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Article
Getting What You Want: How Fit between Desired and Received Leader Sensitivity Influences Emotion and Counterproductive Work Behavior
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
  • Elizabeth A. Rupprecht
  • Clair Reynolds Kueny, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Mindy Krischer Shoss
  • Andrew J. Metzger
Abstract

We challenge the intuitive belief that greater leader sensitivity is always associated with desirable outcomes for employees and organizations. Specifically, we argue that followers' idiosyncratic desires for, and perceptions of, leader sensitivity behaviors play a key role in how followers react to their leader's sensitivity. Moreover, these resulting affective experiences are likely to have important consequences for organizations, specifically as they relate to employee counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Drawing from supplies-values (S-V) fit theory and the stressor-emotion model of CWB, the current study focuses on the affective and behavioral consequences of fit between subordinates' ideal leader sensitivity behavior preferences and subordinates' perceptions of their actual leader's sensitivity behaviors. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that congruence between ideal and actual leader sensitivity influences employee negative affect and, consequently, engagement in counterproductive work behavior.

Department(s)
Psychological Science
Keywords and Phrases
  • Controlled Study,
  • Counterproductive Work Behavior,
  • Emotion,
  • Employee Attitude,
  • Female,
  • Human,
  • Job Performance,
  • Job Stress,
  • Leader Sensitivity,
  • Leadership,
  • Male,
  • Occupational Health,
  • Priority Journal,
  • Work,
  • Implicit Leadership Theory,
  • Stressor-emotion Model
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2016 American Psychological Association (APA), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
10-1-2016
Publication Date
01 Oct 2016
Disciplines
Citation Information
Elizabeth A. Rupprecht, Clair Reynolds Kueny, Mindy Krischer Shoss and Andrew J. Metzger. "Getting What You Want: How Fit between Desired and Received Leader Sensitivity Influences Emotion and Counterproductive Work Behavior" Journal of Occupational Health Psychology Vol. 21 Iss. 4 (2016) p. 443 - 454 ISSN: 1076-8998
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/clair-reynoldskueny/2/