The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance
Although the dominant view in the literature suggests that work-related anxiety experienced by employees affects their behavior and performance, little research has focused on how and when leaders’ workplace anxiety affects their followers’ job performance. Drawing from Emotions as Social Informatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.965365/full |
| _version_ | 1797985877146730496 |
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| author | Shanshan Zhang Lifan Chen Lihua Zhang Aaron McCune Stein |
| author_facet | Shanshan Zhang Lifan Chen Lihua Zhang Aaron McCune Stein |
| author_sort | Shanshan Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although the dominant view in the literature suggests that work-related anxiety experienced by employees affects their behavior and performance, little research has focused on how and when leaders’ workplace anxiety affects their followers’ job performance. Drawing from Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory, we propose dual mechanisms of cognitive interference and emotional exhaustion to explain the relationship between leader workplace anxiety and subordinate job performance. Specifically, cognitive interference is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower task performance, while emotional exhaustion is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower contextual performance. Additionally, we examine how follower epistemic motivation serves as a boundary condition for the effect of leader anxiety on follower performance outcomes. Results from a 2-wave study of 228 leader-follower dyads in a high-tech company mostly supported our theoretical model. We conclude the study with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:23:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b755d34b5984d5488071d431079ab7e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:23:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b755d34b5984d5488071d431079ab7e2022-12-22T04:37:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-10-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.965365965365The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performanceShanshan Zhang0Lifan Chen1Lihua Zhang2Aaron McCune Stein3School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, ChinaIpsos, New York, NY, United StatesAlthough the dominant view in the literature suggests that work-related anxiety experienced by employees affects their behavior and performance, little research has focused on how and when leaders’ workplace anxiety affects their followers’ job performance. Drawing from Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory, we propose dual mechanisms of cognitive interference and emotional exhaustion to explain the relationship between leader workplace anxiety and subordinate job performance. Specifically, cognitive interference is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower task performance, while emotional exhaustion is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower contextual performance. Additionally, we examine how follower epistemic motivation serves as a boundary condition for the effect of leader anxiety on follower performance outcomes. Results from a 2-wave study of 228 leader-follower dyads in a high-tech company mostly supported our theoretical model. We conclude the study with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.965365/fullworkplace anxietycognitive interferenceemotional exhaustionepistemic motivationjob performance |
| spellingShingle | Shanshan Zhang Lifan Chen Lihua Zhang Aaron McCune Stein The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance Frontiers in Psychology workplace anxiety cognitive interference emotional exhaustion epistemic motivation job performance |
| title | The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| title_full | The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| title_fullStr | The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| title_full_unstemmed | The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| title_short | The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| title_sort | ripple effect how leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance |
| topic | workplace anxiety cognitive interference emotional exhaustion epistemic motivation job performance |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.965365/full |
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