Followers' affective influences on leaders – summary of previous work
| Author (s) | Year | Title/research topic | Methodology | Sample | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hsee et al. | 1990 | The effect of power on susceptibility to emotional contagion | Laboratory experiment | 40 university students | Leaders were more susceptible to catching emotions from followers |
| Tee et al. | 2013 | The influence of follower mood on leader mood and task performance: An affective, follower-centric perspective of leadership | Laboratory experiments in two different studies | 288 university students | Followers' moods infused leaders' moods and shaped their task performance. Leaders whose followers expressed more positive moods performed significantly better at work tasks. Furthermore, leaders high on neuroticism were more prone to catch followers’ negative moods and perform less effectively |
| Van Knippenberg and Van Kleef | 2016 | Leadership and affect: Moving the hearts and minds of followers | Systematic literature review | – | An integrative review of the empirical research on leadership and affect. This paper highlights the evidence scarcity and calls for follower-centric leadership research, especially around follower-leader affect transfer |
| Bartels et al. | 2022 | With a frown or a smile: How leader affective states spark the leader-follower reciprocal exchange process | Experience sampling design | 76 leader-follower dyads | Followers' affective states predicted their task performance, which in turn shaped leaders' perceptions of exchange relationships and helping behaviors |
| Lanaj and Jennings | 2020 | Putting leaders in a bad mood: The affective costs of helping followers with personal problems | Experience sampling design | 43 managers | Leaders who help followers with personal problems during the day (e.g. addressing followers’ negative emotions were found to experience negative effects by the end of the day) |
| Güntner et al. | 2021 | The power of followers that do not follow: Investigating the effects of follower resistance, leader implicit followership theories and leader negative affect on the emergence of destructive leader behavior | Online experiment and survey | 122 Managers | Followers’ resistance increases the leaders’ negative affect, predicting their destructive behaviors. This underscores the notion that follower factors can shape leader emotions and negative behaviors |
| Oc et al. | 2023 | The study of followers in leadership research: A systematic and critical | Systematic literature review | – | The paper highlighted seven factors through which followers can influence leadership outcomes. Emotional states and psychological well-being of followers were identified as key factors of influence |
| Author (s) | Year | Title/research topic | Methodology | Sample | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hsee | The effect of power on susceptibility to emotional contagion | Laboratory experiment | 40 university students | Leaders were more susceptible to catching emotions from followers | |
| Tee | The influence of follower mood on leader mood and task performance: An affective, follower-centric perspective of leadership | Laboratory experiments in two different studies | 288 university students | Followers' moods infused leaders' moods and shaped their task performance. Leaders whose followers expressed more positive moods performed significantly better at work tasks. Furthermore, leaders high on neuroticism were more prone to catch followers’ negative moods and perform less effectively | |
| Van Knippenberg and Van Kleef | Leadership and affect: Moving the hearts and minds of followers | Systematic literature review | – | An integrative review of the empirical research on leadership and affect. This paper highlights the evidence scarcity and calls for follower-centric leadership research, especially around follower-leader affect transfer | |
| Bartels | With a frown or a smile: How leader affective states spark the leader-follower reciprocal exchange process | Experience sampling design | 76 leader-follower dyads | Followers' affective states predicted their task performance, which in turn shaped leaders' perceptions of exchange relationships and helping behaviors | |
| Lanaj and Jennings | Putting leaders in a bad mood: The affective costs of helping followers with personal problems | Experience sampling design | 43 managers | Leaders who help followers with personal problems during the day (e.g. addressing followers’ negative emotions were found to experience negative effects by the end of the day) | |
| Güntner | The power of followers that do not follow: Investigating the effects of follower resistance, leader implicit followership theories and leader negative affect on the emergence of destructive leader behavior | Online experiment and survey | 122 Managers | Followers’ resistance increases the leaders’ negative affect, predicting their destructive behaviors. This underscores the notion that follower factors can shape leader emotions and negative behaviors | |
| Oc | The study of followers in leadership research: A systematic and critical | Systematic literature review | – | The paper highlighted seven factors through which followers can influence leadership outcomes. Emotional states and psychological well-being of followers were identified as key factors of influence |
Source(s): Authors’ own work