Date of Award
1-1-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Business Administration
First Advisor
Kristin Cullen-Lester
Second Advisor
Paul Johnson
Third Advisor
Cindy Maupin
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
In Essay 1, The author conducts a meta-analytic investigation of self-conscious emotions in the Workplace. At face value, self-conscious emotions (e.g., pride, shame) should have straightforward links to positive or negative outcomes in the workplace. Theories of emotions would support this viewpoint, with evolution, non-cognitive-based emotion theories (e.g., Ekman, 1977; James-Lange, 1884; Robinson, 1995) providing a conceptual foundation for Consistent emotion-outcome relationships (i.e., positive emotions – positive outcomes and negative emotions – negative outcomes), and cognitive, appraisal-based theories of emotions (e.g., Lazarus, 1991; Roseman, 1984) incorporating additional cognitive factors that contribute to how an employee experiences and reacts to an emotional event. Together, these theories provide a conceptual foundation for both Consistent and Counterintuitive emotion-outcome relationships (i.e., inherently negative emotions (e.g., guilt, shame) leading to positive workplace outcomes and vice versa). In the organization sciences, a plethora of studies use discrete emotions to explain the connections between their antecedents and outcomes of interest. In this manuscript, I conduct a systematic quantitative review of all studies that have examined self-conscious emotions in workplace settings and perform a meta-analysis that examines the evidence for consistent as well as counterintuitive relationships between self-conscious emotions and workplace constructs. This meta-analysis sheds light on the role of self-conscious emotions in the workplace and helps to guide future research by providing insight into the expected—and unexpected—outcomes of workplace emotions.
In Essay 2 I examine the role of self-conscious emotions in employee recovery following failure. The internal mechanisms that drive rebounding from failure involve a seemingly counterintuitive process in which failure not only has negative performance outcomes but may also result in increased employee performance. Following the logic provided by the theoretical foundation of Lazarus (1991) and Frijda (1986), I suggest that employees experiencing guilt will increase engagement with coworkers in an attempt to atone for their failure, while employees experiencing shame will withdraw from work in an attempt to avoid any additional experience of shame. In addition, I propose two factors that will influence whether an employee is able to overcome failure: rumination and supervisor support. When employees ruminate on failure it will extend their experience of guilt and shame and hamper their ability to rebound from failure. Alternatively, a supervisor may “snap employees out of a funk” after failure by providing them with support and guidance. Supervisor support after failure should revitalize employees and expedite their rebound from failure. This manuscript contributes to the literature in three ways. First, it extends knowledge of the role of emotions elicited following workplace failure by examining a model that predicts paths in which two emotions that appear to overlap (i.e., guilt and shame) lead to different outcomes for employee performance. Second, by utilizing an ESM design to examine how fluctuations in employees’ emotions result in predictable workplace behaviors, this paper provides evidence for one of the core emotion theories used in organizational behavior research (i.e., Cognitive-Motivational-Relational Theory of Emotions; Lazarus, 1991). Finally, this manuscript highlights two constructs (i.e., rumination and supervisor support) that can either hasten or prolong an employee’s rebound from failure.
Recommended Citation
Keating, David Joseph, "The Role of Self-Conscious Emotions in the Workplace" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2948.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2948