The importance of leadership in times of crisis is a well researched phenomenon, in particular, in its focus on clarity and trustworthiness of communication. We have seen this first hand at the last stage of the COVID pandemic when countless heads of governments and organizations rushed to be the first to take the vaccine in an attempt to encourage people’s uptake and dispel rumors about its potential negative effects. In behavioral science, we call this the effect of messenger, which is commonly used in public policy, to nudge people in directions that benefit them and their community, e.g., save more, engage in environmentally sustainable behaviors, comply with speed limits … It is also used in the context of public health to role-model healthy lifestyle, and increase health seeking behaviors such as vaccine uptake. In a nutshell, we are heavily influenced by who is communicating information. We are affected by the perceived authority of the messenger (whether formal or informal).

Behavioral science based techniques embedding “effects of messenger” have been used to actively increase the acceptability of difficult measures put forward by the leadership of an organization, the type that became common following the unprecedented economic impact of the COVID pandemic on organizations and employees worldwide. At that time, extreme cost-cutting measures were taken by many businesses struggling to contain the economic fallout of the pandemic. One such common practice was the (temporary) reduction of employees’ salaries and allowances.