Abstract
Although researchers have argued that a leader’s positive affective display effectively induces work motivation among members, it has not always resulted in desirable outcomes. This research addresses these critical issues and explains why individuals react differently, by considering the three-way interaction of the characteristics of expression, the positive affect of the members, and quality of leader-member exchange (LMX). To verify our hypotheses, 698days from 47 leaders and 146 members were collected through the Experience Sampling Method. The analysis was conducted using HLM, and the results showed that, for members with high quality LMX, the positive effect of perceived deep acting on work engagement was strengthened when positive affect was high, and the negative effect of perceived surface acting was weakened when positive affect was high. On the other hand, members with low-quality LMX showed a stronger positive effect of perceived deep acting on work engagement when positive affect was high, and the negative effect of perceived deep acting was mitigated when positive affect was low. These results demonstrate that quality of LMX serves as a context of the affective display between leaders and members, and the effect of displaying positive affect relies on members’ perception of the characteristics of the expression and the affective state.
Highlights
Many organizations and experts have highlighted that a leader’s affective display is an integral component of the leadership process (Ashkanasy et al, 2017)
We suggest the following hypothesis: H2: For members with high-quality leader-member exchange (LMX), the negative effect of perceived surface acting on work engagement will be weakened when the positive affect is high compared to when it is low
Hypothesis 2 was about the three-way interaction effect among perceived surface acting, positive affect, and quality of LMX, and for members of high-quality LMX, the negative effect of perceived surface acting on work engagement would be mitigated when positive affect is high
Summary
Many organizations and experts have highlighted that a leader’s affective display is an integral component of the leadership process (Ashkanasy et al, 2017). In terms of emotional management, it is expected that positive affective display by leaders, in particular, will induce members’ desirable work-related outcomes, Effects of Leader’s Positive Expression like motivation and engagement (George, 2000; Lin et al, 2016). While significant efforts have been made in recent years to understand the role and the mechanism of a leader’s positive affective display, many researchers have underlined potential problems and argued that the effects on members cannot be explained solely by the contagion effect. Several studies have shown that a leader’s display of positive affect can decrease members’ efforts at work and result in negative work behavior depending on the situation (Gaddis et al, 2004; Sy et al, 2005; Visser et al, 2013). This study deals with the research question of why a leader’s positive expressions may not always engender desirable results for subordinates
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