Organizational Affective Tone: A Meso Perspective on the Origins and Effects of Consistent Affect in Organizations

Grounded in an open systems perspective, we build and test new theory about how the kinds of industries in which an organization participates influence organizational affective tone and connect to workforce strain. We propose that the more an organization's activities lie in consumer-centric in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academy of Management journal 2018-02, Vol.61 (1), p.191-219
Main Authors: Knight, Andrew P., Menges, Jochen I., Bruch, Heike
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Human resource managers
Negative emotions
Organizational behavior
Organizational structure
Personnel policies
Positive emotions
Resource managers
Retailing
Teams
Top management
Workforce
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Summary:Grounded in an open systems perspective, we build and test new theory about how the kinds of industries in which an organization participates influence organizational affective tone and connect to workforce strain. We propose that the more an organization's activities lie in consumer-centric industries (e.g., service, retail), the more positive and less negative the organization's affective tone. We connect consumer-centric industry participation and affective tone by explaining how personnel policies and organizational structure generate and sustain consistent positive and negative affect throughout an organization. Additionally, we examine the effects of organizational affective tone on workforce strain. The results of a survey-based study of 24,015 human resource managers, top management team members, and employees of 161 firms largely support our predictions. We discuss the implications of considering macro contextual factors for understanding affect in organizations.
ISSN:0001-4273
1948-0989
DOI:10.5465/amj.2016.0671