Organizational affective tone: a meso perspective on the origins and effects of consistent affect in organizations

Published in: Academy of Management Journal - February 2018

Written by

Andrew Knight, Jochen Menges and Heike Bruch

Summary

What we found: In a study of 141 companies, we find that employees of customer-centric companies share more positive and less negative emotions than companies that engage in fewer interactions with their customers. Sharing more positive than negative emotions was not only related to lower employee exhaustion, but also to lower absenteeism.

Why it matters: The degree to which positive and negative emotions are shared within a company affects not only how exhausted employees feel but also how often they call in sick. Incorporating emotions into personnel practices, such as examining a job candidate’s capacity for enthusiasm, might help in establishing positive feelings across teams more effectively.

What next: Understanding the role of collective emotions in companies – and how these can be changed for the better – might help companies to understand the opportunity of incorporating emotions into personnel practices.