Increasing interpersonal and informational justice when communicating negative news: The role of the manager's empathic concern and moral development
Publication type
FT ranked journal articlePublication Year
2010Journal
Journal of ManagementPublication Volume
36Publication Issue
2Publication Begin page
555Publication End page
578
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Show full item recordAbstract
The authors report two studies exploring the role of a manager's empathy in delivering negative news more fairly. In Study 1, 132 practicing managers completed a scenario task in which a layoff was to be communicated. Trait empathic concern predicted interpersonal and informational justice of written messages. In Study 2, 81 students provided face-to-face feedback to a confederate, which was videotaped. An empathic induction resulted in higher levels of interpersonal and informational justice relative to a control group. Furthermore, the empathic induction had a greater effect on interpersonal and informational justice for communicators who were high (versus low) in moral development.Knowledge Domain/Industry
People Management & Leadershipae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/0149206308328509