Meeting a project deadline or signing a new client is something to crow about, but being proud can backfire if colleagues think the accomplishment is no big deal. Research from Rebecca (Becky) Schaumberg, Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions, finds that expressing feelings of pride sometimes makes people seem less capable. If others don’t express pride in an achievement, then conveying pride comes at the risk of being perceived as an incompetent worker.
Schaumberg said she believes this overlooked, understudied aspect of pride is one of the main reasons why people become reluctant to share their successes — especially the small things — in the workplace.
“I was trying to think in my own life about things that I felt proud of, and I realized I didn’t feel comfortable sharing those pride experiences with others because they might not think they were worthy of pride. Unfortunately, this research shows a level to which I was right,” Schaumberg said in an interview with Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM. (Listen to the podcast.)
“My source of pride may not be your source of pride because of our difference in backgrounds and how we’ve been socialized.”— Becky Schaumberg
The Fear of Being Perceived as an Incompetent Worker
Her paper, published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, details nine studies she conducted to measure what people think about someone who expresses pride in an achievement. The achievements ranged from computer scientists winning a programming tournament to new hires acing a job aptitude test. In each case, her hypothesis held: When someone takes pride in an achievement that others react to without pride, the performer is believed to be less competent.
For her pilot study, Schaumberg surveyed 200 participants on reasons they might have concealed feelings of pride in the workplace. While 38% said they didn’t want to brag or make coworkers feel badly, a notable 25% said they did not want to be judged as less competent or less good at their job. Another 20% said they concealed pride because they believed others wouldn’t feel the achievement was worthy.
“My source of pride may not be your source of pride because of our difference in backgrounds and how we’ve been socialized,” the professor said. “It’s important for organizations to recognize that, and I think they are.”
“We want people to take pride in their work, to feel pride in their achievements, and to feel comfortable expressing them.”— Becky Schaumberg
Encouraging Workers to Celebrate Success
Schaumberg said the study results are concerning because of the potential effect on “workplace capitalization,” which is the sharing of positive job experiences and successes with colleagues. Workplace capitalization is how coworkers learn best practices and understand standards and norms, so it’s worrisome if sharing stops out of fear of judgment. She said managers can help by setting a broad definition of success and inviting employees to give voice to them.
“This work is really useful in helping to show one of those blocks [to capitalization], because we want people to take pride in their work, to feel pride in their achievements, and to feel comfortable expressing them,” she said.
Schaumberg said the research has inspired her to be more vocal about her own accomplishments, even small victories like sending an email or crossing things off her to-do list.
“One of the things that really struck me in listening to people’s accounts of pride that they don’t share is that they are incredibly moving. It might be someone who said, ‘I’ve been struggling with depression, but I finally went to work today, and I feel really proud that I did that.’ When you hear this, it just opens your heart,” she said. “If there were a way for workplaces to encourage that expression of pride so that it could be outward and not just something people have privately, I could imagine that really having beneficial effects for the culture.”
