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This study examines the influence of mood (‘affect’) on corporate philanthropic giving. Drawing on group emotions theory and affect-infused decision theory, we advance the argument that firms allocate greater resources to philanthropy when headquarters-based employees are in a more positive affective state. We also describe three boundary conditions in this relationship—executives’ embeddedness in the firm, executives’ latitude to engage in philanthropic giving, and the firm’s track record of corporate social irresponsibility. We test our arguments using a longitudinal dataset of philanthropic giving by U.S. firms. Our study contributes to the literature by shedding light on the role of affect in shaping the decision to allocate resources to corporate philanthropy.

Past research widely demonstrates the importance of employee emotional experiences and processes for individual and small group outcomes. However, theory is lacking on how organizations systematically differ in their affective processes and how these impact important organizational outcomes. To address this problem, we use organizational climate theory to advance the construct of affect climate and provide a conceptual foundation for understanding its processes and effects in organizations. We propose that through various sources of climate, such as company practices, leaders, and routines, organizations can create environments that promote, among employees, (1) certain types of affective experiences or expressions, (2) specific uses of desirable affect for functional goals, and (3) particular ways to manage undesirable emotions and moods. We suggest that these three interrelated processes work together to form one of six unique organizational affect climate types. Further, we develop theory to explain ho...

Drawing on an overarching framework of transactional stress theory, this study develops and tests an affect-based model of developmental job experience (DJE) that explicates the affective mechanisms through which DJE is associated with both positive and negative individual outcomes—advancement potential and turnover intention— and the buffering role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the affective processes. In a sample of 214 early-career managers, we found DJE to be related to increased advancement potential by boosting employees’ pleasant feelings, but also that it can fail in this regard by increasing their unpleasant feelings. Moreover, whereas it is not surprising that there was a negative relationship between DJE and turnover intention mediated by pleasant feelings, our results also demonstrated a positive relationship via unpleasant feelings, depending on employees’ levels of EI. Specifically, they suggested that DJE was positively related to turnover intention for only low-EI employees, but not for high-EI employees

Based on multilevel data collected at 2 points in time, we examine the role of employees’ affective experiences in shaping their commitment and behavioral responses to both the initial (Time 1) and later (Time 2) phases of organizational change (12 months later). We also test the cross-level effect of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership on their employees’ responses to change. We find strong support for predicted longitudinal relationships between employees’ affective experiences and their commitment and behavioral responses to change. In particular, employees’ positive and negative affect (NA) at Time 1 significantly predict both their commitment to change and the 3 dimensions (supportive, resistant, and creative) of behavioral responses at Time 2. Further, the effects of NA directly influence employee change commitment and behaviors at Time 2, whereas the long-term effects of positive affect occur both directly and indirectly through commitment to change at Time 1. Finally, our results support the hypothesized role of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership in shaping employees’ affective reactions and commitment to change at the initial phase of change and thereby, their subsequent behavioral responses in the later phase. We discuss the implications for theory and practice in organizational change.

We examined the role of affect (pleasant or unpleasant feelings) and decision frames (gains or losses) in risk taking in a 20-day stock investment simulation in which 101 participants rated their current feelings while making investment decisions. As predicted, affect attenuated the relationships between decision frames and risk taking. After experiencing losses, individuals made more risky choices, in keeping with the framing effect. However, this tendency decreased and/or disappeared when loss was simultaneously experienced with either pleasant or unpleasant feelings. Similarly, individuals’ tendency to avoid risk after experiencing gains disappeared or even reversed when they simultaneously experienced pleasant feelings.

The purpose of this paper was to contribute to understanding of the crucial role of emotion in work motivation by testing a conceptual model developed by Seo, Barrett, and Bartunek (2004) that predicted the impacts of core affect on three behavioral outcomes of work motivation, generative-defensive orientation, effort, and persistence. We tested the model using an Internet-based investment simulation combined with an experience sampling procedure. Consistent with the predictions of the model, pleasantness was positively related to all three of the predicted indices. For the most part, these effects occurred indirectly via its relationships with expectancy, valence, and progress judgment components. Also as predicted by the model, activation was directly and positively related to effort. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Based on psychological and neurobiological theories of core affective experience, we identify a set of direct and indirect paths through which affective feelings at work affect three dimensions of behavioral outcomes: direction, intensity, and persistence. First, affective experience may influence these behavioral outcomes indirectly by affecting goal level and goal commitment, as well as three key judgment components of work motivation: expectancy judgments, utility judgments, and progress judgments. Second, affective experience may also affect these behavioral outcomes directly. We discuss implications of our model.

The investigation of affective constructs in team effectiveness has been largely limited to that of team shared mood or emotional states. In this paper, we aim to expand this focus by developing th...

Prior research on creativity highlights a conflicting pattern of results. Job complexity and creativity requirements, two contextual variables common in many creative environments, place demands on employees that can have positive and negative effects on employees’ creativity by influencing experience of positive affect (PA). We aim to resolve this conflict by drawing upon the job demands-resources perspective to propose that emotional intelligence (EI) is a key internal resource employees use in order to respond positively to the demands created by job complexity and creativity requirements. We argue that the EI facet of emotion regulation ability enables employees to better cope with demands, which subsequently leads to higher levels of PA. Furthermore, the EI facet of emotion facilitation ability enables employees to utilize PA for creative outcomes. We test our hypotheses through a multi-method (e.g., ability test, experience sampling, survey) and multi-source (archival, self-reported, manger reported...