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Leader Apologies and Employee and Leader Well-Being

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  • Alyson Byrne
  • Julian Barling
  • Kathryne Dupré

Abstract

Regardless of leaders’ efforts to do the right thing and meet performance expectations, they make mistakes, with possible ramifications for followers’ and leaders’ well-being. Some leaders will apologize following transgressions, which may have positive implications for their followers’ and their own well-being, contingent upon the nature and severity of the transgressions. We examine these relationships in two separate studies. In Study 1, leader apologies had a positive relationship with followers’ psychological well-being and emotional health, and these relationships were moderated by the severity of the transgression. In Study 2, leader apologies had a positive relationship with their own psychological well-being, positive emotional health and authentic pride. In addition, the nature of transgressions moderated the relationship between leader apologies and leaders’ positive emotions and authentic pride, while the severity of transgressions moderated the relationship between leader apologies and their positive emotions, psychological health, and authentic pride. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Alyson Byrne & Julian Barling & Kathryne Dupré, 2014. "Leader Apologies and Employee and Leader Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 91-106, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:121:y:2014:i:1:p:91-106
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-013-1685-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. van Gils, Suzanne & Horton, Kate E., 2019. "How can ethical brands respond to service failures? Understanding how moral identity motivates compensation preferences through self-consistency and social approval," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 455-463.
    3. Steven L. Grover & Marie-Aude Abid-Dupont & Caroline Manville & Markus C. Hasel, 2019. "Repairing Broken Trust Between Leaders and Followers: How Violation Characteristics Temper Apologies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 853-870, March.
    4. Yau-De Wang & Conna Yang, 2016. "How Appealing are Monetary Rewards in the Workplace? A Study of Ethical Leadership, Love of Money, Happiness, and Turnover Intention," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(3), pages 1277-1290, December.
    5. Nicholas DiFonzo & Anthony Alongi & Paul Wiele, 2020. "Apology, Restitution, and Forgiveness After Psychological Contract Breach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 53-69, January.

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