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Managers' Affective Expressions as Determinants of Employee Responses to Change: Valence, Inappropriateness and Authenticity Rachael Elwork Wells Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2008 UMI Number: 3317659 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3317659 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ©2008 Rachael Elwork Wells All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Managers' Affective Expressions as Determinants of Employee Responses to Change: Valence, Inappropriateness and Authenticity Rachael Elwork Wells This dissertation contributes to an understudied area in organizational change research: the effects of managers' affective expressions on employee responses to change. I build upon the psychological literature on resilience and the organizational literatures on affect and change to develop hypotheses based on the premise that resilient responses to change may be the result of social processes in addition to purely individual ones. Independent variables include emotional content (e.g., positive, high activation emotions), as well as emotional inappropriateness, authenticity, and the specific regulation strategy of suppression. To test hypotheses, I surveyed employees and managers from several organizations undergoing change, including a sub-prime mortgage lender, a luxury retail company, a governmental organization, a law firm, and a Fortune 500 internet company. Results featured a series of interactive effects of perceptions of managers' expressed positive emotions and their overall emotional inappropriateness and authenticity. Managers' positive emotional expressions were associated with enhanced employee change-related outcomes, when those managers were not perceived as inappropriate in their emotional expressions and when they were seen as authentic. Managers' effective use of humor also interacted with emotional authenticity and inexpressiveness in its relationship to improved outcomes. Contrary to predictions, humor was related to enhanced employee outcomes when managers were not perceived to be authentically emotionally expressive. Managers' emotional inappropriateness was found to be detrimental to employee outcomes. Finally, while managers' use of suppression was associated with worsened outcomes as compared with authentic emotional expression, the worst employee outcomes were associated with managers perceived to be faking the emotions they were expressing. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF TABLES iii LIST OF FIGURES vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiv CHAPTER 1: Introduction Overview 1 Subordinate Change Outcomes of Interest 2 CHAPTER 2: Theoretical Framework, Including Literature Review and Hypotheses Managers' Positive High Activation Emotions and the Use of Humor 6 Inappropriateness of Managers' Emotional Displays 17 Authenticity of Managers' Emotional Displays 18 Managers' Use of Emotional Suppression 21 CHAPTER 3: Method Overview 24 Sample 24 Procedure 30 Measures 31 CHAPTER 4: Results Overview 38 Main Results 58 Additional Analyses 79 i CHAPTER 5: Discussion Overview 104 Results Highlighted 104 Implications for Theory and Practice 108 Study Limitations 113 Other Future Research 116 Conclusion 119 REFERENCES 121 APPENDICES Appendix A: Study Proposal to Organizations 132 Appendix B: Original Scale: Employee Perceptions of the 134 Appropriateness of Managers' Emotional Displays ii LIST OF TABLES TABLE DESCRIPTION PAGE Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Providing Perceptions 26 of Managers (includes Employee-level and Non-top management) Table 2 Demographic Characteristics of Managers in the Sample Providing 28 Self-Report Data Table 3 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Models not Including Use 40 of Humor Table 4 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Models Including Use of 42 Humor Table 5 Regression Analyses for Job Satisfaction (Without Humor) 45 Table 6 Regression Analyses for Job Satisfaction (Including Humor) 46 Table 7 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment (Without 47 Humor) Table 8 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment (Including 48 Humor) Table 9 Regression Analyses for Turnover Intentions (Without Humor) 49 Table 10 Regression Analyses for Turnover Intentions (Including Humor) 50 Table 11 Regression Analyses for Helping Behaviors (Without Humor) 51 Table 12 Regression Analyses for Helping Behaviors (Including Humor) 52 Table 13 Regression Analyses for Sleep Difficulties 53 Table 14 Regression Analyses for General Life Satisfaction 54 Table 15 Regression Analyses for Procedural Fairness Judgments 55 iii LIST OF TABLES CONTINUED TABLE DESCRIPTION PAGE Table 16 Regression Analyses for Interactional Fairness Judgments 56 Table 17 Regression Analyses for Relationship Quality with Manager 57 Table 18 Regression Analyses Showing Relationships Between Outcome 81 Variables and Posited Mediators Table 19 Mediation Analyses for Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention 83 Models Table 20 Mediation Analyses for Organizational Commitment and Helping 84 Behavior Models Table 21 Mediation Analyses for Sleep Difficulties and General Life 85 Satisfaction Models Table 22 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Risk/Benefit Perceptions 86 and Predictor Variables Table 23 Regression Analyses for Job Satisfaction Controlling for 88 Perceptions of Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments (Without Humor) Table 24 Regression Analyses for Job Satisfaction Controlling for 89 Perceptions of Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments (Including Humor) Table 25 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment Controlling 90 for Perceptions of Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments (Without Humor) iv LIST OF TABLES CONTINUED TABLE DESCRIPTION PAGE Table 26 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment Controlling 91 for Perceptions of Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments (Including Humor) Table 27 Regression Analyses for Procedural Fairness Judgments Controlling 92 for Perceptions of Manager Risk/Benefit Assessments Table 28 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Charisma Perceptions 93 and Predictor Variables Table 29 Regression Analyses for Job Satisfaction Including Manager 95 Charisma (Including Humor) Table 30 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment Controlling 96 for Manager Charisma (Without Humor) Table 31 Regression Analyses for Organizational Commitment Controlling 97 for Manager Charisma (Including Humor) Table 32 Regression Analyses for Turnover Intentions Controlling for 98 Manager Charisma (Without Humor) Table 33 Regression Analyses for Turnover Intentions Controlling for 99 Manager Charisma (Including Humor) Table 34 Regression Analyses for Procedural Fairness Judgments Controlling 100 for Manager Charisma Table 35 Regression Analyses for Interactional Fairness Judgments 101 Controlling for Manager Charisma v LIST OF TABLES CONTINUED TABLE DESCRIPTION PAGE Table 36 Regression Analyses for Relationship Quality With Manager 102 Controlling for Manager Charisma VI LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE DESCRIPTION PAGE Figure 1 Predicted values of S's self-reported helping behaviors as a function 59 of interactive effects of S's perceptions of manager's expressed enthusiasm and anger (model not including humor as a predictor variable). Figure 2 Predicted values of S's self-reported helping behaviors as a function 59 of interactive effects of S's perceptions of manager's expressed enthusiasm and anger (model including humor as a predictor variable). Figure 3 Predicted values of S's assessments of procedural fairness as a 60 function of interactive effects of S's perceptions of manager's expressed enthusiasm and anger. Figure 4 Predicted values of S' s j ob satisfaction as a function of interactive 61 effects of S's perceptions of manager's type 2 emotional inappropriateness overall and whether S manages at least 1 employee him/herself (model not including humor as a predictor variable). Figure 5 Predicted values of S' s j ob satisfaction as a function of interactive 62 effects of S's perceptions of manager's type 2 emotional inappropriateness overall and whether S manages at least 1 employee him/herself (model including humor as a predictor variable). vn LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED FIGURE DESCRIPTION PAGE Figure 6 Predicted values of S's organizational commitment as a function of 63 interactive effects of S's perceptions of manager's expressed enthusiasm and type 1 emotional inappropriateness overall (model not including humor as a predictor variable). Figure 7 Predicted values of S's organizational commitment as a function of 63 interactive effects of S's perceptions of manager's expressed enthusiasm and type 1 emotional inappropriateness overall (model including humor as a predictor variable). Figure 8 Predicted values of S's sleep difficulties as a function of interactive