Make Them Feel: How the Disclosure of Pregnancy to a Supervisor Leads to Changes in Perceived Supervisor Support

Abstract

Personal disclosure at work can help facilitate high-quality relationships; however, these results may depend on people’s reactions to them. We suggest that reactions to a disclosure—particularly supervisor reactions—can relate to abrupt and enduring changes in perceptions of relationship quality. Drawing on theory related to relationship-defining memories [ Alea N, Vick SC (2010) The first sight of love: Relationship-defining memories and marital satisfaction across adulthood. Memory 18(7):730–742.], informational justice [ Lind EA (2001) Fairness heuristic theory: Justice judgments as pivotal cognitions in organizational relations. Greenberg J, Cropanzano R, eds. Advances in Organizational Justice (Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA), 56–88.], and emotions [ Van Kleef GA (2009) How emotions regulate social life. Current Directions Psych. Sci. 18(3):184–188.], we investigate the mechanisms through which supervisor reactions to pregnancy disclosure influence changes in employees’ perceived supervisor support (PSS). The results from a longitudinal field study of over 100 pregnant working women and two experimental vignette studies suggest that the evocation of positive emotions from pregnant women at the time of the disclosure influences immediate and enduring changes in PSS. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1136 .