Feeling Shame in the Workplace: An Investigation of Negative Feedback as Precedent and Resulting Performance and Well-Being

First published: July 28, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2553

DESCRIPTION

This study will be an investigation of shame and organizational settings.

The study utilized Daniels and Robinson's (2019) organizational shame framework to investigate negative supervisor feedback, a common practice in supervisor-subordinate interactions, as a predictor of employee shame.

In addition, we examined the day-to-day effects of shame on well-being and performance.

In a hypothetical model tested using diary methods from 119 full-time employees over five consecutive working days, the results showed that negative supervisor feedback was associated with employees' feelings of shame at the individual level, increasing end-of-work emotional exhaustion while improving in-role and out-of-role performance the following day. It has been shown to increase end-of-work emotional exhaustion while improving in-role and out-of-role performance the following day.

Furthermore, leader-member exchange (LMX) at the individual level was found to moderate the relationship between negative feedback and shame, with the relationship becoming stronger under high LMX.