Have you ever found yourself listening to someone share their good news and felt pressure to respond with excitement, even if you didn’t feel particularly enthusiastic? Does that pressure feel even greater when the person sharing the news is your boss?

In the workplace, sharing positive, work-related news can have very different effects on the people involved depending on where they sit in the organizational hierarchy, according to research led by Emily Poulton, assistant professor of management at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis.

Previous research has found that sharing this type of positive news can strengthen relationships and extend positive emotions. But Poulton’s research suggests the impact of those conversations becomes more complicated when there is a power difference between the people engaging in conversation.

This research showed that a manager sharing their good news with a subordinate may boost their own mood and energy, but it can also create hidden emotional pressure for subordinates expected to respond enthusiastically.

These findings are explored in the article “‘That’s SO interesting!’: The divergent implications of supervisors’ workplace capitalization for supervisors and subordinates,” published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Poulton worked alongside Emma L. Frank from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

The idea began during Poulton’s time in graduate school. She became curious about how sharing positive news felt from the perspective of employees whose supervisors were sharing their own work-related successes.

“As a subordinate, you can’t really say, ‘I don’t care.’ You feel a certain pressure to smile, engage, and be supportive, even if you’re not in the mood for that conversation,” Poulton said.

“We know from decades of research that sharing good news is generally a positive thing. It helps people relive and extend their positive experiences. But I started to notice that I felt a greater sense of obligation to seem interested in the conversation when the person sharing the good news was someone hierarchically above me,” Poulton shared.

Researchers tested their ideas across five studies, including controlled experiments and a real-world workplace study involving supervisor-subordinate pairs.

“One of our favorite studies involved a fictional bookstore scenario where supervisors shared a story about receiving a tip from a customer. We found that sharing the positive tip experience increased the manager’s energy and willingness to help their employee,” Poulton said. “But for the subordinates in this experiment, simply hearing the supervisor’s tip story increased their sense of obligation to respond with interest and excitement.”

To better understand subordinates’ reactions, the researchers also used a virtual voodoo doll task. After responding to their supervisor, participants could place pins into a digital voodoo doll representing their supervisor to release any negative feelings. Employees who felt greater pressure to respond positively to a supervisor’s good news were more likely to engage in the symbolic task.

While the research highlights potential downsides of workplace good-news sharing, Poulton emphasized that the solution is not for managers to stop celebrating their successes.

“I don’t think the takeaway is that managers should stop sharing good news. The takeaway is to be aware of the social pressure those conversations can create,” Poulton said.

For leaders, that means being mindful of how workplace hierarchy can shape even seemingly positive interactions. Sharing good news may feel energizing to a supervisor, but employees can also feel pressure to respond with the “right” level of interest and enthusiasm. Being mindful of that imbalance can help leaders better understand how everyday interactions may be experienced differently by their employees.

“Most people assume workplace positivity is universally beneficial,” Poulton said. “Our research suggests the reality is more nuanced. Who shares the good news can matter just as much as the good news itself.”

Source: Indiana University