Labor Relations Commons^™

The Role Of Leader Emotion Management In Leader-Member Exchange And Follower Outcomes, Laura M. Little, Janaki Gooty, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

Drawing upon social exchange and emotion regulation theories, we develop and test a model of four specific leader behaviors directed at managing followers’ negative emotions. These leader interpersonal emotion management (IEM) strategies are posited to affect followers’ organizational citizenship behaviors performed within interpersonal relationships (OCBIs) and job satisfaction via follower perceptions of the quality of the leader-follower exchange relationship. In contrast to most current cognitive-transactional views of social exchange, here we posit that some, but not all, leader emotion management behaviors promote and strengthen the leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship. Specifically, we contend that followers’ perception of problem-focused leader emotion-management strategies …