Feeling Positive, Negative, or Both? Examining the Self-Regulatory Benefits of Emotional Ambivalence

Allison S. Gabriel (), Marcus M. Butts (), Nitya Chawla (), Serge P. da Motta Veiga (), Daniel B. Turban () and Jeffrey D. Green ()
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Allison S. Gabriel: Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721
Marcus M. Butts: Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205
Nitya Chawla: Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
Serge P. da Motta Veiga: EDHEC Business School, 59057 Roubaix, France
Daniel B. Turban: Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211
Jeffrey D. Green: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284

Organization Science, 2022, vol. 33, issue 6, 2477-2495

Abstract: According to self-regulation theories, affect plays a crucial role in driving goal-directed behaviors throughout employees’ work lives. Yet past work presents inconsistent results regarding the effects of positive and negative affect with theory heavily relying on understanding the separate, unique effects of each affective experience. In the current research, we integrate tenets of emotional ambivalence with self-regulation theories to examine how the conjoint experience of positive and negative affect yields benefits for behavioral regulation. We test these ideas within a self-regulatory context that has frequently studied the benefits of affect and has implications for all employees at one point in their careers: the job search. Adopting a person-centered (i.e., profile-based) perspective across two within-person investigations, we explore how emotional ambivalence relates to job search success (i.e., interview invitations, job offers) via job search self-regulatory processes (i.e., metacognitive strategies, effort). Results illustrate that the subsequent week (i.e., at time t + 1; Study 1) and month (Study 2) after job seekers experience emotional ambivalence (i.e., positive and negative affect experienced jointly at similar levels at time t ), they receive more job offers via increased job search effort and interview invitations. Theoretical and practical implications for studying emotional ambivalence in organizational scholarship are discussed.

Keywords: self-regulation; emotional ambivalence; affect; job search; multilevel latent profile analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:33:y:2022:i:6:p:2477-2495

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