More Than Words: A Risk Regulation Model of Supervisor Gratitude Expression, Felt Appreciation, and Subordinate Voice

Feeling appreciated is integral to developing and sustaining high-quality relationships, yet many employees do not feel appreciated at work. Drawing on risk regulation theory for interdependent relationships, we developed a risk regulation model of supervisor gratitude expression, felt appreciation, and subordinate voice. We propose that when a supervisor’s agentic or communal gratitude expression aligns with a subordinate’s preference, the subordinate will experience greater felt appreciation and thus engage more in voice—a relationally risky behavior. First, we followed a five-step scale-development process using four distinct samples to create and validate measures of supervisors’ agentic and communal gratitude expression and subordinates’ corresponding preferences. We then tested our model in a multiwave, multisource field survey with 124 supervisor–subordinate dyads. We found that the congruence (incongruence) between supervisor gratitude expression and subordinate preference was positively (negatively) related to subordinate felt appreciation and subsequent voice, with distinct patterns emerging for supervisor agentic and communal expression. Further, in two supplementary experiments, we demonstrated that felt appreciation promotes voice via perceived regard and perceived reduction of relational risk. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications, highlighting the importance of distinguishing the two types of supervisor gratitude expressions and their responsiveness to subordinate preferences while outlining promising avenues for research on gratitude and felt appreciation at work.