Leader interpersonal emotion regulation motives, group leader–member exchange, and leader effectiveness in work groups

Abstract

SummaryRecent research has shown that leader interpersonal emotion regulation is a relevant process for fostering desirable work outcomes. Expanding knowledge on this stream of research, here we argue that to have a complete view of the influence of leader interpersonal emotion regulation, the motives underlying the regulation behavior, namely, egocentric or prosocial, should also be taken into account. We draw on the informational function of interpersonal emotion regulation motives and use a multisource survey study with 99 group leaders and their 1482 group members to examine the effects of leader interpersonal emotion regulation motives. We found evidence that leader egocentric interpersonal emotion regulation motives were negatively related to group members' perceptions of the relationship quality with their leaders, expressed in the group's mean leader–member exchange (LMX), and, thereby, related to lower leader appraisals of their own effectiveness. However, these negative effects were mitigated when leaders were at the same time prosocially motivated to regulate the emotions of the members of their groups. Therefore, this study contributes to expanding theory on interpersonal emotion regulation and its application to leadership, which is informative for theory and interventions about leaders' affective influence in organizations.