Breaking the silence with authenticity: Evaluating a leadership and employee training in a scenario-based experiment

Employee silence, particularly acquiescent and quiescent silence, is linked to emotional exhaustion and impaired psychological well-being. Prior research highlights the role of authenticity in mitigating silence-related outcomes. This study evaluates a new online training designed to foster authenticity in work teams. Tailored versions exist for leaders and employees. The training is expected to reduce silence and emotional strain. Twelve pseudo-teams per condition (intervention group/active control group), each consisting of five “employees” and one “leader”, participate in the study. The intervention group will work in the laboratory on three occasions to complete the training "Working Authentically," while the active control group will participate in a training of equal duration focusing on breaks and recovery in the workplace context. As part of both the pre- and post-assessment, all teams engage in a simulated meeting, designed to assess behavioral indicators such as emotional expression and silence under emotionally challenging conditions. Using a pre-post longitudinal design with clustered data, the study combines self-report and observed data (expressed emotions). It aims to test training effects within a multilevel randomized controlled trial framework in a simulated work context.