Relationship between leader’s empathic disposition and authorization of idiosyncratic deals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between two sub-dimensions of a leader’s empathy (perspective-taking and empathic-concern) and successful authorization of idiosyncratic deals (developmental, location flexibility and schedule flexibility i-deals). Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling was conducted on the cross-sectional data collected from 307 managers working in software development and support companies located in major cities in India. Findings While empathic-concern is positively related to successful authorization of both developmental and flexibility i-deals, perspective-taking related positively to authorization of developmental i-deals and showed no significant relationship with flexibility i-deals. Research limitations/implications The study reiterates the importance of empathy in modern workplaces and encourages managers to be conscious of their intelligence, as well as emotions, while participating in negotiations at the workplace. Originality/value The paper relates i-deals to sub-dimensions of empathy which is a previously unexplored antecedent to i-deals.