IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v184y2024ics074959782400044x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When expressing pride makes people seem less competent

Author

Listed:
  • Schaumberg, Rebecca L.

Abstract

People often take great satisfaction in their professional and personal accomplishments. Previous research suggests that sharing these pride experiences enhances impressions of one’s competence. However, this past work has examined pride in contexts where others’ reactions were absent, unlike most workplaces and performance-oriented settings where diverse reactions to similar achievements occur. I argue that what pride signals about a person’s competence depends on how others respond to similar successes. Specifically, expressing pride in a performance signals lower competence when others do not share the same prideful reaction. Nine preregistered studies support this prediction. The results also showed that expressing pride in a performance indicates that the performance is close to one’s peak ability. This inference about someone’s performance potential helped explain why expressing pride can signal lower competence. Overall, this work shows that pride is not an unconditional indicator of competence but rather contingent on the emotional responses of others.

Suggested Citation

  • Schaumberg, Rebecca L., 2024. "When expressing pride makes people seem less competent," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:184:y:2024:i:c:s074959782400044x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104352
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074959782400044X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104352?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin Elsner & Ingo E. Isphording, 2017. "A Big Fish in a Small Pond: Ability Rank and Human Capital Investment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(3), pages 787-828.
    2. Zapata, Cindy P. & Hayes-Jones, Laura C., 2019. "The consequences of humility for leaders: A double-edged sword," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 47-63.
    3. Wolf, Elizabeth Baily & Lee, Jooa Julia & Sah, Sunita & Brooks, Alison Wood, 2016. "Managing perceptions of distress at work: Reframing emotion as passion," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1-12.
    4. Daniel Sznycer & Dimitris Xygalatas & Sarah Alami & Xiao-Fen An & Kristina I. Ananyeva & Shintaro Fukushima & Hidefumi Hitokoto & Alexander N. Kharitonov & Jeremy M. Koster & Charity N. Onyishi & Ike , 2018. "Invariances in the architecture of pride across small-scale societies," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(33), pages 8322-8322, August.
    5. Umit Ozmel & Isin Guler, 2015. "Small fish, big fish: The performance effects of the relative standing in partners' affiliate portfolios," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(13), pages 2039-2057, December.
    6. Cojuharenco, Irina & Karelaia, Natalia, 2020. "When leaders ask questions: Can humility premiums buffer the effects of competence penalties?," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 113-134.
    7. Tiedens, Larissa Z., 2001. "Anger and Advancement versus Sadness and Subjugation: The Effect of Negative Emotion Expressions on Social Status Conferral," Research Papers 1615, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    8. Rothman, Naomi B., 2011. "Steering sheep: How expressed emotional ambivalence elicits dominance in interdependent decision making contexts," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 66-82, September.
    9. Robert B. Lount, Jr. & Sarah P. Doyle & Sebastien Brion & Nathan C. Pettit, 2019. "Only When Others Are Watching: The Contingent Efforts of High Status Group Members," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3382-3397, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rothman, Naomi B. & Northcraft, Gregory B., 2015. "Unlocking integrative potential: Expressed emotional ambivalence and negotiation outcomes," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 65-76.
    2. Barasch, Alixandra & Levine, Emma E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2016. "Bliss is ignorance: How the magnitude of expressed happiness influences perceived naiveté and interpersonal exploitation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 184-206.
    3. Nault, Kelly A. & Sezer, Ovul & Klein, Nadav, 2023. "It’s the journey, not just the destination: Conveying interpersonal warmth in written introductions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Bobba, Matteo & Frisancho, Veronica, 2022. "Self-perceptions about academic achievement: Evidence from Mexico City," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 58-73.
    5. Patricio S Dalton & Victor H Gonzalez Jimenez & Charles N Noussair, 2017. "Exposure to Poverty and Productivity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2021. "High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2019. "Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Yu, Han, 2020. "Am I the big fish? The effect of ordinal rank on student academic performance in middle school," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 18-41.
    9. Elfenbein, Hillary Anger, 2007. "Emotion in Organizations: A Review in Stages," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt2bn0n9mv, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    10. Ursula Hess, 2003. "Les émotions au travail," CIRANO Burgundy Reports 2003rb-04, CIRANO.
    11. Rigissa Megalokonomou & Yi Zhang, 2022. "How Good Am I? Effects and Mechanisms behind Salient Ranks," CESifo Working Paper Series 9991, CESifo.
    12. Hinnerich, Björn Tyrefors & Vlachos, Jonas, 2017. "The impact of upper-secondary voucher school attendance on student achievement. Swedish evidence using external and internal evaluations," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-14.
    13. John Jerrim & Luis Alejandro Lopez‐Agudo & Oscar David Marcenaro‐Gutierrez, 2021. "Posh but Poor: The Association Between Relative Socio‐Economic Status and Children’s Academic Performance," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 334-362, June.
    14. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2023. "Affiliation rhetoric and digital orientation in crowdfunding appeals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Meschi, Elena & Pavese, Caterina, 2023. "Ability composition in the class and the school performance of immigrant students," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Jeffrey T. Denning & Richard Murphy & Felix Weinhardt, 2023. "Class Rank and Long-Run Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1426-1441, November.
    17. Goller, Daniel & Diem, Andrea & Wolter, Stefan C., 2023. "Sitting next to a dropout: Academic success of students with more educated peers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    18. Rothman, Naomi B., 2011. "Steering sheep: How expressed emotional ambivalence elicits dominance in interdependent decision making contexts," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 66-82, September.
    19. Umit Ozmel & Deniz Yavuz & Jeffrey J. Reuer & Todd Zenger, 2017. "Network Prominence, Bargaining Power, and the Allocation of Value Capturing Rights in High-Tech Alliance Contracts," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 947-964, October.
    20. Murphy, Richard & Weinhardt, Felix, 2020. "Top of the Class: The Importance of Ordinal Rank," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 87(6), pages 2777-2826.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:184:y:2024:i:c:s074959782400044x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.