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    Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure
    10 Feb 2020Working Paper Summaries

    Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure

    by Li Jiang, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Reihane Boghrati, and Leslie John
    By making sensitive self-disclosures, leaders can enhance how authentic their followers perceive them to be, leading to positive interpersonal outcomes and potentially organizational ones as well. Aside from the obvious costs of disclosing weaknesses, leaders may also reap surprising benefits from doing so.
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    Author Abstract

    Leaders’ perceived authenticity—the sense that a leader is acting in accordance with her “true self” —is associated with positive outcomes for both employees and organizations alike. How might a leader foster this impression? Using field and experimental data, we test whether sensitive self-disclosures—for example, revealing an aversion to public speaking—make leaders come across as authentic and lead to positive outcomes, such as an enhanced desire to work with that leader (Studies 1, 2A, 2B, and 3). Stemming from our conceptual account, we show that these benefits emerge when the self-disclosure is mild to moderately sensitive in nature (Study 4) and made voluntarily (as opposed to by requirement) (Study 6) by a relatively high-status person (Study 5). Would-be disclosers do not intuit these positive consequences of self-disclosure (Study 7), suggesting that leaders may underemploy an effective tool for making a positive impression.

    Paper Information

    • Full Working Paper Text
    • Working Paper Publication Date: January 2020
    • HBS Working Paper Number: HBS Working Paper #20-070
    • Faculty Unit(s): Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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    Francesca Gino
    Francesca Gino
    Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration
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    Leslie K. John
    Leslie K. John
    James E. Burke Professor of Business Administration
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