Understanding when leader negative emotional expression enhances follower performance: The moderating roles of follower personality traits and perceived leader power

Abstract

Emotional expression plays an important role in our social lives. This is especially true for leaders, who hold greater power as compared with their followers. Based on the Emotions as Social Information (EASI) model, we explore the effectiveness of leaders’ negative emotional expression on follower performance by examining the moderating effects of follower conscientiousness, agreeableness, power distance orientation and perceived leader power. We collected data from 40 firms across various industry types using a multisource, multiphase research design. The data are comprised of 191 leader−follower dyads, consisting of 86 leaders and 191 followers. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis show that followers’ conscientiousness and agreeableness positively moderate the relationship between leader negative emotional expression and follower performance. However, when followers are low in power distance orientation and perceived leader power, the relationship between leader negative emotional expression and follower performance becomes negative. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.