The Impact of Gender and Organizational Status on Workplace Anger Expression

The social rules for communicating anger in the workplace are multifaceted, and standards vary for different groups. Previous research addresses either gender differences in anger expression or organizational status differences, but not the combined impact of gender and status. The authors close this gap by investigating both the independent and joint influence of gender and relative organizational status on workplace anger expression. Their findings show that emotional restraint is the most frequent method of handling anger across all groups. Lower status males, however, directly express their anger around higher status members significantly more frequently than do lower status females. The authors conclude with observations regarding the relative strength of organizational norms as compared to gender-based norms.