Chapter 9: Leader Interpersonal Affect Regulation, Team High-Activated Affective Tone, and Team Psychological Safety

ABSTRACT – In this chapter, we investigate whether and how leader interpersonal affect regulation influences team psychological safety through the emotional tone of the team. Drawing on data from 206 members of 51 teams in a natural resource extraction organization, we examine how leaders’ affect-improving and affect-worsening regulation strategies shape high-activated team affective tone and, in turn, psychological safety. Team members rated their leaders’ affect regulation behaviors, the team’s emotional tone, and psychological safety. Using structural equation modeling, we found that leader affect-improving strategies were positively associated with team psychological safety, and this relationship was mediated by high-activated positive affective tone (indirect effect = 0.21, p < 0.05). Although affect-worsening strategies were significantly related to high-activated negative affective tone (β = 0.36, p < 0.01), the latter was not associated with psychological safety (β = 0.07, p > 0.05). These findings offer new insights into the affective mechanisms through which leaders shape team dynamics. However, the cross-sectional, self-report design and use of a modified psychological safety scale (excluding negatively worded items) may have limited the detection of certain effects. Practically, the results highlight the value of training leaders in specific affect-improving behaviors rather than focusing solely on broad leadership styles. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of how affect regulation links leadership behavior to team psychological safety.