Academic Seminar :Mahmut Bayazıt

We aimed to investigate 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 requests after bad news on followers’ (230 undergraduates) felt/expressed anger and attitudes toward the leader. Results indicated that leader’s reappraisal request were 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.  A match between requested reappraisal strategy and follower’s chronic reappraisal strategy buffered the relationship between felt and expressed anger.  Female leaders who requested suppression were evaluated less favorably than male leaders when followers were prejudiced 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.