Perceptions of leader interpersonal emotion regulation: Daily and longitudinal consequences for employees

Interpersonal emotion regulation occurs during the workday between leaders and their employees. For example, an employee may perceive that their leader makes them feel better (“affect‐improving” interpersonal emotion regulation). The current study examines short‐ and long‐term benefits of perceived leader daily affect‐improving. Positive affect (as an affective reaction) and perceived leader effectiveness (as an outcome of an inferential process) serve as daily outcomes and explanatory mechanisms for longer‐term job satisfaction and trust in the leader, respectively. We suggest that when employees already start the day with high positive affect, or affect‐improving is perceived as inauthentic, the associations are weaker. A daily diary study ( N = 193, n = 934) showed that perceived affect‐improving from one's leader benefited daily positive affect and perceived leader effectiveness. Start‐of‐day positive affect was not a significant moderator, but perceptions of inauthenticity weakened the relationship between affect‐improving and leader effectiveness. A longitudinal investigation ( N = 109) showed that employees who generally experienced higher after‐work positive affect and leader effectiveness during the diary part, associated with affect‐improving, reported higher longer‐term job satisfaction and trust in the leader 12 weeks after the diary study, highlighting the benefits of affect‐improving in the long run.