Empathetic Leadership: How Leader Emotional Support and Understanding Influences Follower Performance

This article presents a theory of empathetic leadership and its initial test. Empathetic leadership provides a model of how leader understanding and support improves follower behaviors and affective states. For this article, we explored the link between empathetic leadership and follower performance. Specifically, we tested the causal processes by which empathetic language influences follower performance. These processes include follower job satisfaction and innovation. Findings support model hypotheses and provide preliminary causal support for the model.