A Meta-analytic Systematic Review and Theory of the Effects of Perceived Listening on Work Outcomes

Abstract

The quality of listening in interpersonal contexts was hypothesized to improve a variety of work outcomes. However, research of this general hypothesis is dispersed across multiple disciplines and mostly atheoretical. We propose that perceived listening improves job performance through its effects on affect, cognition, and relationship quality. To test our theory, we conducted a registered systematic review and multiple meta-analyses, using three-level meta-analysis models, based on 664 effect sizes and 400,020 observations. Our results suggest a strong positive correlation between perceived listening and work outcomes, $$\overline{r}$$ r ¯ = .39, 95%CI = [.36, .43], $$\overline{\rho }$$ ρ ¯ = .44, with the effect on relationship quality, $$\overline{r}=$$ r ¯ = .51, being stronger than the effect on performance, $$\overline{r}=$$ r ¯ = .36. These findings partially support our theory, indicating that perceived listening may enhance job performance by improving relationship quality. However, 75% of the literature relied on self-reports raising concerns about discriminant validity. Despite this limitation, removing data solely based on self-reports still produced substantial estimates of the association between listening and work outcomes (e.g., listening and job performance, $$\overline{r}$$ r ¯ = .21, 95%CI = [.13, .29], $$\overline{\rho }$$ ρ ¯ = .23). Our meta-analyses suggest further research into (a) the relationship between listening and job knowledge, (b) measures assessing poor listening behaviors, (c) the incremental validity of listening in predicting listeners’ and speakers’ job performance, and (d) listening as a means to improve relationships at work.

Listening to understand: The role of high-quality listening on speakers’ attitude depolarization during disagreements.

“…A finding that good listeners with socially undesirable attitudes change speakers' attitudes will shed light on potential negative consequences or a "dark side" of listening. Such a finding will be novel to the listening literature, as a recent metaanalysis of 664 effect sizes and 400,020 observations found that only 5.6% of the effect sizes were negative, including only one out of 30 experimental effects (Kluger et al, 2023). It is also possible that the listener holding a socially undesirable attitude serves as a boundary condition to the effect of listening on speakers' attitudes.…”

The Need for a Unified Language Framework in Extrinsic Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Research

“…For a more detailed discussion of extrinsic emotion regulation in the workplace see Troth et al, 2018). There are additional related terms that are often associated with extrinsic regulation such as social sharing (Christophe & Rimé, 1997;Rimé, 1995;Rimé et al, 2020), and active listening (Jones et al, 2019;Kluger et al, 2024) but they are distinct. Following current theoretical frameworks in the field, social sharing would sit closer to intrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, while active listening could be classified as a strategy of extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation.…”