Hinting or Boasting? How Attributions of Leaders' Stress Bragging Shape Employee Behavior Through Rumination and Reflection

ABSTRACT

The rise of performance excellence cultures and intensifying competitive pressure have made stress bragging a common workplace phenomenon. Although existing research has focused on stress bragging among peers, its effects when enacted by leaders remain poorly understood. Grounded in attribution theory and cognitive theories of repetitive thought, this study investigates how subordinates' attributions of leaders' stress bragging (performance improvement vs. impression management) shape their cognitive and behavioral responses. The results of Study 1 (a scenario‐based experiment with 294 employees) and Study 2 (a two‐wave survey of 332 employees) reveal that these attributions yield divergent outcomes. When perceived as performance oriented, such behavior prompted task‐focused reflection, thereby boosting work engagement. Conversely, when interpreted as impression management, it sparked leader‐focused rumination, which subsequently led to interpersonal withdrawal. These findings underscore the pivotal role of attributional processes in explaining the double‐edged effects of leaders' stress bragging on both work‐related and interpersonal outcomes.