Constructive feedback: When leader agreeableness stifles team reflexivity

Though leader agreeableness has been associated with follower ratings of leader effectiveness, the relationship between leader agreeableness and team task performance is more tenuous. We propose that leader agreeableness stifles team leaders' effectiveness by moderating the efficacy of their constructive feedback to the team. We argue that feedback delivered by an agreeable individual will be higher in positive emotional tone, and that positive emotional tone is, itself, informational content from which recipient teams draw inferences about the need to adapt. As a result, we suggest that team leaders' agreeableness influences the effectiveness of the constructive feedback they provide. Using two studies, one panel study of working adults and another of sales teams, we find support for our theory. Specifically, we show that agreeable individuals provide feedback that has linguistic features that convey higher levels of positive emotional tone. We then show that constructive feedback from team leaders encourages team reflexivity, which in turn enhances team performance, but that high agreeableness inhibits the impact of leaders' constructive feedback. Constructive feedback provided by agreeable leaders limits team reflexivity in response to the feedback. These results have important theoretical and practical implications.