TY - JOUR
T1 - When leaders ask questions
T2 - can humility premiums buffer the effects of competence penalties?
AU - Cojuharenco, Irina
AU - Karelaia, Natalia
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from the INSEAD Alumni Fund. The authors gratefully acknowledge helpful suggestions from Editor Douglas Brown and three anonymous reviewers, as well as Avi Kluger, Geoff Thomas, Joe Raelin, Johannes Müller-Trede, Robin Hogarth, Zahra Murad, and seminar participants at IMD, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Surrey Business School.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from the INSEAD Alumni Fund. The authors gratefully acknowledge helpful suggestions from Editor Douglas Brown and three anonymous reviewers, as well as Avi Kluger, Geoff Thomas, Joe Raelin, Johannes Müller-Trede, Robin Hogarth, Zahra Murad, and seminar participants at IMD, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and Surrey Business School.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2020/1
Y1 - 2020/1
N2 - We advance a questions-as-information approach to the study of the consequences of asking questions for leader effectiveness. We contend that questions go beyond their instrumental purpose to convey information about the asker's lack of competence and high humility, and thus inform possible doubts about the leader, producing competence penalties and humility premiums. In Study 1, we find that most practitioners do not ask questions at every opportunity and many do not endorse questions as a way of looking competent, especially if competence is in doubt. In Studies 2–5, we shed light on both the competence and humility repercussions of questioning. We find that competence penalties occur when leader competence is in doubt ex ante, but humility premiums are pervasive. Humility premiums affect leader helping and trust positively and buffer the negative effects of competence penalties. We discuss the implications of our findings for leadership, communication, and decision making in organizations.
AB - We advance a questions-as-information approach to the study of the consequences of asking questions for leader effectiveness. We contend that questions go beyond their instrumental purpose to convey information about the asker's lack of competence and high humility, and thus inform possible doubts about the leader, producing competence penalties and humility premiums. In Study 1, we find that most practitioners do not ask questions at every opportunity and many do not endorse questions as a way of looking competent, especially if competence is in doubt. In Studies 2–5, we shed light on both the competence and humility repercussions of questioning. We find that competence penalties occur when leader competence is in doubt ex ante, but humility premiums are pervasive. Humility premiums affect leader helping and trust positively and buffer the negative effects of competence penalties. We discuss the implications of our findings for leadership, communication, and decision making in organizations.
KW - Asking questions
KW - Communication
KW - Leader competence
KW - Leader humility
KW - Practitioners’ beliefs
KW - Questions as information
KW - Social perception
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076744732&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.12.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076744732
SN - 0749-5978
VL - 156
SP - 113
EP - 134
JO - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
JF - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
ER -