Emotion Regulation Tendencies and Leadership Performance: An Examination of Cognitive and Behavioral Regulation Strategies

Abstract

Emotion regulation is advocated to be an important factor underlying effective leadership given the task demands and interpersonal stressors facing organizational leaders. Despite the recognition of emotion regulation processes in leadership literature, there is a need for additional theorizing and empirical research on the specific cognitive and behavioral strategies utilized by leaders. This effort attempts to address this gap by examining individual tendencies in four emotion regulation strategies, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive reappraisal, and suppression, and their association with leadership task performance. Using an undergraduate student sample, this correlational study assessed the relationship between emotion regulation tendencies and performance in emotionally-relevant domains of leadership. Results provide partial support, suggesting that situation modification and cognitive reappraisal are positively related to leadership performance, whereas suppression was found to relate negatively with performance. Emotion regulation strategies were also found to account for variance in leadership performance above and beyond other emotion-related individual differences. Taken together, these findings suggest that certain regulation processes may be more functional for leaders and extend emotion regulation research in the leadership domain. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

Demonstrating the Impact of Cognitive CEO on Firms’ Performance and CSR Activity

“…The social cognitive theory emphasizes the individual characteristics that can either embellish or blemish performance through environmental factors (Staples and Webster, 2007). Additionally, leaders who adopt cognitive strategies experience emphatic performance enhancement (Torrence and Connelly, 2019). Meanwhile, cognitive psychology emphasizes that cognition synchronizes the brain to proceed properly (Barsalou, 2014), which ultimately assists the individual in making the right decision.…”

Investigating Emotion Regulation Strategies to Facilitate the Well-Being of Managers

“…Cognitive reappraisal involves changing how an individual thinks about an emotional stimulus (Gross, 2015) and is linked to positive affect, mental health/well-being, and positive cognitive and social outcomes (Hu et al, 2014;John & Gross, 2004). However, little attention has been given to how leaders themselves utilize cognitive reappraisal (Thory, 2013;Torrence & Connelly, 2019). This is of concern because cognitive reappraisal can help leaders in building sustainable interpersonal relationships (Little, Gooty, & Williams, 2016;Thiel et al, 2018), handling time pressure, decision-making, and overcoming frustration when confronting demanding job stressors (Haver et al, 2019;Walter, Cole, & Humphrey, 2011).…”

“…In particular, there has been limited focus on leaders' mental well-being and use of cognitive reappraisal. Moreover, few organizational studies have applied Gross' (1998) concept of emotion regulation in leadership (Thory, 2013;Torrence & Connelly, 2019). Research addressing this gap is warranted because leadership is an emotion-laden process -the ability to manoeuvre effectively between different emotion regulation strategies, as well as control and manage one's own emotions and those of others, is an essential quality of emotionally intelligent leadership (Troth et al, 2018).…”

The Stories We Tell: Why Cognitive Distortions Matter for Leaders

“…For leaders, cognitive reappraisal related to greater positive mood. In another study, cognitive reappraisal related to improved task performance (Torrence & Connelly, 2019). Finally, one study used daily diaries to assess the relations between significant work events, emotion regulation, and work behaviors in a population of computer programmers (Matta et al, 2014).…”