Purpose Storytelling is considered an effective leadership behavior. However, research on storytelling’s effects on followers is scarce and disconnected from leadership theory. This paper aims to explore the perspectives of both leaders and followers with a focus on interaction-based moderators and affective mediators of storytelling effects, building on transformational leadership and leader-member exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach Data from semi-structured interviews (N = 27 independent leaders and followers) were analyzed with a combined content-analytic and grounded theory approach. Findings Leaders’ intended effects of storytelling (transformation, relationship and information) evoked either positive or negative affective reactions in followers depending on how well the story met followers’ needs (need-supply fit), the adequacy of the input load transported by the story (story load) and how followers interpreted their leaders’ story (story appraisal). Followers’ positive or negative affective reactions translated into positive effects (corresponding to leaders’ intended effects) or negative effects (contradicting leaders’ intended effects), respectively. Results were integrated into an intention-perception model of storytelling. Originality/value Proposing an intention-perception model of storytelling, this paper explains when and why unintended effects of storytelling happen, and thus provides an alternative view to the one-fits-all approach on leaders’ storytelling advocated by popular management literature.

Research consistently shows that students from academic households are more likely to enter higher education than students from non-academic households. These inequalities are only secondarily due to differences in performance (i.e., primary effects), but mostly due to students’ decision making behavior (i.e., secondary effects). The relative share to which primary effects and secondary effects mediate the effect of students’ educational background on their intention to enter higher education is affected by external conditions. One significant external influence that may have had an impact on social disparities in students’ educational choices is the COVID-19 pandemic. Herein, we present data from N = 596 upper secondary students (41.6% from non-academic households) that were collected in Germany in April 2021. Building on rational choice theory, we scrutinized students’ expected benefits (i.e., employment prospects and personal significance), costs (i.e., direct costs and opportunity costs), and subjective probability of success in pursuing higher education as important psychological pillars for their intention to enter higher education. Results show that about 14% of social differences in students’ intention to enter higher education were due to primary effects, whereas almost 77% were explained by secondary effects. Specifically, we found that differences in the evaluation of benefits most strongly contributed to social inequalities in students’ intention to enroll in higher education. Compared to research on pre- COVID-19 cohorts, our results point to shifts in existing patterns of inequalities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PurposeDefying conventional wisdom, leaders' storytelling may have ambiguous and even negative effects on followers. Build upon transformational leadership and leader-member exchange theory, the intention-perception model of storytelling in leadership provides a framework to systematically explain when and why unintended effects of storytelling happen. Despite its theoretical and practical relevance, a quantitative evaluation of the model's main assumptions, and particularly of followers' perceptions of leader storytelling, is still pending.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a scale to assess followers' story perceptions in study 1 (N = 79) and confirmed the scale's structure in study 2, an online cross-sectional field study (N = 60). In study 2, the authors also tested a main assumption of the intention-perception model of storytelling, that is, the relationship between followers' story perceptions and story effects, mediated via followers' affective arousal.FindingsData revealed that story effects indeed depend on followers' perception of the story. In particular, the better a leader's story met followers' needs (need-supply fit), the more adequate the input load transported by the story (story load), and the more positive followers' appraisal of their leader's story (story appraisal), the more positive affective reactions and positive effects of storytelling (transformation, leader-member exchange quality, and trust in the leader) followers perceived.Practical implicationsThe authors provide practical insights on how leaders may improve their storytelling by tailoring their stories to the expectations and needs of their followers.Originality/valueTaking a follower-centric perspective on a common leadership practice (i.e. storytelling), the present research provides first support for the intention-perception model of storytelling in leadership.

Science museums face the challenge of communicating the inherent uncertainties of science without risking the public’s trust and interest in science. Here, we investigated laypeople’s (N = 466) reception and support for such uncertainty communication by combining an experimental and survey approach as well as quantitative and qualitative data. First, we experimentally manipulated whether historic consensus uncertainty was communicated (a) not at all, (b) incidentally, or (c) explicitly. Uncertainty neither affected visitors’ trust nor interest in the presented information, in a hypothetical exhibition, or in science in general, or their attitudes towards current scientific debates. Second, we asked participants directly about their opinion towards uncertainty communication in science museums, revealing overwhelmingly positive attitudes and 12 times as many statements in support of (vs. against) communicating uncertainty in science exhibitions. These findings suggest that the public does not only tolerate but actively supports uncertainty communication in science museums.