It is ok to express guilt: the prosocial interpersonal effects of leader guilt display
The role of other-directed moral emotions (e.g. anger) in constructing leadership ethics is well-discussed, yet the effects of leaders expressing self-directed moral emotions remain under-explored. This paper focuses on guilt, a typical self-conscious moral emotion, to investigate the interpersonal...
| Autores principales: | ; ; |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| En: |
Journal of business ethics
Año: 2025, Volumen: 201, Número: 1, Páginas: 93-110 |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
EASI theory
B Moral emotion B Moved emotion B Aufsatz in Zeitschrift B Guilt display B Benevolence inference |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Sumario: | The role of other-directed moral emotions (e.g. anger) in constructing leadership ethics is well-discussed, yet the effects of leaders expressing self-directed moral emotions remain under-explored. This paper focuses on guilt, a typical self-conscious moral emotion, to investigate the interpersonal prosocial impact of a leader's guilt expression. Drawing from the emotion as social information theory, we propose that a leader’s guilt expression can enhance followers' forgiveness and organizational citizen behaviors by evoking followers' moved emotions and delivering the leader's benevolence information. Additionally, we examine the moderating role of the quality of leader-member exchange in these effects. Our results, obtained through a two-wave field survey (Study 1), a critical incident technique experiment (Study 2), and a scenario experiment (Study 3), provide support for most of our hypotheses. Our research contributes to the EASI theory and literature on emotions and provides practical guidance on leader emotional management. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-0697 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10551-025-05925-x |
