Whistle while you work: toward a model of emotional self-leadership

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in leader emotion in organizational scholarship. Concomitantly, the body of research on self-leadership continues to expand. Nonetheless, relatively little work has focused on emotional self-leadership. We address this void by exploring intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of emotional self-leadership and its inherent challenges and opportunities. Specifically, we examine how emotional self-leadership strategies can be used to shape emotional experiences, emotional authenticity, and other work-related outcomes. We offer an emotional self-leadership model, research propositions, and implications for research and practice.