Struggling to Meet the Bar: Occupational Progress Failure and Informal Leadership Behavior
研究发现职业进展失败（如考试未通过）会引发反刍思维，进而减少个体在团队中的非正式领导行为，且神经质人格会加剧这一效应。
We integrate theory and research about individuals’ responses to failures to develop a model in which occupational progress failures precipitate ruminative processes that limit the extent individuals subsequently act as informal leaders. Our first study, an experiment with a sample of advanced accounting students, found that manipulating poor performance on a simulated certification test promoted ruminative thoughts about the test, which were negatively related to peer ratings of informal leadership behavior during a subsequent task. A separate field study using a regression discontinuity design in a 14-week military training program found that failure to pass the required physical fitness examination early in group formation influenced psychosomatic symptoms, an indirect measure of sustained rumination, and consequently hindered enactment of informal leadership behavior. We also theorized and found that neuroticism enhanced the positive effect of failure on rumination in Study 1 and psychosomatic symptoms in Study 2. We discuss the implications for developing theories concerning how disruptive personal events may interfere with employees’ engaging in informal leadership behavior.