Affect in the Workplace:

1
Affect in the Workplace

• A Test of, and an Extension to, Affective Events
  Theory (AET)

Sharmin Spencer Reeshad S. Dalal
2
Introduction

• Affective Events Theory (AET Weiss Cropanzano,
  1996)
• Antecedents of work-related behaviors.
• Stable job attitudes (Job Satisfaction) predict
  evaluative or judgment-driven behaviors
• E.g., Job Withdrawal (Hulin, 1991)
  predisposition to quitturnover intentions,
  updating resumé, etc.
• Spontaneous affect (mood) predicts unplanned,
  spur-of-the-moment, behaviors
• E.g., Work Withdrawal (Hulin, 1991) absenteeism,
  tardiness, etc.
• E.g., Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (Organ
  Paine, 1999) helping coworkers, praising the
  organization, etc.

3
Hypothesis I

• Some work behaviors are primarily related to
  Affect (but not to Job Satisfaction), while other
  work behaviors are primarily related to Job
  Satisfaction (but not to Affect).
• Specifically, Affect will predict Work Withdrawal
  and OCBs, and Job Satisfaction will predict Job
  Withdrawal.

4
Testing Hypothesis I

• Fitted two path-analysis models
• The full model
• Both Job Satisfaction and Affect predicts all
  work behaviors.
• Affect predicts Job Satisfaction.
• Estimated eleven parameters.
• The reduced (AET) model
• Job Satisfaction predicts Job Withdrawal
• Affect predicts Work Withdrawal and
  Organizational Citizenship Behaviors.
• Affect predicts Job Satisfaction.
• Estimated eight parameters.

5
Hypothesis II

• Tested another potential antecedent of Job
  Satisfaction and Affect.
• Emotional Labor (EL Hochschild, 1983)
• The acts of faking unfelt emotions, and
  suppressing true emotions (Tews Glomb, in
  revision).
• Dissonance and emotional exhaustion from
  Emotional Labor influence Affect at work.
• Specifically, Emotional Labor will be negatively
  related to Affect at work, and Job Satisfaction.

6

• Used four of Tews and Glombs (in revision)
  emotional labor subscales
• Faking Positive emotions
• Suppressing Negative emotions
• Faking Negative emotions
• Suppressing Positive emotions

Likely forms of EL
More unlikely forms of EL
7
Method

• Participants
• 143 academic and non-academic employees from a
  large Midwestern university participated in a
  web-based survey Workplace Experiences
  Survey.
• Measures
• 15 scales within 8 general categories.
• Organization Environment Characteristics, Job
  Satisfaction, Employee Behaviors and Intentions
  to Leave, Employee Affect, Emotional Labor, Work
  Events, Life Events, Affective Disposition.

8
Results

• Full and reduced (AET) models were compared.
• No significant difference was found between the
  two models. ??2(?df 3, n143) 4.03, p gt
  0.05.
• Fit indices for the two models are as follows

9

• The more parsimonious AET model (Figure 1) does
  not fit the data significantly worse than the
  full model (Figure 2).
• Job Satisfaction was found to predict Job
  Withdrawal.
• Affect at work was found to predict Work
  Withdrawal and OCBs.
• Therefore, Hypothesis I was supported.

10
Figure 1 Reduced (AET) Model
11
Figure 2 Full Model
12
Factor Structure of Emotional Labor

• Four factor ML EFA solution was fitted.
• Each factor mapped onto one of the subscales,
  namely
• Faking Positive Emotions
• Faking Negative Emotions
• Suppressing Positive Emotions
• Suppressing Negative Emotions
• Recovered four factors matching the four EL
  subscales from Tews and Glomb (in revision).

13
Linking Emotional Labor, Affect, and Job
Satisfaction

• Bivariate correlations provided partial support
  for Hypothesis II.
• Faking Positive emotions, and Suppressing
  Negative emotions were reliably related to Affect
  and Job Satisfaction (see Table 1).

14
Table 1 Bivariate Correlations between EL
dimensions and Job Satisfaction Affect
15
Emotional Labor and Affect

• A hierarchical regression of Affect from
  Emotional Labor was conducted.
• Emotional Labor explained incremental variance in
  Affect over and above that explained by Positive
  and Negative Job Events, Hostile Interpersonal
  Events at Work, Positive and Negative Life
  Events, and Satisfaction with Neutral Objects.
• ?R2 17.0, F (4, 132) 12.26, p lt 0.001.
• Indicates that Emotional Labor is an antecedent
  of Affect at work.
• Provides support for Hypothesis II.

16
Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction

• A hierarchical regression of Job Satisfaction
  from Emotional Labor was conducted.
• Emotional Labor did not significantly increase
  explained variance in Job Satisfaction after
  inclusion of Organizational Stress,
  Organizational Justice, Perceptions of Fair
  Interpersonal Treatment, and Affect.

17
Discussion

• Hypothesis I
• Results support AET model.
• Job Satisfaction predicts Job Withdrawal.
• Affect predicts Work Withdrawal and
  Organizational Citizenship Behaviors.
• Hypothesis 2
• Preliminary evidence shows that Emotional Labor
  is an antecedent of Affect at work.
• Emotional Labor was not found to influence Job
  Satisfaction.

18
Directions for Future Research

• The four factors of Emotional Labor
• Do they load on a single higher-order factor of
  Emotional Labor?
• Longitudinal research on Emotional Labor
• Is Emotional Labor both a predictor and a
  consequence of Affect?
• Does Emotional Labor directly influence Job
  Satisfaction, or is its influence mediated by
  Affect?
• Experience Sampling Methods
• Are there components of Affect that cluster
  together temporally?

19
References

• Hochschild, A. (1983). The managed heart.
  Berkeley, CA University of California Press.
• Hulin, C. L. (1991). Adaptation, persistence,
  and commitment in organizations. In M. D.
  Dunnette and Leaetta M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of
  Industrial and Organizational Psychology (vol. 2,
  edn. 2). Palo Alto, CA Consulting
  Psychologists Press, Inc.
• Organ, D. W., Paine, J. B. (1999). A new kind
  of performance for industrial and organizational
  psychology Recent contributions to the study of
  organizational citizenship behavior. In C. L.
  Cooper and I. T. Robertson (Eds.), International
  Review of Industrial and Organizational
  Psychology (vol. 14). Chichester, U.K. John
  Wiley and Sons.
• Tews, M. J., Glomb, T. M. (under revision).
  Emotional labor reoperationalized A new scale
  development. Journal of Management.
• Weiss, H. M., Cropanzano, R. (1996).
  Affective events theory A theoretical
  discussion of the structure, causes and
  consequences of affective experiences at work.
  In B. M. Staw and L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research
  in Organizational Behavior (Vol. 19, pp. 1 -
  74).