Research Confirms: When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger

Leslie  John; Hayley  Blunden; Heidi  Liu

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Article | Harvard Business Review (website) | April 16, 2019

Research Confirms: When Receiving Bad News, We Shoot the Messenger

by Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu

Abstract

Most jobs require us at some point to deliver bad news—whether it be a minor revelation such as a recruiter telling a prospective employee that there’s no wiggle room in salary, or something major, like when a manager must fire an employee. We dread such discussions even when the revelations aren’t at all our fault. It turns out that our aversion is for good reason. Our research shows that people are prone to derogating those who tell them things they don’t want to hear—we shoot the messenger.

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Perception; Judgments;

Format: Electronic