EMPLOYEE POSITIVE

EMOTION AND
FAVORABLE OUTCOMES
AT THE WORKPLACE
Author(s): Barry M. Staw, Robert I. Sutton and
Lisa H. Pelled
Organization Science, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Feb.,
1994)

Instead of simply assessing employee responses to various

aspects of the work role, attention has begun to shift toward
how social contexts shape attitudes and needs (Salancik and
Pfeffer 1978 )dispositional determinants of affect (e.g., Staw et
al. 1986), and expressed emotions in organizations (Rafaeli
and Sutton 1989)

stimulated a new search for the consequences of emotion in

the workplace

This study is among the first attempts to empirically examine

the broader consequences of attitudes in the workplace

CHANGE

That employees who feel and display positive emotion on the

job will experience positive outcomes in their work roles

PROPOSAL

Positive
emotion at
work
Felt
positive
emotion

Expressed
positive
emotion

Intervening
processes

Effects on employee
Greater task activity and
persistence
Enhanced cognitive functioning
Others responses to employee
Greater interpersonal attraction
Halo over generalization to other
desirable traits
More prone to respond favorably to
employees social influence
attempts

Favorable
employee
outcomes at
work
Work
Achievement
Job enrichment
Supportive
Social Context

Employees response to others

More prone to help others

THE LINK BETWEEN EMPLOYEE POSITIVE EMOTION AND FAVORABLE

OUTCOMES AT THE WORKPLACE

Positive emotion has desirable effects independent of a person's

relationships with others, including greater task activity, persistence,
and enhanced cognitive functioning
People with positive rather than negative emotion benefit from more
favorable responses by others
People with positive feelings react more favorably to others, which,
is reflected in greater altruism and coop- eration with others

FAVORABLE OUT COMES

That the combination of these intervening processes leads to

favorable outcomes in the workplace, including achievement
(e.g., favorable supervisor evaluations and greater pay), job
enrichment (e.g., variety, autonomy, feedback and meaning),
and a more supportive social context (e.g., support from
coworkers and supervisors)

HYPOTHESIZE -

Highly correlated with both self- reports and facial expressions

(see Ekman 1982, p. 75)
Employees often come to internalize such required emotions
(Hochschild 1983, Sutton 1991)
Try to feign required emotions that they do not feel, their inner
feelings may nonetheless shape expressed emotions
Felt and expressed emotions may be intertwined for both
cognitive and physiological reasons

FELT AND EXPRESSED POSITIVE

EMOTION

Subjects induced to be in good moods generate a broader range of associations

with common words, recall longer lists of words that are related to one another,
and are more likely to solve problems that require seeing a broader set of
potential relationships among the elements composing an issue (Isen and
Daubman 1984, Isen et al. 1985, Isen et al. 1987)

RESEARCH ON THE CONNECTION

BETWEEN MOOD AND CREATIVE
PROBLEM-SOLVING

Methods

Sample- The present study uses data collected by The Univer- sity
of Michigan's Survey Research Center - Effectiveness in Work
Roles: Employee Responses to Work Environments" (Quinn 1977)

Data Sources

1.face-to-face interviews with employees. Professional interviewers

from the Survey Research Center staff administered these interviews, typically at respondents' homes

2. at the end of each interview, the interviewer recorded his or her

observations of several characteristics of the employee, including
gen- der and apparent intelligence

3. structured field observations were made by observers while each

employee performed his or her job

EXPLORATORY TEST

Measures

Predictor Variable

Dependent Variables

Supervisor

Pay at time 2

Q evaluation at time 2

Control Variables

ppt1.BMP

TABLE 1

Employees with greater

positive emotion will receive
more favorable evaluations of
their performance and higher
pay

HYPOTHESIS 1

Employees with greater positive emotion

will receive more enriched jobs

HYPOTHESIS 2

Employees with greater positive

emotion will receive more social
support from supervisors and coworkers

HYPOTHESIS 3

Results indicate that positive emotion on the job at time 1 is

associated with evidence of work achievement (more
favorable supervisor evaluations and higher pay) and a
supportive social context (more support from supervisors and
coworkers) at time 2. But positive emotion at time 1 is not
significantly associated with job enrichment at time 2

CONCLUSION