Having a good relationship with your leader is associated with better performance, but what happens when people feel ambivalent or conflicted about their leaders? Research shows that having an ambivalent relationship with one’s leader can lead to lower job performance than those who rate the relationship as low in ambivalence.
The Effects of Ambivalent Leadership Relationships
Researchers surveyed 952 workers and students to explore the effects of having an ambivalent relationship with one’s leader.
Across three studies, they found that employees who rated their relationship with their leader as highly ambivalent performed worse in their jobs (as rated by their leader) than those who rated the relationship as low in ambivalence.
Moving From Ambivalence to Positivity
To reduce ambivalence, leaders should focus on having more positive interactions and highlighting any positive aspects of the relationship.
Additionally, leaders should encourage team members to provide each other with support, empathy and advice.
Mixed Feelings Can Make a Poor Relationship Worse
This effect held even when employees rated their relationship as positive overall, which suggests that having mixed feelings about one’s leader seemed to make an otherwise poor-quality relationship worse and offset the benefits of a high-quality relationship.
The Social Psychology of Ambivalence at Work
Our research found that followers who reported having an ambivalent relationship with their leader were also more likely to report feeling more negative emotions, such as anxiety, at work, which may partly explain their lower job performance.
The cognitive consistency process of seeking consistency in our thoughts and feelings is a key contributor to this dissatisfaction.
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