Antecedents And Consequences Of Self-Conscious Emotions In The Workplace: Guilt, Shame, And Pride

Abstract

Most people can readily recall powerful feelings of guilt, shame, or pride associated with specific instances of success and failure at work. Although some studies have examined these self-conscious emotions as they arise in other areas of life, little systematic research has focused on their unique profile in the workplace. This dissertation aims to address this important and overlooked topic with two studies. Study 1 used an open-ended, exploratory response format study to provide an initial framework. Over 300 employed adults provided narrative descriptions of workplace events and reactions associated with guilt, shame, and two types of pride. Three overarching domains of events associated with self-conscious emotions were task performance, social relationships, and morality. The most frequently reported emotional management strategies for both guilt and shame were approach-oriented strategies such as problem-solving and relationship repair. Exerting continuous effort for achievement, savoring, and capitalizing were the most common strategies employees used to maintain pride. Expanding the findings of Study 1, Study 2 investigated the within-person effects of self-conscious emotions on employees’ stress, health, burnout, engagement, organizational citizenship behavior, creative performance, and withdrawal, using an experience sampling study with 151 employed adults. Results of multilevel modeling showed that self-conscious emotions influenced employees’ daily stress, burnout, engagement, creativity, and withdrawal beyond general affective states.