How Disinhibition Explains Reward Omission Leadership
Australian Journal of Management, 50(3), 895–916
Summary
Some leaders fail to reward people who do good work. We asked whether disinhibition, a lack of restraint that shows up as tactless or inappropriate behaviour, helps explain why. In three studies it did. The first (166 people) used a laboratory test of self-restraint and personality measures. The second (176 people) used ratings from more than one source. The third used ratings by 273 employees of 91 junior managers in a non-Western organisation. More disinhibited leaders were more likely to withhold reward.
Abstract
Disinhibition is a lack of restraint manifesting as tactless, uncivil, and inappropriate behavior; reward omission leadership is the failure of a leader to reward desirable behavior. We hypothesize disinhibition is associated with reward omission leadership. We test this possibility by associating an objective measure of disinhibition and personality models of disinhibition with reward omission leadership. In S1 (N = 166), the go/no-go task and personality models of disinhibition were generally associated with reward omission leadership. In S2 (N = 176), using multi-actor ratings, personality models of disinhibition were generally associated with reward omission leadership. In S3 (N = 91 junior managers; 273 employees), the tested personality model of disinhibition was associated with reward omission leadership using employee ratings from a non-Western organization. Results suggest disinhibition predicts reward omission leadership and sheds light on what is meant by disinhibition.
Abstract as published in Australian Journal of Management.
Cite this paper
APA
Jackson, C. J., Criado-Perez, C., Walker, B. R., & Purvee, A. (2025). How Disinhibition Explains Reward Omission Leadership. Australian Journal of Management, 50(3), 895–916. https://doi.org/10.1177/03128962241270855
BibTeX
@article{jackson2025how,
title = {{How Disinhibition Explains Reward Omission Leadership}},
author = {C. J. Jackson and C. Criado-Perez and B. R. Walker and A. Purvee},
journal = {Australian Journal of Management},
year = {2025},
volume = {50},
number = {3},
pages = {895--916},
doi = {10.1177/03128962241270855}
}