The ruminative pathway: How leader anger expression triggers employee withdrawal behavior

Abstract Drawing on the cognitive theories of rumination, this study identifies employee rumination as a novel mechanism in the relationship between leader anger expression and its consequences for employees (i.e., withdrawal behavior). Our model emphasizes the prolonged negative cognitive process provoked by leader anger expression, which goes beyond the dominant cognitive pathway (i.e., employees' inference processes) proposed by the Emotion as Social Information (EASI) model. The results from two studies (a preliminary experimental study with a sample of 182 participants and a survey study with a sample of 135 employees) consistently supported our theoretical model. The results showed that leader anger expression enhanced employee rumination, and that the positive effect of leader anger expression on employee rumination was not significant when leader status was high. In addition, leader status alleviated the mediating effect of employee rumination between leader anger expression and employee withdrawal behavior. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.