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Articles week 2: Motivation in Words: Promotion- and Prevention-Oriented LeaderCommunication in Times of Crisis
Research demonstrates that situational uncertainty or crisis strongly influences the endorsement of
the more charismatic or decisive leadership styles and that inspirational communication is at the
heart of these styles. However, there is currently little understanding of what leaders should convey
through their communication to be endorsed in crisis. Based on regulatory focus theory, we argue
that times of crisis make leaders who use more promotion-oriented communication more likely to be
endorsed and leaders who use more prevention-oriented communication less likely to be endorsed.
Results of Study 1, an archival study of U.S. presidents, show that presidents who use more
promotion-oriented communication are more endorsed but only if economic growth is low or if
inflation is high, while no effects of the use of prevention orientation of communication surfaces.
Results of Study 2, a laboratory experiment, show that leaders who communicate a promotion
orientation, as compared to a prevention orientation, motivate higher performance in participants in
a crisis condition, but that there is no difference in a no-crisis (i.e. control) condition. Finally, results
of Study 3, a scenario experiment, demonstrate that organizational leaders that communicate more
promotion-oriented (as opposed to more prevention-oriented) have a higher chance of being
endorsed but only in times of crisis and that this effect is mediated by followers’ motivation to realize
the plans of the leader.
Regulatory focus theory proposes that people can pursue goals with either a promotion or a
prevention focus
Regulatory fit theory posits that persons whose regulatory focus is sustained by the environment will
be experiencing a situation of “feeling right.” If individuals feel right they become more persuaded,
more motivated, and more engaged and their evaluations of the elements that sustain their
regulatory focus intensify. Hence, followers may perceive a leader as effective and motivating when
the regulatory orientation of the leader’s communication fits followers’ regulatory focus.
Promotion-focused individuals (transformational)
are eager to achieve, emphasize ideals, focus on advancement, and set promotion goals.
Prevention-focused individuals (transactional)
A prevention focus denotes a tendency to aim for reaching an end-state because of a fear of an
undesirable alternative. The motivating force of a prevention focus is the avoidance of pain.
Prevention-focused individuals are vigilant and careful, emphasize fears, focus on avoiding threats,
and set prevention goals.
,They also proposed that transformational leadership encourages promotion strategies and is related
to creativity, speed, and positive affect; while transactional leadership encourages prevention
strategies and is related to vigilance, accuracy, and negative affect.
Study 1 conclusion
The results of this study show clearly that promotion-oriented communication interacted with economic
situation and that it became a significant positive predictor of leader endorse- ment when economic
circumstances were worse than average. The results for reelection also seem to indicate that in situations of
positive economic circumstances promotion-oriented communication can also have a negative influence,
emphasizing that promotion-oriented communication is only a positive influence in negative economic
circumstances
Study 2 conclusion
The results of this experimental study demonstrate once more that crisis and regulatory orientation of leader
communication interact to determine outcomes. In this case, we find that in times of crisis, promotion-oriented
leader communication leads to greater enacted motivation to realize a leader’s plans than prevention-oriented
leader communication. This nicely complements the results in Study 1 concerning the effects of promotion- and
prevention-oriented leader communication on leader endorsement.
Study 3 conclusion
The results of a field study of U.S. presidents demonstrated that promotion-oriented communication of
presidents related strongly to reelection success and presidential greatness, but only when inflation was high or
economic growth was low (i.e., in times of economic crisis). The results of a behavioral experiment
demonstrated that in times of crisis, but not in times of prosperity, promotion-oriented communication, rather
than prevention-oriented communication, of professional leaders lead to more motivation to realize the
leader’s plans. Finally, the results of a scenario study showed that in times of crisis, but less so when there is no
crisis, potential organizational leaders of companies motivate others to realize their plans more when they
communicate a promotion-orientation (as opposed to prevention-orientation) and that such enhanced
motivation to realize the leader’s plans lead to more leader endorsement.
Our findings suggest that for leadership in times of crisis, promotion-oriented communication is more effective
in getting endorsed by followers than either less promotion-oriented communication or prevention-oriented
communication. Because these findings need not be limited to leader communication (since other behaviors
may also display a regulatory orientation), these findings not only yield insights in effective leader
communication in times of crisis, but also extend an invitation to leadership research to further develop this
regulatory focus perspective on crisis leadership.
, Article week 2: The Interplay Between Goal Intentions and Implementation Intentions
Two studies tested whether action control by implementation intentions is sensitive to the activation
and strength of participants’ underlying goal intentions. In Study 1, participants formed
implementation intentions (or did not) and their goal intentions were measured. Findings revealed a
significant inter- action between implementation intentions and the strength of respective goal
intentions. Implementation intentions benefited the rate of goal attainment when participants had
strong goal intentions but not when goal intentions were weak. Study 2 activated either a task-
relevant or a neutral goal outside of participants’ conscious awareness and found that
implementation intentions affected performance only when the relevant goal had been activated.
These findings indicate that the rate of goal attainment engendered by implementation intentions
takes account of the state (strength, activation) of people’s superordinate goal intentions.
Relationship between goal intentions and implementation intentions
Whereas goal intentions specify what one wants to achieve (i.e., “I intend to achieve X!”),
implementation intentions involve specifying the behavior one will perform in the service of the goal
and the situational context in which one will enact it (i.e., “If situation Y arises, then I will initiate
goal-directed behavior Z!”).
Goal of research
The aim of the present research is to test whether the rate of goal attainment engendered by
implementation intentions is sensitive to the presence and absence of a superordinate goal
intention. Our concern in the present research is whether the situational control of behavior
engendered by implementation intentions is sensitive or indifferent to the state of the underlying
goal intention. Thus, the question investigated here is whether people’s goal intentions moderate
automatic action initiation by implementation intentions.
Why do implementation intentions benefit goal achievement? Two processes appear to be
important. First, the critical situation (specified in the if component of the plan) becomes highly
accessible when people form an implementation intention. The consequence is that these cues are
detected swiftly and with precision. Second, the initiation of the intended behavior (specified in the
then component of the plan) becomes automated when people form an implementation intention.
That is, action control by implementation intentions exhibits key features of automaticity including
immediacy, efficiency, and lack of awareness.
Conclusion study 1
Study 1 showed that main effects of both goal intentions and implementation intentions were
qualified by a significant interaction effect. Findings showed that implementation intentions did not
affect study behavior when participants had weak goal intentions; behavioral effects of
implementation intentions emerged only when participants had goal intentions that strongly favored
performance of the behavior. These findings support the prediction that goal intentions moderate
the behavioral effects of implementation intentions.
Regard- less of when the second measurement of motivation was taken, implementation intentions
were not associated with changes in goal intentions or other motivational constructs. These findings
suggest that implementation intention effects are not based on changes in motivation. Instead,
accumulated evidence supports the view that implementation intentions are effective because the
specified situational cues automatically elicit behavior
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