Delivering bad news to followers: leaders' cognitive reappraisal vs. suppression requests on followers' emotion regulation and leader-follower relations

We investigated the effects of leaders’ emotional regulation request (suppression or cognitive reappraisal) on follower’s felt and expressed anger and attitudes, as well as the effect of follower’s expressed anger on leaders’ attitudes toward followers. Study 1 using a 2x3 experimental design, examined the role of a hypothetical female/male leader’s suppression/cognitive-reappraisal request following the delivery of bad news on followers’ (229 undergraduates) felt/expressed anger and attitudes toward the leader. Results indicated that leader’s reappraisal request was more successful in decreasing felt anger compared to a control condition as well as decreasing expressed anger compared to both suppression request and control condition. Female leaders who requested suppression were evaluated less favorably than male leaders when followers held stereotypical attitudes towards female leadership. Study 2 showed that leaders’ (n = 32 executives) are more likely to perceive the expressed anger of followers’ and develop negative attitudes towards them following a suppression versus a reappraisal request. We found that regardless of followers’ gender, leaders’ attitudes were more positive when perceived follower anger was low.