Sharing Through Self-Disclosure: Conceptualizations and Measurement in Organizations
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Keywords
management; entrepreneurship
Identifier Data
10.5465/AMPROC.2024.12145symposium
Publisher
Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
Rights Management
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Abstract
Self-disclosure is sharing personal information with another party, which is recognized in psychology as a behavior that acts as a vehicle promoting well-being. Recently, self-disclosure studies in the organizational context have gained increasing prominence. Yet, a classification of the variety of possible self-disclosure in this setting and the effects of self-disclosure on organizational outcomes at the different levels of analysis (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and group levels) have received relatively little empirical and theoretical attention from management scholars. This symposium explores various types of self-disclosure, including disclosure of multi-racial identity, disclosure of personal weaknesses, disclosure of a miscarriage, and disclosure of holding multiple jobs. The exploration takes place across very different contexts. The symposium presents five papers – one conceptual review/model, one experimental study, one qualitative study, and two survey studies – examining different types of self-disclosure and its effects as well as its role in organizations across levels. Specifically, the first paper discusses new theoretical insights into the role of self-disclosure in fostering fluidity for multiracial individuals. Also, based on the idea of disclosing information perceived as a weakness, the second paper explores the influence of congruence between the level of self-disclosure wanted and received by followers on trust felt by followers. The third paper investigates the role of virtual disclosure of private medical information related to remote work conditions during the pandemic to a group of colleagues. The fourth paper delves into female employee’s position to self-disclosure. It identifies the different miscarriage disclosure decision-making paths women experience. The final paper examines the role of multiple jobholder disclosure on employees’ psychological well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and job stress) through a sense of authenticity and attention residue or the attention multiple job workers give to these jobs. These papers feature myriad types of self-disclosures in organizations to clarify the conceptualization and measurement of self-disclosure. We believe this symposium is an important step towards encouraging scholars to consider “opening up” conceptualizations and measurement of self-disclosure in organizations, which are representative and inclusive of individual experiences –ultimately important for fostering conditions of individual potential for innovation in the workplace.
