Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect
- The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Theoretical and Methodological Foundations
- 1 Emotion at Work
- 2 The Organizational Neuroscience of Emotions
- 3 Personality Affect Construal Theory
- 4 Workplace Emotions and Motivation
- 5 Behavioral Genetics and Affect at Work
- 6 A Review of Quantitative Methods to Measure Workplace Affect
- 7 Qualitative Methods to Study Workplace Affect
- Part II Workplace Affect and Individual Worker Outcomes
- Part III Workplace Affect and Interpersonal and Team-Level Processes
- Part IV Workplace Affect and Organizational, Social, and Cultural Processes
- Part V Discrete Emotions at Work
- Part VI New Perspectives on Workplace Affect
- Index
- References
7 - Qualitative Methods to Study Workplace Affect
Capturing Elusive Emotions
from Part I - Theoretical and Methodological Foundations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 June 2020
Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect
- The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Theoretical and Methodological Foundations
- 1 Emotion at Work
- 2 The Organizational Neuroscience of Emotions
- 3 Personality Affect Construal Theory
- 4 Workplace Emotions and Motivation
- 5 Behavioral Genetics and Affect at Work
- 6 A Review of Quantitative Methods to Measure Workplace Affect
- 7 Qualitative Methods to Study Workplace Affect
- Part II Workplace Affect and Individual Worker Outcomes
- Part III Workplace Affect and Interpersonal and Team-Level Processes
- Part IV Workplace Affect and Organizational, Social, and Cultural Processes
- Part V Discrete Emotions at Work
- Part VI New Perspectives on Workplace Affect
- Index
- References
Summary
Capturing the essence of workplace affect and its impact has always been challenging, because affect is challenging. It comes in many forms, including moods, state emotions, and dispositional traits, and occurs at multiple levels – individual, team, and organizational – that interact and change dynamically. In this chapter, I will outline qualitative approaches to studying affective phenomena. The primary emphasis will be on state discrete emotions and state moods – in the case of emotions, affective responses focused on a specific target or cause and relatively intense and short-lived, and in the case of moods, more diffuse feeling states not directed to a specific cause (see Barsade & Gibson, 2007) – because these phenomena are most difficult to capture with the tools typically available to organizational researchers. Dispositional traits and sentiments, for example, are relatively reliable and stable and may be measured effectively through a combination of self-report and observational measures (e.g. Staw & Barsade, 1993). Emotions are dynamic, often sudden, fleeting, and disruptive; moods may be a chronic, nagging, bubbling brew. Organizational researchers need appropriate methods to capture this complexity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect , pp. 91 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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