Committee Chair

O'Leary, Brian J.

Committee Member

Cunningham, Christopher J. L.; Warren, Amye

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Emotional sincerity, an emerging construct in the trust in leadership literature, refers to the congruence between emotions internally experienced and externally expressed. With regard to attribution theory, observers (employees) can use the emotional expressions of others (supervisors) as an information source for making judgments. Although previous research has examined the uniqueness and explanatory power of the leaders’ perceived emotional sincerity construct (LPES), relatively few studies have examined LPES as a moderator. The present study examined the moderating effects of LPES on well-established relationships between trust in direct leader (TDL) and several employee outcomes (i.e., turnover intentions, altruistic behaviors, and organizational commitment). Data were collected from 185 participants representing 13 industries. The results demonstrated that, after controlling for personality and demographic factors, LPES moderated the positive relationship between TDL and altruistic behaviors. More generally, the results demonstrate that employees’ perceptions of their leaders are related to employee outcomes.

Acknowledgments

I cannot express enough thanks to my committee for their guidance and continued support throughout this process: my thesis chair, Dr. Brian O’Leary; Dr. Chris Cunningham; and Dr. Amye Warren. I would also like to thank Dr. Michael Biderman for his assistance with this project. I thank you all, not only for sharing your thoughts and expertise, but also for serving as great role models to students.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2017

Subject

Employees -- Attitudes; Leadership -- Moral and ethical aspects; Employee motivation

Keyword

Trust in direct leader; Leaders' perceived emotional sincerity; Turnover intentions, Altruistic behaviors; Organizational commitment

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xii, 77 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

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