Why do powerful leaders feel less lonely? The mediating role of upward self-disclosure

Leaders who are healthy and experience positive well-being are better at handling high demands in leadership roles. Practitioner-oriented and scientific literature indicate that, however, leaders may often feel lonely, which can harm their in-role functioning. Until now, it is still unclear how loneliness, as a subjective feeling of disconnectedness, emerges among leaders. Drawing on the power literature and social penetration theory, we hypothesized that leader self-disclosure to superiors and followers would mediate the negative relationship between subjective power and leader loneliness. Using surveys with 200 mid-level managers across three waves, we found that leaders with higher sense of power reported feeling less lonely at work. Moreover, we found support for the mediating role of upward self-disclosure, but not downwards. Specifically, leaders who felt powerful were more likely to share personal, sensitive information to their superiors. Higher levels of upward self-disclosure then predicted lower levels of leader loneliness. Finally, our results suggest that leader loneliness is positively related to leader emotional exhaustion, ego depletion, and sleep problems. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.