Emotions and Identity: Volume 13

Cover of Emotions and Identity
Subject:

Table of contents

(14 chapters)

Section 1 Identity, Anger, Diversity

Abstract

This study explores the sources and triggers of positivity during a major organizational change. The qualitative research methodology is developed around discovering and interpreting employees’ perceptions in a mergers & acquisitions (M&A) process. The results lead us to suggest that change may be perceived in at least three positive ways to constitute positive identity construction. Implications for work-related identity and identification research are discussed.

Abstract

This study examines how perceptions of injustice, anger, and group identification motivate follower intentions to engage in collective action against leaders. The study revolved around the Malaysian prime minister’s actions and responses toward allegations of misuse of public funds. Responses from 112 Malaysians via a cross-sectional survey revealed that follower perceptions of leader injustice are significantly related to anger toward the leader, which in turn is related to intentions to engage in collective action. The relationship between perceptions of distributive injustice and anger is moderated by group identification, while group efficacy moderates the relationship between anger and collective action intentions.

Abstract

We focus on the internal workings of a university organization’s response to institutional plurality. In the field of higher education, both organizations and individuals are prescribed competing demands due to academic logic and the logic of managerialism. We interpret six individual experiences of institutional plurality and illuminate how social position, disposition, emotions, and apprehension regarding plurality affect their response to shifting emphases in the logics of the university. In addition, we show that although there may appear to be harmony in the organizational-level response to institutional plurality, turmoil may be affecting the organization’s members, highlighting the importance of looking at how people experience institutional logic multiplicity.

Section 2 Public Sector Settings

Abstract

This chapter explores the nuances of anger in the workplace by elucidating the different forms of anger (personal and moral) experienced amongst NHS nurses in the United Kingdom. To do so, I draw upon the Dual Threshold Model of anger as the theoretical lens and employ Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis as the methodological approach. It was found that the behavioural response to particular anger-triggering events differed depending on whether the situation was ‘self-relevant’ or ‘other-relevant’, therefore personal and moral anger, respectively. The findings therefore suggest distinct appraisal pathways and forms of anger, and provide empirical support for a recent re-conceptualisation of moral anger.

Abstract

Detached Concern and its core dimensions – employees’ concern toward and detachment from their clients – are important facets of the emotion-generative process during client interaction in people-oriented work environments. We studied the intra- and interpersonal effects of Detached Concern on professionals’ burnout (N = 1411) and patient-centered care quality (N = 332 patients; 43 physicians). Our findings indicate different Detached Concern types. Balanced employees (scoring high on concern and detachment) yielded lower burnout levels compared to imbalanced professionals. Patients’ perception of care quality was positively related to their physicians’ concern and detachment, and was significantly higher for the balanced than for the imbalanced physicians.

Section 3 Gender, Emotions and Identity

Abstract

Gender-stereotyped organizational expectations compromise outcomes desired from numerically balanced gender representation. Sex-roles allow both men and women to exhibit masculine or feminine behaviors based on their self-construal of “psychological-gender.” Emotional intelligence (EI) is considered “feminine” and rational intelligence “masculine.” So, using Bem sex-role inventory and Emotional Intelligence Appraisal, the current study explored EI in 217 senior Indian managers from masculine/feminine sex-role perspective. There was no difference in EI of men/women. Moreover, EI did not differ in men/women categorized in “same” sex-role. However significant differences emerged across sex-roles with feminine sex-role participants actually scoring significantly lesser than androgynous or masculine sex-role participants although emotional intelligence is considered as a feminine intelligence. Implications of sex-role-driven differences in EI in organizational context are discussed.

Abstract

In this chapter, we propose and empirically test a theoretical model on the relationships among gender-role orientation, anticipated emotions and entrepreneurs’ subjective entrepreneurial success (SES). Results using Bayesian path analysis in a sample of Greek entrepreneurs indicated that the effect of femininity on SES was stronger than that of masculinity. Positive anticipated affect mediated the effects of masculinity and femininity on subjective entrepreneurial success. We interpreted this as evidence in support of the idea that the social construction of sex and future emotional thinking are influential factors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem that have previously been researched separately.

Abstract

Based on a model of employee personal gender self-categorization, we examine the relationships between prejudicial attitudes and experiences of aggression in a male-dominated workplace. Data collected from 603 employees in a male-dominated global workplace revealed that individuals who self-categorize as either males or females experience differential powerful emotions. Additionally, we found that the more anger experienced by employees who self-categorize either as males or females, the stronger their female prejudicial attitudes. In contrast, we found that contempt was negatively associated with female prejudicial attitudes; that is, the more contempt experienced by employees who self-categorize either as males or females, the weaker their female prejudicial attitudes.

Section 4 Emotions and Identification with Work

Abstract

We explore the role of workplace friendships as a lens for understanding the emotional element and relational context for personal engagement (Kahn, 1990). The review of engagement theory differentiates personal engagement, recognizing the role of emotions play in enabling individuals’ “preferred selves.” Workplace relationships and friendship provide a conceptual discussion of individuals in social and workplace roles in engagement, drawing on friendship, emotion, attachment theories, particularly Kahn’s work. A case study drawn from recent research illustrates our discussion before concluding with ideas for the development of a future research agenda in answer to recent calls for work on the social context of engagement.

Abstract

Research has extensively underlined the positive impact of emotional, social and cognitive competencies on leadership effectiveness. Despite the fact that literature acknowledges that these competencies can be learned from different experiences over a person’s lifetime, research has mainly focused on leadership development in adulthood. Through the case study of the Ca’ Foscari Competency Centre, this chapter advances the understanding on how higher education can favour leadership development at the early stage, in terms of identity formation and self-regulation, through the implementation of the intentional change theory, considering that this learning process varies according to different developmental trajectories.

Abstract

Job design researchers advocate that jobs should be interesting, that is they should involve tasks that are meaningful and have significance. However, all jobs contain tasks that may be meaningful and significant and essential to organizations’ operation but not enjoyed by the employee. We refer to these tasks as non-preferred work tasks (NPWT). In this chapter, we draw on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory to develop a conceptual model proposing that the intensity and frequency of non-preferred work tasks reduces employees’ propensity to engage in extra-role discretionary work behavior, and that job crafting and emotional state moderate this relationship.

Cover of Emotions and Identity
DOI
10.1108/S1746-9791201713
Publication date
2017-07-13
Book series
Research on Emotion in Organizations
Editors
Series copyright holder
Emerald Publishing Limited
ISBN
978-1-78714-438-5
eISBN
978-1-78714-437-8
Book series ISSN
1746-9791