Yelling is no guarantee for being heard
The effect of leader emotional regulation on follower creativity
Master thesis, MscBA, specialization Human Resource Management
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
October 4, 2011
DERK ALBERTUS ELZING Studentnumber: 1552015
Oranjestraat 20a 9717 GB Groningen Tel.: +31 (0)630584183 E-mail: d.a.elzing@student.rug.nl
Supervisor/ university Darja Carl
Second assessor Jennifer Jordan
Abstract
This study focuses on the effect of negative emotions and emotional regulation by leaders on the creativity of their followers. Firstly I expected that anger expressions by leaders led to increased creativity on the side of followers mediated by emotional contagion, based on the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model by De Dreu, Baas, & Nijstad (2008). Furthermore, the perceived suppression of these anger expressions was expected to result in low follower creativity due to the fact that supressed anger did not lead to felt anger on the followers side (no emotional contagion). The data, collected by means of a laboratory experiment, was gathered from 119 students. The results revealed that followers indeed reported more anger after watching an angry leader, so that emotional contagion took place. Despite this finding, this did not result in an increase of follower creativity. Possible explanations and conclusions are given in the discussion.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Darja Carl for her valuable feedback, her patience and her permanent and friendly support. Thanks must go to Jennifer Jordan as well for her additional feedback. I also want to thank Reinder Dallinga for his assistance and aid as my lab experiment was not a straight-forward one, and there were some severe setbacks to overcome. A special thanks goes to my family and especially my parents, for their everlasting financial and emotional support during this thesis and my study.
Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within
everybody's power and is not easy.
Aristoteles
1. Introduction
What is the influence of an angry leader on its subordinates? Can he influence the emotional state of his followers with his own emotions and does this have an influence on their creative performance? Next to the problem-solving function of creativity, creative ideation allows individuals to remain flexible, which gives them the ability to make use of opportunities, technologies and changes in their everyday life (Runco, 2004). That is necessary as the society as a whole is subject to change and the pace with which this change occurs is steadily increasing over the years (Beer & Nohria, 2000). Creativity is also considered one of the foremost sources of innovation (West & Richter, 2008), which further emphasizes the importance of creativity.
Among the many variables that have tried to predict creativity, mood is one of the most studied and the least dubious predictor (e.g., George & Brief, 1996; Isen & Baron, 1991;
Mumford, 2003); however, the nature of the relationship remains a much-debated topic. Some researchers found no relation between negative affect and creativity (Amabile, 1996; James, Clark & Cropanzano, 1999), while others suggested that negative mood states were positively associated with creativity (George & Zhou, 2002). On the other hand, some researchers found evidence that positive affect boosts creative problem solving (Isen & Baron, 1991, Isen, 1999) while still others even questioned this relationship (Vosburg and Kaufmann, 1999). These results give a first glimpse at the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model (De Dreu, Baas & Nijstad, 2008), which states that creativity can be achieved through two different ways, which will be further elaborated in the theory section.
Leadership style and managers’ behavior can have a significant impact on employees and the outcomes they deliver for organizations (Sy, Côté & Saavedra, 2005; Waldman, Ramirez, House and Puraman, 2001). Managers should not only focus on planning, organizing and decision-making, but the management of moods and emotions of employees is considered an important aspect of effective leadership nowadays as well (Pescosolido, 2005). This is confirmed by the vast amount of research on charismatic leadership (e.g. Bass & Riggio, 2005; Fiske, Morling & Stevens, 1996; Sosik & Cameron, 2010; Yukl, 1997), which is mainly an issue of control, in particular of one’s own and others emotions (Fiske et al., 1996). Transformational leaders in particular try to inspire and support their subordinates by projecting a vision that
organization (Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000). Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2003) even pose that emotional intelligence and emotions are at the center of effective leadership.
This paper will shed light on negative emotions, more specifically anger expressions by leaders, and the consequences the display or suppression of anger can have on followers’
creativity. Can leaders influence follower behavior when expressing their own feelings or should they avoid it and suppress their anger in the best interest of their company? In this paper, I tend to make a contribution to a fuller understanding of the effects that emotions in a leader-follower situation can have.
The theoretical framework of this paper reviews existing knowledge on negative emotions, creativity and the possible relationship between these variables. This section will also contain an elaboration on and justification of the research questions. The method section will show the way data was obtained and analyzed. In the results section, the results of the analysis of the data are presented, followed by the last part of this paper, in which the results are discussed and conclusions made, as well as recommendations given.
2. Theoretical framework
Emotions or moods
In the vast amount of research on affective states, the terms mood, emotion and affect are sometimes used interchangeable, although this can lead to serious confusion. Sometimes, affect and emotion are used as synonyms, but nevertheless there are significant differences between theses concepts. Following Scherer (1984) and Gross (1998), affect is used as the superordinate category for valenced states, which includes emotions and moods, among others. An emotion involves changes in posture, facial movements, tone of voice and verbal expressions (Gross, 1998), and is an intense, relatively short-term affective reaction to a specific environmental stimulus (Reber, 1985; Barsade, 2002). Emotions also differ from moods. Mood is the “pervasive and sustained emotional climate”, while emotions are “fluctuating changes in emotional weather”
(APA, 1994, p. 763). Also, emotions typically have specific objects and arouse behavioural responses, while moods are more diffuse and bias cognition more than action. Following the reasoning of Gross (1998) and especially Cropanzano et al. (2003), the main distinction between moods and emotions is “diffuseness”. Emotions have an object or event that is part of the
experience itself, while moods are affective experiences disconnected from their causes. To examplify, emotions always concern something or someone, as one can be angry at his boss or proud of his own performance. Moods do not need such an object of interest. Mainly due to these differences in sustainability and the possibility to influence, the view of Gross (1998) and Cropanzano et al. (2003) is followed and the construct primarily used in this thesis is emotion.
Creativity
As described earlier, research on the relationship between emotions and creativity yielded ambiguous results. This can be the consequence of different usages of the term creativity. Earlier research (Paulus and Nijstad, 2003) defined creativity as the generation of ideas, insights or problem solutions that are new and useful. Paulus and Nijstad (2003), together with many others, operationalized the concept of creativity using measures of fluency, originality and flexibility (e.g.
Amabile, 1983; De Dreu et al., 2008; Förster, Friedman & Liberman, 2004; Guilford, 1967;
Sternberg & Lubart, 1999; Torrance, 1966).
Fluency can be seen as a measure of creative production, referring to the quantity of concise insights, ideas or problem solutions being generated. Originality is a second defining characteristic of creativity, which refers to the irregularity of the ideas, insights or problem solutions being generated (De Dreu, Baas & Nijstad, 2008). These two concepts can be correlated, but not necessarily. For example, a large number of solved insight or perception problems might be apparent (high fluency), while the solutions produced are not predominantly new or unusual (low originality) (Förster, Friedman & Liberman, 2004). A third measure of creativity is flexibility, which “manifests itself in the use of different cognitive categories and perspectives and of broad and inclusive cognitive categories” (De Dreu et al., 2008, p. 740).
It is important to note that next to being a measure of creativity, flexibility also refers to a cognitive process. Cognitive flexibility therefore not only entails a measure of creativity, but is also a precursor of fluent and original responses. Another way of achieving creative fluency and originality is “through hard work, perseverance, and more or less deliberate, persistent, and in- depth exploration of a few cognitive categories” (De Dreu et al., 2008, p. 740).
Concluding, it can be said that there are two ways to achieve creativity, as described by the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model (DPCM; De Dreu et al., 2008). A first one is through
it can also be achieved through improved persistence and perseverance (resulting in numerous ideas in a relatively low number of categories).
Earlier research focuses mainly on the intrapersonal effects of anger, which encompasses the influence of an individual’s emotional state on his or her own cognitions and behavior (Morris and Keltner, 2000; Van Kleef et al., 2004). The research on interpersonal effects of anger, referring to the influence one’s own affective state has on other individuals in the social context (Van Kleef, Van Dijk, Steinel, Harinck and van Bees, 2008), is mainly restricted to the area of negotiation and bargaining, where two parties have opposing goals (Carnevale and Isen 1986;
Baron 1990; Baron et al. 1990; Forgas 1998). The first research on interpersonal effects of anger on creativity in a cooperative setting was performed by Van Kleef, Anastasopoulou and Nijstad (2010). They found that participants exhibited greater creativity after receiving angry rather than neutral feedback, but only if they had high epistemic motivation – the desire to develop an accurate understanding of the situation (Kruglanski, 1989). However, Van Kleef et al. (2010) do not explicitly incorporate emotional contagion in their research. In other words, the result of managerial expression of anger on the affect of subordinates is not taken into account. In that way, this paper contributes to the existing knowledge of anger and creativity.
Managerial affect
As Van Kleef et al. (2010) make clear, negative feedback can result in positive outcomes.
However, Phornpraph and Seebungkerd (2007) state that people in organizations work better when in a positive environment. According to them, a pleasant working environment plays a critical role in enabling employees to perform at their best. They also argue that managers with strong leadership qualities have an important influence on this seemingly important work environment. Taris and Schreurs (2009) furthermore found support for their hypothesis that
“happy organizations” are indeed the more productive ones and stressed for more research in this area. The creation and maintenance of a positive climate is a distinctive component several small businesses use to stimulate their employees. This cannot only result in soft, unmeasurable attributes, but can also result in revenue and outcome growth (Özçelik, Langton and Aldrich, 2001). These scholars even confirm the notion of Kohn (1993), that the provision of a positive climate is preferable to focusing on material employee rewards. As stressed before by Waldman
et al. (2001), leadership in an organization is not only important for managing the performance, but also for managing the emotions of employees.
Following the above reasoning and the accompanying causal relationship that a pleasant, happy organization is a productive one, it might be expected that expressing negative emotions in the leader-follower relationship rather lead to negative outcomes. Several researchers have investigated what consequences negative affective expressions by managers can have. Among these effects are the poisoning of organizational cultures (Aquino, Douglas and Martinko, 2004), the negative perception of leaders (Lewis, 2000), and the potential to lead to aggression or even violence (Fox and Spector, 1999). Leaders who feel distressed and hostile are likely to activate their followers negatively (George and Brief, 1992) and when managers express sadness, they are perceived to lack self-confidence, a construct associated with effective leadership (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991).
However, this is only one side of the story. Up until here, it is stressed that managers need to express themselves positively and arouse this in their employees as well in order to create a positive environment in which employees can flourish and can achieve positive outcomes for their organization. Nevertheless, as managers are human beings, no manager can always behave positive and express himself accordingly. This is not even necessary as negative emotions can be valuable for an organization, as Van Kleef et al. (2010) have shown. As George (2000) mentions, negative emotions, and especially anger, can draw the attention to situations of unfairness and injustice in organizations. These emotions can also enhance power perceptions within an organization (Tiedens, 2001) and can elevate negotiating outcomes (Van Kleef, De Dreu and Manstead, 2004).
Negative affect and creativity
As described above, the relationship between emotions and creativity is not as straightforward as might be expected. Although some researchers suggest that positive affect increases creative problem solving (Isen, 1999; Isen & Baron, 1991), Vosburg and Kaufmann (1999) questioned this association, while George and Zhou (2002) found that, when creative accomplishments were recognized and rewarded and workers had clarity about their emotions, unpleasant mood states in employees were positively related to creativity. These seemingly
to experience the current situation as secure and without problems, and in this situation they want to take risks and explore new paths and possibilities (George & Zhou, 2007). It also allows them to be all-encompassing in their thinking and to switch cognitive categories; it increases cognitive flexibility (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999), which is one of the two ways to achieve creativity. On the other hand, negative affect informs an individual that he is in a problematic and hostile situation, which can lead to constricted cognitive categories and reduced cognitive flexibility (Carnevale & Probst, 1998). However, negative activating moods, such as anger or furiousness signal to problems or fields of improvement, disconfirming the belief of satisfactory performance (Sy et al., 2005), which might activate people to try to make changes and encourage creativity (Frijda, 1988; Martin & Stoner, 1996; Van Kleef, Anastasopoulou, Nijstad, 2010). This increases persistence and perseverance, which is, according to the DPCM, the other way to achieve creativity, although these activating negative moods mainly result in more ideas within specific cognitive categories, and not necessarily in broad creative insight tasks (De Dreu et al., 2008).
Summarizing, activating moods with a positive tone increase creative fluency and originality mainly through increased cognitive flexibility, while activating moods with a negative tone increase fluency and originality through increased persistence and perseverance.
Emotional contagion
Up until here, the focus has been on intrapersonal effects of emotions and the effects of emotions of one person on another person have not been clarified. Hatfield, Cacioppo and Rapson (1994) tried to investigate the role of leaders in organizations and found that expressions of positive emotions by leaders aroused positive emotions in followers through ‘emotional contagion’. Hatfield et al. (1994) conceptualize emotional contagion as a process which transfers or shares affective states amongst individuals, mainly in a subconscious and tacit way. Extensive research into the cognitive experience of emotion (Arnold, 1970; Izard, 1977; Schachter, 1970) supports the process that occurs when an individual empathizes with someone expressing an emotion, actually attempting to internalize and perceive the emotion expressed. Barsade (2002) calls this the “catching” of the displayed affective state of the sender and subsequently converging on this affective state of the conveyor. This is called conscious cognitive processing.
The positive follower emotions reported by Hatfield et al. (1994) resulted in positive organizational outcomes. Bono and Ilies (2006) also focused on positive emotions and found that
leaders can elicit positive emotions, which enhances perception of their effectiveness. A glance at other fields has to be made to obtain more insight on negative emotional contagion. Du and Fan (2009) investigated this in a service industry setting and found that the stronger the negative display, the more emotional contagion and increases of negative emotion there are.
Emotional contagion can take place between all people, colleagues, customers, but is particularly strong from leaders to followers according to Connelly, Gaddis and Helton-Fauth (2002), due to the fact that leaders are highly salient group members. Snodgrass (1985) adds that lower-status persons have a higher awareness of the feelings of their superiors and this awareness of one’s feelings makes emotional contagion more likely to occur (Hatfield et al., 1994). The process of emotional contagion can occur for both positive and negative stimuli, however negative events have a tendency to bring forth stronger and quicker affective and behavioral responses than neutral or positive events. Next to the nature of the emotion expressed, the energy with which the emotion is displayed influences contagion as well. A higher energy level (or higher activation) causes more attention, which is predicted to lead to more contagion than if expressed with lower energy (Barsade, 2002). A more social view of emotional contagion considers it to be a more conscious process. In this view, people engage in social comparison to check whether their own affective reaction is in line with people around them and the person that sends the expression, using it as a sort of social information to comprehend how they should feel.
Following the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model and the reasoning that activating negative moods mainly result in more ideas within specific cognitive categories, which is the task at hand in this research, the following hypotheses will be tested:
Hypothesis 1a: When the leader displays anger, this will lead to a higher creative performance of the follower compared to a situation when his expression is neutral.
Hypothesis 1b: When the leader displays anger, this will lead to a higher creative performance of the follower compared to a situation when he suppresses his anger.
Hypothesis 2: Leader displays of anger will induce negative follower affect, leading to higher follower creativity.
Emotional regulation
When looking at earlier mentioned effects of display of positive and negative emotions, and the results they can have, one could notice that alternate use of either of these emotions, adjusted to a particular situation, can yield great benefits. In the literature on emotion, this is referred to as emotional regulation. Gross (1998, p. 275) states it as “the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions”. Emotion regulatory processes can be automatic as well as controlled, and both conscious and unconscious. As Parrott (1993) mentions, regulation is not necessarily restrained to negative or positive emotions. Individuals expressing emotions can increase, maintain and decrease both positive and negative emotions. Also, nothing here is mentioned about whether emotional regulation is good or not from an ethical point of view, following Gross (1998) and Thompson and Calkins (1996). A cognitive strategy to suppress negative emotions for example can be life-saving in a medical context (Smith & Kleinman, 1989), while it can be used to deactivate empathic feelings that can interfere in killing an enemy sanctioned by a state or government (Bandura, 1977).
Based on Hochschild (1983) and Levenson (1994), a distinction must be made between two types of regulation, namely amplification and suppression. The former means the initiating or enhancing of displays of emotion, e.g. the sales clerk who puts in effort to boost his enthusiastic display. The latter means reducing or eliminating perceived public display of emotion, as a restaurant waiter facing a troublesome customer. An important note is made by Gross and Levenson (1993) and Harris (2001), who state that an attempt to suppress emotions generally does not entirely hide the display of the emotion, it only reduces it.
Emotional regulation is not necessarily harmful for a leader-follower relation.
However, if the leader consistently fails to achieve word-deed alignment, and thus regulates his emotions inconsistently, the perception of insincerity is strengthened. A leader seems more sincere when he displays consistent behavior regarding his emotions across time (Simon, 1999;
2002). When he seems more sincere, followers are also more likely to carry out instructions by the leader (Dasborough & Ashkanasy, 2004). Another study by Newcombe and Ashkanasy (2002) showed that perceived insincere affect led to lower ratings the followers gave the leader. As Weiner (1985) argues, people are apt to ask “why”-questions when they are exposed to ambiguous cues from the environment, and their following attributions influence their future
behavior and affect. In order to make these attributions, people seek different pieces of information, of which emotional expression is a powerful one (Elfenbein, 2007). Therefore, sincerity of the leader in expression of emotion can reduce the ambiguity. An earlier mentioned research by George and Zhou (2002) showed that unpleasant mood states in employees were positively related to creativity. However, this result was only achieved when the workers had clarity about their emotions. The above reasoning makes clear that emotional regulation in itself is not a bad symptom, but, when executed inconsistently leading to unclarity, it can be harmful for different aspects of the leader-follower relation and the organization. Therefore, the following hypothesis will be tested:
Hypothesis 3: The perceived suppression of leader anger display leads to lower creativity of followers in comparison to when the anger is displayed, because emotional contagion is not or marginally apparent.
3. Method
This section includes an overview of the participants, a description of the procedure participants went through, the task participants have to perform, a explanation of the anger display manipulation and a description of the dependent measures.
Participants
One hundred and twenty students, mainly from the Economics and Business Faculty of a midsized Dutch university, participated in the study. One participant was omitted from the dataset, due to the fact that this participant did not complete the experiment correctly. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions, which resulted in 39, 40 and 40 participants respectively. From the participants, 46.2% were female, and the average age of participants was 20.55 years old (SD = 2.235). All the participants were Dutch and/or had Dutch as their mother tongue. Participants were recruited using flyers in the social areas of the departmental buildings and with announcements on the university intranet. They received €6 (USD 8,54) or 4 research points for their participation.
Procedure
After arriving at the research lab, participants were seated in separate cubicles in front of a computer, on which the instructions appeared. This research was part of a bigger project, so participants first answered personality questions and were given another creativity task concerning the related study. After this first part of the study, the participants received instructions informing participants that they were a new member of the marketing team of a pasta-producing company. After this general instruction, participants were shown a pre-recorded video in which the marketing director explained that their company recently faced some difficulties due to the economical and financial crisis. In order to face this turmoil, participants were told they had the important task of thinking up new names for the new sorts of pasta that were produced. This was necessary in order for the company to remain up to date and competitive. After this introduction, participants started with the pasta-task. This task was previously used by Dijksterhuis and Meurs (2006), and asked participants to generate new names for pastas.
Hereafter, several questions were asked concerning the emotions of the leader and the participants’ emotions. In the final instruction, participants were told on the screen that they had five minutes to come up with as many new names as possible. However, they were told that already existing names were not allowed and five examples of possible new names were provided, which all ended with an “i”. This was done in order to be able to measure both fluency and originality in the creative task, as names with an “i” were not considered original (following Dijksterhuis & Meurs, 2006). Then, participants got five minutes to come up with as many new names as possible. After generating the names, participants had to answer last questions assessing demographic characteristics. Finally, they left the cubicle and answered three final statements concerning the leader they saw in the video (manipulation check whether the leader was relevant in this situation/for this task). The first item was “Concerning the pasta-task, I was instructed by a leader”, the second stated “The instructions I received from the leader, were relevant for my performance in the pasta-task” and the final item stated “During the pasta-task, my performance was influenced by the leader”. All three statements were answered on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = completely disagree – 7 = completely agree). Then, participants were debriefed and received their money or were granted research points.
Manipulation
The display of anger with which the leader spoke to his follower was manipulated. In the neutral condition, the actor playing the role of marketing director delivered the introduction in a neutral way, comparable to a newsreader presenting the news. His voice was flat and neutral, and gestures and facial expressions were kept to a minimum. The second video showed an angry marketing director. He raised his voice, looked angry, clenched his fists and made more eye contact than in the neutral video. The third video message showed a marketing director who suppressed anger, while giving the company information and the task instruction. The director tried to put up a fake smile, seemed impatient as if this was a waste of his time, and sometimes lost control over his emotion. For all three conditions, the story was identical, and it only differed in emotional display. The scripts and specific details on the tone of voice and the nonverbal behavior of the leader for the three conditions can be found in Appendix A.
Manipulation check
Before the actual experiment started, a pilot study was performed to test the effectiveness of the manipulation regarding the emotional display. For this pilot study, subjects (N = 19) filled in the questionnaire based on the short Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JAWS), developed by Van Katwyk, Fox, Spector & Kelloway (1999), which can be found in Appendix B.
With this questionnaire, it was measured which emotions were perceived to be displayed by the leader. All items started with “The manager in this video looked…”, followed by a specific emotion, e.g. “…enthusiastic”, “…angry”, “…sad” or any of the other emotions in the JAWS Scale. The answering scale was a 5-point Likert scale (1 = never – 5 = always). It was expected that the leader displaying anger scored highest on all emotions in the low positive, high activating spectrum, which is the part of the spectrum in which anger is situated. The neutral leader was expected to be perceived as to score the lowest in this spectrum, with the leader suppressing anger somewhere inbetween. Next to the JAWS questionnaire, additional questions were posed concerning the emotional control the leader was perceived to have over his emotions. These questions all started with “The marketing director…”, followed by “…has control over his emotions”, “…looks authentic”, “…reacts impulsively”, “…tries to remain calm”, and “…hides his true emotions”. These questions were answered on a 5-point Likert scale as well (1 = never –
One-way ANOVAs were conducted on the rating scales in the Low Positive, High Active Emotions spectrum. As expected, participants rated the marketing director in the angry video angrier than the other videos. For the question “The manager in this video looked angry”, significant differences were found (F(2, 54) = 42.61, p < .01). Post-hoc analyses using Fishers LSD revealed that participants watching the angry video rated the leader significantly higher on this item (M = 4.26, SD = 1.10) than the suppressed (M = 2.84, SD = 1.17) or the neutral condition (M
= 1.32, SD = 0.59). The same effect was found for the other items, for example for the item “The manager in this video looked furious” (F(2, 54) = 33.84, p < .01). Fisher LSD post-hoc analyses showed that participants watching the angry video ranked the leader significantly higher on this item (M = 4.00, SD = 0.94) than participants watching the neutral (M = 1.26, SD = 0.65) or the suppressed video (M = 2.89, SD = 1.37)
Furthermore, a pairwise comparison was made to reveal that the three conditions significantly differed in the Low Positive, High Activating spectrum. This was done by aggregating the five emotions into one single scale. The reliability of this new scale was sufficient, with a Cronbach’s alpha of α = .786. As Table 3 and 4 in the appendix show, a significant difference is apparent between the three experimental conditions, F(2, 19) = 22.19, p <
.01. Overall, subjects rated the angry leader highest in the aggregated Low Positive, High Activating spectrum with means differing from M = 3.48, SD = .87 for the angry video, to M = 2.97, SD = .76 for the suppressed video and M = 1.89, SD = .61 for the neutral video. Fisher LSD analyses revealed that the angry situation differed significantly from both the neutral (p < 0.001) and the suppression situation (p < .05), and the neutral situation also differed significantly from the suppression (p < 0.001) situation. The questions on the perceived emotional control by the leader also resulted in support of perceiving the three videos as significantly different. The leader in the neutral and the suppressed situation was perceived to have more control over his emotions (M = 3.78, SD = .59 and M = 3.65, SD = .56, respectively) than the leader in the angry situation (M = 2.24, SD = .47). Fisher LSD analyses revealed that the difference between the neutral and the angry situation (p < .001) and between the suppressed and the angry situation (p < .001) was significant, meaning that the leader was perceived to have less control over his emotions in the angry situation than in the suppressed anger and the neutral situation. All these results support the expected differences between the experimental conditions.
Dependent measures
Fluency. This variable is measured by counting the total amount of new pasta names participants came up with during the task.
Originality. This is measured by counting all the pasta names participants entered that did not end with an “i”. In the instruction participants received, several examples were given, which all ended with an “i”. So, in order to measure originality of their ideas, the names ending with an
“i” are subtracted from the total amount of names (based on Dijksterhuis & Moers, 2006).
Furthermore, to correct for the probable higher amount of original names that are thought of when more names in total are entered, the number of original names (so without an “i” at the end) is divided by the total amount of names.
Perceived anger displayed by the leader. The anger displayed by the leader was measured by five questions which all started with “The manager I just saw, is…”, followed by the five specific emotions “…furious”, “…angry”, “…frightened”, “…anxious” and “…disgusted”. Here, the answering scale was a 5-point Likert scale as well (1 = totally disagree – 5 = totally agree).
Anger of participant. The anger felt by participants was measured by five questions all starting with “At this moment, I feel…”, followed by the specific emotions “…furious”,
“…angry”, “…frightened”, “…anxious” and “…disgusted”. These questions were answered with a 5-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree – 5 = totally agree).
Scale forming
In order to analyze the results properly, several new scales were formed. The five questions concerning anger of the participant were aggregated into one single scale. This scale has a Cronbach’s alpha of α = .871, and was therefore considered sufficiently reliable. A second new scale was created likewise to analyze the anger of the leader. This scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of α = .806 and was also found reliable. The last new scale concerned the control the leader perceived to have over his emotions and was made up from three questions which were answered on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree). All questions started with “The manager I just saw…” followed by “…reacts impulsively”, “…tries to remain calm” and
“…hides his true emotions”. This scale was also found to be sufficiently reliable (α = .742) and was primarily used for the purpose of a manipulation check.
Data analysis
To test the first hypothesis, the effect of perceived leader display of anger on creativity, two one-way ANOVA’s were conducted, to verify for both fluency and originality. To test the second hypothesis, the effects of creativity, perceived anger displayed by the leader and anger reported by followers, a linear regression analysis was conducted. This analysis consisted of three steps. In the first step, the control variables were entered. In the second step the independent variable, perceived anger displayed by the leader, was entered to measure the main effect. In the last step, anger reported by the followers, was added to determine the mediation effect.
The four steps of Baron and Kenny (1986) are used to demonstrate this mediation. The first step comprises of an existing relation between perceived anger displayed by the leader and follower creativity. Secondly, there has to be a relation between perceived leader anger and follower anger. Thirdly, a relation has to exist between follower anger and creativity, controlled for perceived display of leader anger. And finally, to establish that follower anger completely mediates the relation between perceived leader display of anger and follower creativity, the effect of perceived leader anger display on follower creativity should be zero.
For the third hypothesis, a univariate ANOVA was used to test the effect of perceived anger display by the leader on the anger reported by the follower, as it is called emotional contagion.
4. Results
Manipulation check
Before running analyses and testing hypotheses, several checks were performed to see whether manipulation during the experiment was successful. These checks were executed in the same fashion as the pre-experimental tests described in the method section. A one-way ANOVA was performed to show that the three conditions differed significantly from each other, with the leader having most control over his emotions in the neutral condition and the least in the anger display condition (F(2,118) = 109.83, p < .01), Tukey post-hoc, p < .032. Emotional control by the leader was perceived to be highest in the neutral condition (M = 4.98, SD = 0.64 ), followed by the suppressed anger condition (M = 4.48, SD = 1.04). It was perceived to be the lowest in the anger display condition (M = 2.27, SD = 0.86). When the perceived anger of the leader is
concerned, the difference between conditions was significant as well (F(2,118) = 28.208, p < .01.
However, post-hoc analysis revealed that the anger display (M = 3.98, SD = 0.91) and anger suppression (M = 3.58, SD = 1.12) condition did not differ significantly, p < .157. They did, however, differ significantly from the neutral condition (M = 2.39, SD = 0.90), Tukey post-hoc, p
< .01.
Additional checks were performed after participants performed the pasta-task. Based on the answers participants gave on the questions “Concerning the pasta-task, I was instructed by a leader”, “The instructions I received from the leader, were relevant for my performance in the pasta-task” and “During the pasta-task, my performance was influenced by the leader” (all answered on a 7-point Likert scale, 1 = totally disagree – 7 = totally agree), the relevance of the leader for the completion of the pasta-task was assessed. Participants did not perceive the leader to be influential for their performance in the pasta task (M = 3.28, SD = 1.59). Furthermore, participants did not perceive the instructions given by the leader to be very relevant for their performance (M = 3.77, SD = 1.63). Only when participants was asked whether they were instructed by a leader, the score was above average (M = 4.39, SD = 1.63).
Correlations and Descriptives
The means, standards deviations and Pearson correlations of the variables are presented in table 1 and table 2. As seen in table 2 and as might be expected, the perceived anger display by the leader and the anger reported by participants correlate positively (r = .388, p <.001). So, when the leader expressed low positive emotions, participants also reported more of these emotions.
Furthermore, the perceived emotional control of the leader correlates significantly and negatively with perceived leader anger (r = -.441, p <.001). This means that the more negative emotions (anger in this case) a leader expresses, the less control he is perceived to have over his emotions. Also, leader emotional control correlates significantly and negatively with the anger reported by followers (r = -.369, p <.001). This implies that the more control a leader has over his emotions, the less low-positive, high-activating emotions a participant perceives to have.
Based on the above correlations, a first fragment of support for hypothesis 2 concerning the positive relation between leader and follower affect, can be given. Although some of these correlations might be expected, further analysis is necessary to test the worth of the model and evaluate the hypotheses.
TABLE 1
TABLE 2
Correlationsa
1
-,441** 1
-,369** ,388** 1
,027 -,049 ,066 1
,164 ,029 -,134 -,077 1
Leader emotional control
Perceived anger displayed by leader
Anger reported by follower
Fluency
OriginalPartOfTotal
Leader emotional control
Perceived anger displayed by leader
Anger reported by
follower Fluency
OriginalPartOf Total
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
**.
N=119 a.
Descriptives
Mean
4,9750 ,10084
2,2735 ,13738
4,4833 ,16449
2,3900 ,14214
3,9846 ,14535
3,5750 ,17733
1,4800 ,11066
2,2154 ,15833
1,6150 ,10822
28,68 3,172
26,69 2,630
30,78 2,984
,5715 ,04389
,5080 ,04936
,5971 ,04631
Condition 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
1 2 3 1 2 3 Leader emotional control
Perceived anger displayed by leader
Anger reported by follower
Fluency
OriginalPartOfTotal
Mean Std. Error
Hypothesis testing
Beforehand, it was expected that leader display of anger led to higher creative
performance of the follower compared to the neutral and the suppressed anger situation (H1).
Furthermore, it was hypothesized that leader anger display induced negative follower affect, which was expected to lead to higher follower creativity (H2). Finally, it was theorized that perceived suppression of leader anger display would lead to lower follower creativity compared to the anger display situation, due to the lacking of emotional contagion in the suppressed anger situation.
In order to test the first hypothesis, a one-way ANOVA was performed. Although the means in the three conditions differed from M = 28.68 (SD = 20.06) in the neutral condition, to M
= 26.69 (SD = 16.42) in the anger display condition, to M = 30.78 (SD = 18.87) in the suppressed anger condition, this test revealed that there was no significant difference in fluency, so the total number of pasta names did not differ (F(2,118) = .479, n.s.).
Another one-way ANOVA was executed to test the effects on originality. Although the originality in the three conditions differed with the highest mean in the suppressed anger condition (M = .5971, SD = 0.2929) followed by the neutral condition (M = .5715, SD = 0.2776) and the lowest in the anger display condition (M = .5080, SD = 0.3082), the results could not reach significance (F(2,118) = .966, n.s.).
For the analysis of the second hypothesis, a linear regression analysis was performed.
This is also done in two parts, addressing both fluency and originality.
In table 5 and 6 in the appendix, the results of the regression analysis for the mediating role of follower affect in the relation between perceived leader anger and follower fluency are displayed. After controlling for gender and age, it appears that perceived leader anger does not explain a significant amount of variance in fluency (R² = .021, n.s). In addition, there is also no significant relationship between perceived leader anger and fluency (b = .066, n.s.) This means that the first requirement of mediation is not met. The second requirement is a relation between perceived leader anger and follower anger. Perceived leader anger cannot be considered a significant predictor of follower anger (b = .037, n.s.) as table 7 shows. Therefore, the second requirement for mediation is also not met. An insignificant relation exists between follower anger and fluency, controlled for perceived leader anger (b = .067, n.s.). This means that the third of
controlled for follower anger also remains highly insignificant (b = .063, n.s.), which leaves the fourth requirement of mediation not met, as well as the other three.
Concerning originality, the same procedure that was used above for fluency, is used again. The results are graphically displayed in table 8 and 9. When controlled for gender and age, it appears that perceived leader anger does not explain a significant amount of variance in originality (R² = .036, p < .082), although this significance level is substantially better than for fluency. Additionally, the relationship between perceived leader anger and originality cannot reach significance (b = .019, n.s.), meaning that the first of four requirements for mediation is not met. Fulfillment of the second requirement, a significant relationship between perceived leader anger and follower anger is not apparent, as was already proven in the previous part (b = .037, n.s.). The third requirement concerning the relation between follower anger and originality, when controlled for perceived leader anger, cannot reach significance either (b = -.167, n.s.). The effect of perceived leader anger on originality, the fourth requirement for mediation could not reach significance (b = .025, n.s.), which means that for both fluency as well as originality, the mediating hypothesis is rejected.
To test the third hypothesis, a univariate ANOVA was executed. The results are visible in Table 10. Following the results, the conditions significantly differ in their effect on low-positive, high activating emotions (F(2,116) = 9.386, p < 0.001). As can be seen from the table, a significant difference in low-positive, high-activating emotions exists between the anger display situation and the suppressed anger situation, Tukey post-hoc, p < 0.001. The anger display condition also differs significantly from the neutral condition, Tukey post-hoc, p < 0.001. However, the analysis revealed that no significant difference was apparent between the neutral and the suppressed anger condition, Tukey post-hoc, n.s. Although these results point towards acceptation of the third hypothesis – because emotional contagion is significantly lower in the suppressed anger condition – the part concerning lower creativity in the suppressed anger condition, cannot be accepted, as this was already shown previously (F(2,118) = .479, n.s.).
5. Discussion
The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of emotions displayed by a leader on follower creativity. Does the suppression or display of emotion have any consequences on the
affective state of followers and their creative performance? It was hypothesized that leader display of anger would lead to a higher creative performance compared to a leader expressing no emotions at all or to a leader suppressing his negative emotions. Furthermore, as the emotions of leaders have consequences for the emotional state of followers through emotional contagion, it was hypothesized that leader display of negative emotions induces negative follower affect, which would lead to higher follower creativity. This emotional contagion was expected to be less apparent when a leader suppressed his negative emotions, which was hypothesized to lead to lower follower creativity.
It was found that when followers perceived their leader to be angry, they indeed were more angry themselves – as in line with earlier research by Du and Fan (2009) – as opposed to when the leader tried to suppress his anger. In this situation, followers reported less anger.
However, the hypothesized effects of the anger of the leader through emotional contagion on follower creativity could not reach significance. Additionally, the insignificant results even pointed in the opposite direction. For both fluency and originality – the two measures of creativity in this experiment – followers watching an angry leader did not score higher compared to their counterparts watching a neutral leader or one who was perceived to suppress his anger.
Practical implications
Following the above reasoning, this research is partly in line with Vosburg and Kaufmann (1999) and Vosburg (1998), who found that no significant differences between positive and negative mood were obtained on scores of originality. Fluency on the other hand did move in the hypothesized direction, with the most fluency observed in the anger display condition, however these results were too insignificant to base any conclusions upon.
Although the results of the current study are not as strong as expected, some implications for organizations and management practitioners can still be offered. As was proven earlier in a different setting and in a different industry by Du and Fan (2009), negative leader emotions have an important effect on the emotions of their subordinates due to emotional contagion. This emotional contagion is more thoroughly investigated concerning positive emotions and the effect on employee affect (e.g. Bono and Ilies, 2006). Therefore, this study adds to the existing literature by stating that it is important for leaders and managers to realize that their negative
negative emotion, as long as it can be justified by the right motives, expressed by a leader can draw the attention to unfair situations and injustice in organizations (George, 2000), however it can negatively influence the perception of leaders and can even lead to aggression or violence on the other hand. This negative perception of a leader can have serious effects on the leader- follower relationship, which can lead to a dissociation of employees from their leader and even from the entire organization, with all the consequences that might entail. Aggression and violence do not even need further explanation as for why they might have negative consequences for the leader-follower relationship and the organization as a whole. Therefore, leaders need to be aware of the signal that their negative emotions might send and the influence that can have on their followers.
Limitations
Even though the results of this research might contribute to the incomplete empirical research on perceived leader anger display and its results on followers, the current study is not without limitations that should be borne in mind when inferring the results. A first limitation of this study concerns the response rate. Although the sample of 119 participants is acceptable, it could have been improved. It might be possible that a higher response rate resulted in significant relationships for the relations that are now close to significance.
Secondly, the composition of the sample might bias the results. All participants were, as mentioned earlier, students, and almost all of them were from the economics department.
Allthough they did form a heterogeneous group when gender is considered, they all have more or less the same educational background and are all of approximately the same age. Thus, in order to enhance generalizability, future samples should have more diversity concerning occupation, age as well as educational background.
Another limitation concerns the earlier mentioned measure of creativity. For this research, a relatively simple and easy to analyze measure of creativity was used. More, and more complex measures of creativity, as the earlier mentioned insight tasks (Simonton, 2003) might gave a more comprehensive view. A limitation related to this, is that the task at hand provided a restricted amount of time. A study conducted by De Dreu et al. (2008) found that participants in an activating negative mood benefited from longer time-on-task, contrary to those in an activating positive mood, who did not profit from longer time. Therefore, more time for participants to
fulfill the tasks might have yielded different results, which possibly pointed more towards acception of the hypotheses.
Several possibilities can be attributed to as for why the angry leader did not arouse extra creativity in their followers and the hypotheses had to be rejected. The first explanation concerns the experimental situation. It can be questioned whether participants perceived the man they watched during the instructions as their leader. Based on the results of the questions concerning the relevance of the leader, participants did not perceive this leader as their leader. They did catch the emotions he expressed, although they did not recognize him as their direct manager. This could have had a negative effect on the strength of the experiment. As was addressed in earlier research (e.g. Lewis, 2000; Sy et al., 2005), evidence for emotional contagion can be enhanced by the strength of the laboratory situation. As Mischel (1973) argues, strong situations have a greater possibility to evoke responses similar for all individuals. When the laboratory situation is weaker, factors like individual differences may also influence the strength of the emotional contagion.
Although the emotional contagion was concluded to be present, a stronger contagion effect might have led to results supporting the other hypotheses as well.
As mentioned by George and Zhou (2002), when creative accomplishments were not only recognized, but rewarded as well, negative emotional states were positively related to creativity.
A reward for the most creative participant – concerning fluency, originality or both – might have yielded different results. Caution has be exerted here, due to the fact that rewards do not need to be seen as something that is contracted for but rather as a recognition of capability and accomplishments. Contracted-for rewards might greatly undermine the interest in work tasks (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby & Herron, 1996). To increase this interest in work tasks, global kinds of rewards as pay raises or promotions are preferred to rewards linked to ongoing activities (Amabile, Hennessey & Grossman, 1986). Therefore, it still is possible that leader anger display leads to increased creativity through emotional contagion, however the effect of the emotional contagion might not have been large enough due to the nature and strength of the laboratory situation.
Second, as mentioned by Van Kleef et al. (2010), participants only exhibited greater creativity after receiving angry rather than neutral comment if they were epistemically motivated.
accurate understanding of the situation, due to the voluntary participation and the laboratory setting of the experiment. This could have had a detrimental effect on their epistemic motivation and therefore led to results different from the ones hypothesized.
Third, the participants under study may not have been a proper representation of the average follower/employee in a business context. Although the amount of male participants was higher than the amount of female participants, which is in line with the higher labour participation of men (Eurostat, 2010), all but two participants were from the faculty of economics. This overrepresentation of participants opting to work in the commercial sector, which is often seen as a hard, harsh environment, could bias the sample. These participants might be more used to anger expressions, as opposed to people in more “soft” environments as for example care-giving, who might be more impressed by anger expressions, and act more as expected in this experiment. Finally, the measure of creativity might influence the results. Earlier researchers used more complicated measures to assess creativity in all its aspects, as there are for example insight or eureka tasks (Simonton, 2003), flexibility tests (Lamm & Trommsdorff, 1973) and composite tests (Amabile, 1985). These tests all measure different aspects of creativity, not only the fluency and originality tested in this research, which can give a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of emotions on creativity.
Future research and conclusion
As this study points out, the final and decisive word on leader emotion and creativity of their employees has not been spoken. Further research might be able to combine findings of earlier work and the current study in order to create a stronger experimental situation. It can be interesting to expand the present study by integrating the recognition and rewarding of creative performance. This might give a more comprehensive view of the effect of display or suppression of anger on creativity. Another way to get a more inclusive view of the subject, and to also neutralize the possible problems concerning epistemic motivation, is to turn this experimental situation into a real-life business setting, with real managers and followers.
Previous research seldom looked at the effect of leader display of emotions on the creativity of followers. Unfortunately, the current study cannot give a decisive word either.
Although the notion of effect of leader anger display on follower affect is confirmed, nothing crucial can be said about the consequences of this emotional contagion. Contrary to what was expected, creativity of followers did not differ after being exposed to a leader displaying or
suppressing his anger. Therefore, this study can be seen as a starting point for the further research on the influence of suppressed or displayed leader emotions on follower creativity.
Appendix A. Manipulated stories of marketing director
1. Neutrale versie:
(Zorg voor een neutrale, degelijke houding tijdens je gehele verhaal. Zorg gedurende het hele verhaal dat je stem neutraal en vlak klinkt, maar straal wel lichtelijk autoriteit uit. Gebruik weinig intonatie in je stem. Laat wel zien dat je hun directe manager bent, maar vermijd stemverheffing en opgewonden praten. Blijf kalm. Maak zo nu en dan “oogcontact” met je medewerkers (kijk naar de camera) en kijk af en toe naar je toespraak. Vermijd het gebruiken van lichaamstaal.)
Hartelijk welkom, mijn naam is Jochem Gerards en ik ben de Marketing directeur van DeSenti Pasta in Nederland.
Ons bedrijf is het afgelopen decennium de marktleider in de pastaproducerende industrie geweest. We zijn een snelgroeiend bedrijf geweest in de voorbije jaren. Echter, de financiële en economische crisis heeft ook de deegwaren industrie geraakt. De concurrentie is heviger en intenser geworden, vooral door de toevoeging van nieuwe vormen en ontwerpen van pasta, maar tot nu toe hebben we kunnen overleven. De basisproducten in ons assortiment worden nog steeds volgens traditioneel recept geproduceerd, maar we willen onze nieuwe producten aanpassen om relevant en eigentijds te blijven. Deze maatregelen zijn van grote importantie om competitief te blijven.
Om up-to-date te blijven en de aansluiting met de andere grote merken niet te verliezen, moeten we onze nieuwe producten blijven aanpassen. Realisering van deze ambitie is van het grootste belang, echter is dit niet mogelijk zonder de 100% inzet en toewijding van al onze mensen. Voor jou als lid van het Marketing-team is dus een belangrijke taak weggelegd. Het ontwerp en de productie van de pasta is in goede handen, maar we zijn continu op zoek naar nieuwe namen voor onze nieuwe pastas. Voor deze taak hebben wij jou ingeschakeld. Er moeten namen verzonnen worden die goed bij de nieuwe pastas passen en bovendien de consument aanspreken en aanzetten om onze producten te blijven kopen. Reeds bestaande namen van pastas zijn eigendomsrechtelijk beschermd, maar voor de rest is elke denkbare naam mogelijk. Als jouw manager wil ik benadrukken dat hoe meer namen jij weet te verzinnen, hoe beter dat is voor ons bedrijf en onze toekomstige producten. Zo kunnen we de kracht van ons merk optimaal benutten.
Voor nu alvast hartelijk dank voor je inzet voor ons bedrijf. Mede door jouw hulp kunnen we ook in de toekomst een sterk en gezond bedrijf blijven!
2. “Boze versie”
Hartelijk welkom, mijn naam is Jochem Gerards en ik ben DE Marketing directeur van DeSenti in Nederland. (Zeg het geforceerd) (Pers je lippen op elkaar en kijk niet naar de camera. Hou je armen over elkaar voor je borst)
(Klink krachtig en alsof dit alleen maar je dagelijkse werk onderbreekt) Ons bedrijf is het afgelopen decennium DE marktleider in de pastaproducerende industrie geweest. We zijn een
snelgroeiend bedrijf geweest in de voorbije jaren. Echter, die vervloekte financiële en
economische crisis heeft ook de deegwaren industrie geraakt. (Zucht en schud je hoofd alsof je teleurgesteld bent) De concurrentie is ontzettend hevig en intens geworden, (Klem je vuisten bij elkaar) vooral door de toevoeging van nieuwe vormen en ontwerpen van pasta, maar tot nu toe hebben we kunnen overleven. (Kijk boos/frons alsof de situatie je doet walgen) De
basisproducten in ons assortiment worden nog steeds volgens oud, traditioneel recept bereid, ik wil onze nieuwe producten aanpassen om relevant en eigentijds te blijven. Waarom hebben we dit niet eerder bedacht? Deze maatregelen zijn van grote importantie om competitief te blijven.
(Benadruk door met je vuist of vinger op tafel te tikken bij elk woord wat je hier zegt)
(Houd een harde stem) Om up-to-date te blijven en de aansluiting niet te verliezen, moeten we onze nieuwe producten blijven aanpassen. (Geef elk woord extra nadruk door per woord op tafel te slaan/tikken) Realisering van deze ambitie IS VAN HET GROOTSTE BELANG, echter is dit niet mogelijk zonder de 100% inzet, inspanning EN toewijding van al onze mensen. (Verhef je stem) Voor JOU als lid van het Marketing-team is dus een hele belangrijke taak weggelegd. Het ontwerp en de productie van de pasta, dat is in goede handen, (klink alsof het je vermoeid dat je dit WEER moet zeggen), dat komt wel goed maar we zijn continu op zoek naar nieuwe namen voor onze nieuwe pastas. Voor deze taak hebben wij JOU ingeschakeld. (Wijs naar de camera) Er moeten namen verzonnen worden die goed bij onze nieuwe producten passen en
NATUURLIJK kun je niet elke naam gebruiken want sommige namen liggen
eigendomsrechtelijk vast, DENK daar over na, maar neem van mij aan, het bedenken van nieuwe namen is van belang (laat dit klinken alsof iedereen dit hoort te weten). HOE meer namen jij weet te verzinnen, HOE belangrijker beter dat is voor ons bedrijf en onze toekomstige producten.
Alleen op die manier en met die inspanning kunnen wij ons merk optimaal benutten. (Benadruk weer door je handen op tafel te tikken bij elk woord)
3. “Onderdrukte-woede-versie”
(Zorg er gedurende het hele verhaal voor dat het lijkt alsof je jezelf moet inhouden. Het moet zoveel mogelijk duidelijk zijn dat je van binnen erg boos bent, maar dat je dat naar je
werknemers niet probeert te laten merken. Zet een geforceerde glimlach op als je mensen welkom heet en bedankt.)
Hartelijk welkom, mijn naam is Jochem Gerards en ik ben de Marketing directeur van DeSenti Pasta in Nederland.
Ons bedrijf is het afgelopen decennium de marktleider in de pastaproducerende industrie
geweest. We zijn een snelgroeiend bedrijf geweest (leg hier een beetje de nadruk op, laat merken dat je niet blij bent dat het succes in het verleden was) in de voorbije jaren. Echter, de financiële en economische crisis heeft ook de deegwaren industrie geraakt. (Laat hier je stemgeluid
langzaam oplopen, en neem daarna even de tijd om jezelf te ‘herpakken’ en probeer weer positivisme uit te stralen) De concurrentie is heviger en intenser geworden, vooral door de toevoeging van nieuwe vormen en ontwerpen van pasta, maar tot nu toe hebben we kunnen overleven. (Onderdruk je woede, praat bijna sissend) De basisproducten in ons assortiment
importantie om competitief te blijven. (Klink alsof je er moe van wordt, dit te moeten blijven zeggen)
(Ga vanaf hier met je handen tikken bij veel woorden, alsof je hiermee iets van je woede kan uiten) Om up-to-date te blijven en de aansluiting niet te verliezen, moeten we onze nieuwe producten blijven aanpassen. Realisering van deze ambitie is van het grootste belang (laat
stemgeluid weer oplopen, en ‘herpak’ jezelf), ECHTER is dit niet mogelijk zonder de 100% inzet en toewijding van al onze mensen. (WEER hetzelfde verhaaltje voor jou) Voor jou als lid van het Marketing-team is dus een belangrijke taak weggelegd. Het ontwerp en de productie van de pasta is in goede handen, maar we zijn continu op zoek naar nieuwe namen voor onze nieuwe pastas.
Voor deze taak hebben wij jou ingeschakeld. (probeer dit te laten klinken alsof je er weinig vertrouwen in hebt) Er moeten namen verzonnen worden die goed bij de nieuwe pastas passen en bovendien de consument aanspreken en aanzetten om onze producten te blijven kopen. En nu is natuurlijk niet elke nieuwe naam te gebruiken omdat sommige namen eigendomsrechtelijk vast liggen, maar denk er over na en neem van mij als jullie directeur aan (laat hier je woede weer
‘per ongeluk’ blijken) dat hoe meer namen jij weet te verzinnen, hoe beter dat is voor ons en ons bedrijf. Alleen op die manier kunnen we de kracht van ons merk optimaal benutten. (praat weer met toegeknepen mond en tanden)
Appendix B. Manipulation check for videos
Beantwoord over de video’s die je zojuist gezien hebt, de volgende vragen:
(1 = nooit, 5 = altijd)
De marketing directeur uit zich in deze video…
...enthousiast 1 2 3 4 5 ...kwaad 1 2 3 4 5 ...tevreden 1 2 3 4 5 ...gedeprimeerd 1 2 3 4 5
...voldaan 1 2 3 4 5 ...angstig 1 2 3 4 5
...opgewonden 1 2 3 4 5 ...ontmoedigd 1 2 3 4 5 ...op zijn gemak 1 2 3 4 5 ...bezorgd 1 2 3 4 5 ...energiek 1 2 3 4 5 ...somber 1 2 3 4 5 ...ontspannen 1 2 3 4 5 ...vol afkeer 1 2 3 4 5 ...geïnspireerd 1 2 3 4 5 ...verveeld 1 2 3 4 5 ...kalm 1 2 3 4 5 ...vermoeid 1 2 3 4 5 ...woedend 1 2 3 4 5 ...gecontroleerd 1 2 3 4 5
De marketing directeur heeft zijn emoties onder controle 1 2 3 4 5
De marketing directeur komt authentiek over 1 2 3 4 5
De marketing directeur reageert impulsief 1 2 3 4 5
De marketing directeur probeert kalm te blijven 1 2 3 4 5
De marketing directeur verbergt zijn echte emoties 1 2 3 4 5
