect following negative feedback, resulting in more positive evaluations of the leader's feedback-giving effectiveness and improving the leader's promotability. In a video-based online experiment (Study 1) using a US sample (n=177), both conditions experienced a decline in negative affect over the course of the feedback episode; however, participants exposed to leader empathic concern experienced a significantly greater increase in positive affect and evaluated the leader's behaviour as more effective than those in the control condition. In a field-study (Study 2) using archived multisource data on a sample of organizational leaders (n=306), the positive relationship between leader negative feedback quality (subordinate-rated) and (boss-rated) promotability was strengthened by subordinate perceptions of leader empathic concern.