Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM: A Multi-Level Perspective

RUNNING HEAD: Emotions and HRM
Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM:
A Multi-Level Perspective
Neal M. Ashkanasy
UQ Business School
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
Ashlea C. Troth
Griffith Business School
Griffith University
Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Sandra A. Lawrence
Griffith University
Peter J. Jordan
Griffith University
Acknowledgements:We thank Dr. Amy Collins for her contribution to this chapter.
This research was funded in part by the Australian Research Council
(DP130102625).
Chapter submitted for inclusion in M. R. Buckley, J. R. B. Halbesleben, & A. R. Wheeler (Eds.) Research in
Personnel and Human Resources Management, Volume 35. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Emotions and HRM Page 2
Abstract
Scholars and practitioners in the OB literature nowadays appreciate that emotions and
emotional regulation constitute an inseparable part of work life, but the HRM literature has
lagged in addressing the emotional dimensions of life at work. In this chapter therefore,
beginning with a multi-level perspective taken from the OB literature, we introduce the roles
played by emotions and emotional regulation in the workplace and discuss their implications for
HRM. We do so by considering five levels of analysis: (1) within-person temporal variations,
(2) between persons (individual differences), (3) inter-personal processes; (4) groups and teams,
and (5) the organization as a whole. We focus especially on processes of emotional regulation in
both self and others, including discussion of emotional labor and emotional intelligence. In the
opening sections of the chapter, we discuss the nature of emotions and emotional regulation from
an OB perspective by introducing the five-level model, and explaining in particular how
emotions and emotional regulation play a role at each of the levels. We then apply these ideas to
four major domains of concern to HR managers: (1) recruitment, selection, and socialization;
(2) performance management; (3) training and development; and (4) compensation and benefits.
In concluding, we stress the interconnectedness of emotions and emotional regulation across the
five levels of the model, arguing that emotions and emotional regulation at each level can
influence effects at other levels, ultimately culminating in the organization’s affective climate.
Keywords: emotions, emotional regulation, five-level model

Emotion can be the enemy, if you give in to your emotion, you lose yourself. You
must be at one with your emotion, because the body always follows the mind
Bruce Lee
The word “emotion” derives from the Latin word emovere, which means simply “to
move.” As such, emotions represent an organization’s basic biological responses to
environmental stimuli. In this regard, Frijda (1986) defined emotion in terms of psychological
changes that an organism undergoes in readiness for action in response to stimuli. Schwarz and
Clore (1983) note further that emotions represent in essence an organism’s means to signal
readiness for action. In addition, emotions can be either positive or negative, with positive
emotion usually signaling a safe situation and maintenance of a status quo, while negative
emotions signal that something is awry and the organism needs to take action to resolve the
situation.
The problem with emotions, however, is that they emanate from basic
psychophysiological processes deep in the limbic brain, and therefore are not fully under
conscious control. This realization led Descartes (1641/1978) to found the philosophy of
“dualism;” which holds that the mind and body act independently. More recently, however, we
learned from the work of Damasio (1994) that this is not in fact so. In his book Descartes’
Error, Damasio refers to the case of “Patient Elliot,” who suffered from a brain lesion that
prevented him from experiencing emotion. Despite his high IQ, however, Patient Elliot was
unable to make even the simplest of decisions. Damasio coined the expression “somatic marker”
to represent the essential connection between mind and body. More recently, researchers have
established the veracity of this connection, showing that the limbic and cortical brain systems
work together across multiple pathways (see Ashkanasy, 2003, for a more detailed discussion
about the neurophysiology of emotion).
The point here is that attempting to study human behavior and thought without
considering the emotional side, including the need for individuals to control (i.e., to regulate)
their emotions, is futile. In fact, and as Weiss and Brief (2001) point out, organizational
behavior (OB) and HRM scholars in the early years of the Twentieth Century appeared to be
aware of this. For example, Durkheim (1912/1976) coined the idea of “collective
consciousness” (or common values), which was largely predicated in the idea that rational
explanations of behavior tell only a part of the story. This view also underpinned much of the OB
and HRM research in the 1920s and 30s as scholars began to apply principles borrowed from the
natural sciences to develop the principles of the “scientific method” of studying human behavior.
Thus, and as Weiss and Brief also detail, the study of the role played by emotions and emotional
regulation in behavior was considered essential in this early work, especially when considering
dependent variables such as job satisfaction and work-life balance.
Following the Second World War, however, the role of emotions came to be considered
secondary to the more “rational” concepts of traditional economics, as social scientists turned
their attention to matters of industrial effectiveness and efficiency. This trend continued until
Simon (1976) proposed the idea of “bounded rationality” (although Simon still tended to dismiss
the emotions as either “irrational” or “arational”) which identifies the limits of human capacity in
deciding between alternatives.

A further decade elapsed following Simon’s (1976) seminal work before social scientists
began to grasp in full the importance of emotions and the need for emotional regulation. A major
impetus for this realization came via a study by sociologist Hochschild (1983), showing how
employees working in jobs that involve interactions with the public (e.g., sales, customer service,
flight attendants, debt collectors) need to assume organizationally-mandated emotional
expressions, which were often different from the emotions they were actually feeling at the time.
Hochschild called this “emotional labor,” pointing out that this kind of behavior, while deemed
critical to meet key performance goals, also placed a heavy emotional strain on the employees so
engaged, often resulting in burnout and/or productivity loss. Rafaeli and Sutton (1987, 1989)
subsequently introduced the idea of emotional labor to the mainstream of OB literature. At the
core of emotional labor is the more fundamental idea of emotional regulation (which we discuss
in more detail later in this chapter).
The next breakthrough in terms of bringing the study of emotions into the mainstream
literature, however, was an article by Ashforth and Humphrey (1995), where the authors argued
convincingly that emotions lie deeply embedded in every aspect of organizational life. Ashforth
and Humphrey pointed to evidence that organizational members’ emotions and emotional
reactions to everyday events had implications for a wide range of individual behaviors, including
motivation and leadership, as well as affecting behavior in groups. The authors called in
particular for research into the role of emotional expression and regulation, and asked why
scholars, especially in the decision-making literature, seemed to have forgotten all about the
emotional dimension. In this regard, they asked why emotions had apparently become a
“dysfunctional antithesis of reality” (p. 120).

Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) added further impetus to recognition of the role emotions
play in organizational life and developed the idea that emotions in organizations are associated
with what they referred to as “affective events.” In their model, such events arise in the
environment and trigger emotional reactions that, in turn, result in direct behavioral responses
(“affect-driven behavior”) and development of attitudes (such as job satisfaction and/or
commitment), which then lead to more considered “judgment-driven behaviors”. Known as
Affective Events Theory (AET), Ashton-James and Ashkanasy (2005) subsequently extended the
idea to encompass a strategic perspective.
In 2003, twenty years after the publication of The Managed Heart (Hochschild, 1983),
Barsade, Brief, and Spataro (2003) announced that an “affective revolution in organizational
behavior” (p. 3) had occurred. This was on top of the “cognitive revolution” that had taken place
a decade earlier (Major & Tower, 1994). Today, continuing interest in the role of emotions and
emotional regulation in organizations is manifest in the Listserv Emonet, an international online
network for discussion of topics in this field. This group conducts a biannual conference series
(The International Conference on Emotions and Worklife, http://www.emotionsnet.org).
Associated with these activities, is an annual book series (Research on Emotion in
Organizations, http://emeraldinsight.com/series/reom). For recent reviews of the field, see
Ashkanasy and Humphrey (2011b) and Ashkanasy and Dorris (in press).
While the important role of emotions is now well-acknowledged in the OB literature, it
would seem however that HRM scholars have yet to appreciate fully the critical role that
emotions play in their field of study. This is despite repeated calls for HRM scholars to embrace
this as a central topic (e.g., see Ashkanasy & Ashton-James, 2005; Fox & Spector, 2002; Pekrun
& Frese, 1992). Moreover, while well-known HRM approaches such as AMO (Ability,
Motivation, Opportunity) theory – which predicts that employee job performance is determined
by a combination of employees’ abilities, motivation and opportunity to perform – seem to imply
an emotional dimension (Paauwe 2009, Boxall and Purcell 2011), HRM scholars have yet to
devise a comprehensive theory about the role of emotions and emotional regulation. Thus, we
find that authors in the HRM field seem to refer only rather sporadically to emotion-related
constructs (e.g., Brunetto, Teo, Shacklock, & Farr‐Wharton, 2012). In particular, emotions is
almost totally absent from the strategic HRM literature (e.g., see Huselid, 1995), despite calls for
the topic to be addressed (e.g., see Doorewaard & Benschop, 2003). To address this shortcoming
we turn to Ashkanasy’s (2003) five-level model of emotions in the workplace, and examine its
potential as a framework for understanding the role of emotions and emotional regulation in
HRM
The Five Level Model
As foreshadowed, we refer to the five-level model of emotions in organizations proposed
by Ashkanasy (2003) to structure the present review. The model begins at Level 1, which refers
to “within-person” temporal variability in affect and behavior. At Level 2, attention turns to
“between-person” variability, which refers to more stable individual dispositions, including
personality, trait affectivity, and emotional intelligence. The role of emotions in interpersonal
relationships is the focus at Level 3 of the model. This level encompasses interpersonal
perceptions and communication of emotion, and includes emotional labor. Group-level analysis
becomes the focus at Level 4 of the model, including leadership, which is viewed as a team-level
property. Finally, Level 5 is an overarching level in the model encompassing organization-wide
phenomena, including affective culture and climate.

Emotion at the Within-Persons Level (Level 1)
As Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) emphasize in AET, an employee’s experience at work
is far from static. On the contrary, employees experience moment-by-moment and day-by-day
variations in every aspect of their behavior, thoughts (cognitions), and feelings (affect). Indeed,
there is a burgeoning stream of research that encourages the examination of within-person
variation of emotion in the workplace (Fisher & To, 2012; Jordan & Lindebaum, 2015). From an
HRM perspective, understanding within-person variation in emotion at work is important for
managing the day-to-day behaviors of individual employees. Emotions experienced on a within-
person basis in a single day can be diverse, varying from happy and excited, to surprised, to sad,
and to angry and fearful. Given the complexity of examining emotions in the workplace, we
focus in the next discussion on just one of the most common emotions that employees
experience: fear (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2013). Following this discussion, we address the process of
emotional regulation as a means to manage emotions in worklife.
Fear: The Survival Emotion
Fear is ubiquitous in every aspect of biological life. Without fear, organizations would
not be able to take the necessary action to survive. In this regard, LeDoux (1995a) pointed out
that the study of fear provides a unique insight into the functioning of the human emotional brain
(see Armony & LeDoux, 2000; LeDoux, 1995a,1995b, 1996, 1998, 2000). LeDoux (1995a)
makes the point that, because fear is the basic mechanism of self-preservation for every species,
it is the key to evolutionary survival. Moreover, fear is an emotion that responds to both internal
and external stimuli. Thus, an organism’s perception of a threat emanating in the environment is
likely to trigger fear; but so do our recalled experiences of situations seen to be threatening. In
this regard, fear becomes more than a response to immediate threat; it can also act as a response
to anticipated threat. In organizations where change is endemic, often change can be seen as a
threat.
Moreover, while fear is a critical emotion in organizational settings, it is not necessarily a
negative influence. In this regard, authors such as Flam (1993), Funlop and Rivkin (1997), and
Mirvis and Sales (1990), point out that fear plays a central role in organizational settings. Schein
(2004) referred to the role fear plays as “disconfirmation,” resulting in a re-evaluation of
organizational processes and goals. Cartwright (1976) notes in particular that fear serves to shock
members out of a culturally ingrained mode of functioning to a more conscious or mindful
approach. More recently, Jordan, Lawrence, and Troth (2006) and Lindebaum and Jordan
(2012) argue that in many instances fears act as motivators that in turn result in positive rather
than negative outcomes, especially for employees who are passionate about their work
(Bélanger, Lafreniere, Vallerand, & Kruglanski, 2013).
To understand how fear works from a neuropsychological perspective, we turn to the
pioneering work of Le Doux (1995a) who, in an innovative program involving fear responses of
laboratory rats, demonstrated that the key lies in two laterally positioned neural ganglia called
amygdalae. More recently, Sander, Grafman, and Zalla (2003) demonstrated that the amygdalae
act more generally, affecting positive as well as negative emotions. As such, the amygdala
appears to be the neural center for detection of salience (i.e., how significant and noticeable an
event is; see also Cunningham & Brosch, 2012). Moreover, the amygdala appears to be
intricately connected via neural pathways to varied sections of the brain that in turn manage our
behavior.
Figure 1 (from LeDoux, 1995a) illustrates the neural pathways that connect the amygdala
to the neocortical and limbic parts of the brain. Pathway 1 represents the path linking the
sensory thalamus to the amygdala. Pathways 2 and 3 also provide information to the amygdala,
but only following cortical processing, and therefore arrive much later. Importantly, there is a
direct link (Pathway 4) between the amygdala and the hippocampal formation of the brain,
which is the repository of memory. This link serves as the pathway for recalled memories of
salient events. Illustrated in the lower part of Figure 2 are linkages to bodily functions needed to
enact behaviors in response to the stimulus. Notably, Pathways 1 and 4 bypass the cortical brain;
this means that our bodily reactions to both immediate and recalled stimulus can occur without
cortical (i.e., conscious) processing. LeDoux (1995a, 1995b; see also Armoney & LeDoux,
2000) point out that, while there are many reciprocal connections between the amygdala and the
cortex, by far the majority of connections run out of the two amygdalae rather than run into
them. Consequently, organisms find it exceedingly difficult to unlearn autonomic reactions to
stimuli and therefore find it difficult to overcome fear reactions.
Insert Figure 1 about here
While Damasio (1999) was adamant that the amygdala only processes negative emotions,
and that positive emotions and even other negative emotion (e.g., disgust) are processed though
other pathways, more recent findings (e.g., see Fitzgerald, Angstadt, Jelsone, Nathan, & Phan,
2006) do not support this idea. In fact, it appears that amygdalae are involved in emotion
processing across the whole gamut of emotional feeling and expression. This is not to say,
however, that amygdalae are the only neural substrates involved in processing emotional
information. For example, there is evidence that left frontal hypoactivity (as measured by EEG),
is linked to depression, a mood disorder, and to emotion and the drivers of bodily reactions
similar to the amygdala (Drevets & Raichle, 1995; Gotlib, Ranganath, & Rosenfeld, 1998;
Tomarken & Keener, 1998). The point of this analysis of neural functioning is that, while the
cortical functions of the brain play an important role in regulating and determining behavior,
other neural functions exist that are essentially not under conscious control. As Ashkanasy
(2003, p. 17) noted, “these responses are initiated precociously and have internally knowable and
externally visible visceral outcomes.”
In terms of the ways in which employees cope with fear-inducing and stressful events in
the workplace, we refer to the work of Lazarus and Folkman (1984), who postulated that
individuals adopt one of two strategies to cope with such experiences: (1) emotion-focused or
(2) problem-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping, the individual seeks to ameliorate the
emotional effects of stress, for example, by behaviorally withdrawing from the situation.
Problem-focused coping, on the other hand, involves taking action to deal with the source of the
stress rather than the effects of the stress. For example, the individual can schedule work
commitments to reduce the stress associated with looming deadlines (and fear of failure). Note
however that, while it is often assumed that problem-focused coping is preferable to emotion-
focused coping, in many instances the individual must at first deal with the emotions experienced
before s/he is in a fit state to problem-solve, which emphasizes the equal importance of emotion-
focused coping (Gooty, Gavin, Ashkanasy, & Thomas, 2014). More recently, Michalak,
Ashkanasy, and Kiffin-Petersen (2017) suggest that individuals often engage in a blend of
emotion-focused and problem-focused coping depending on the level of coping resources.
The issue to be addressed at this juncture is the manner by which individuals deal with
their emotions (and especially their fears) on a day-to-day basis. To accomplish this, we refer to
Gross’s (1998) emotion regulation process model, which he defines as “the process by which
individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them and how they experience
and express these emotions” (p. 275). Simply put, positive and negative events at work,
including fear, can potentially give rise to a full range of discrete emotions (e.g., happiness,
sadness, anger), but the exact nature of the discrete emotion experienced and expressed depends
on the use of particular emotion regulation (ER) strategies (Lawrence, Troth, Jordan, & Collins,
2011).
The Emotion Regulation (ER) Process Model
According to Gross (1998), individuals regulate their emotions using antecedent-focused
(prior to the full development of an emotional experience) and response-focused strategies (after
the discrete emotion has been experienced). In this regard, Gross identifies five broad strategy
categories. The first four comprise antecedent strategies: (1) situation selection, (2) situation
modification, (3) attentional deployment, and (4) cognitive change. The fifth is a response-
focused response modulation strategy (e.g. expressive suppression) that occurs after a discrete
emotion has been experienced, and is intended to increase, to maintain, or to decrease one or
more components of the discrete emotion (experiential or expression). Within Gross’s process
theory, the choice of strategy depends on an individual’s emotion-related goals, and the
enactment of a strategy can occur consciously, unconsciously, in isolation, or as part of
simultaneous regulation attempts (Gross, 2015; Lawrence et al., 2011; Mikolajczak, Tran,
Brotheridge, & Gross, 2009).
Much of the empirical work to date, however, has been limited to experimental designs
using student samples. Gross (2013a, 2015) has mostly focused on two ER strategies in
particular: (1) expressive suppression (hiding from another person the emotion experienced by
inhibiting emotional displays that typically accompany that emotion) and (2) cognitive
reappraisal (changing a situation’s meaning to the extent that there is a change also in the
emotional response to that situation). His research shows that habitual or experimental-induced
expressive suppression leads to the maintenance or increased experience of negative emotions,
decreased (but often not totally masked) behavioral expressions of negative emotion, increased
stress physiology (e.g., blood pressure), poorer cognition and memory, and decreased social
functioning and well-being (see Gross, 2013a, 2015; Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012).
Alternatively, this research (see Gross, 2013a, 2015; Webb et al., 2012) also appears to
show that habitual or experimentally-induced cognitive reappraisal tends to be associated with a
positive impact on experienced emotions, as well as no or decreased physiological, cognitive,
and social functioning deficits.
Other researchers, however, have detected more nuanced findings in relation to cognitive
appraisal. Urry (2009, 2010), for example, examined the effects of different types of cognitive
reappraisal. She found that the type of cognitive appraisal goal (imagining situations getting
worse; maintaining the images of situations; imagining situations getting better) and the timing
of reappraisal (anticipatory to the emotion-triggering event; during the event; after the event) has
differential and sometimes negative effects on subsequent experiences and expressions of
emotion, as well as the consequent physiological responses.
Gross (2013a, 2015) also describes experimental designs that examine the efficaciousness
of attentional deployment ER strategies. These refer to attentional distraction, which redirects
attention from a situation and cognitive resources are devoted to a secondary task versus
attentional allocation. Such distraction also serves to redirect attention from an emotion-eliciting
feature of an event in order to attend selectively to some other specific feature in the event. With
attentional deployment strategies, the redirection of attention can involve a change in gaze and/or
a shift in internal focus (i.e., what the actor is thinking about; see Gross, 2015).
Research (see Bennett, Phelps, Brain, Hood, & Gray, 2007; Denson, Moulds, & Grisham,
2012; Rusting, 1998) has also shown that, in response to painful and negative emotion-inducing
events, attentional distraction rapidly reduces the experience of negative discrete emotions. In
this way, attentional deployment strategies seem to have beneficial impacts on outcomes (Gross,
2015). In contrast, Webb et al. (2012) found meta-analytic evidence that attentional deployment
strategies, as a whole, are not a reliably successful method of regulation. Instead, their meta-
analysis suggest that three types of attentional distraction are effective in aiding regulation
(active positive distraction; active neutral distraction; passive neutral distraction), whereas
passive positive distraction and all types of concentration strategies (concentrate on feelings;
concentration on causes/implications; concentrate on both feelings and causes/implications) tend
to hinder emotional regulation.
Importantly, Gross’s (1998) framework provides a theoretically grounded basis to
examine an extensive range of ER strategies and to identify how they shape the experience and
expression of emotions in the workplace. Relevant workplace events include those where
employees either witness or engage in interactions with others. As such, it is clear that the
manner in which employees regulate their emotions has potential to shape almost all of their
working behaviors. Indeed, Diefendorff, Richard, and Yang (2008), examined how employees’
use of Gross’s (1998) five emotion regulation strategies (situation selection; situation
modification; attentional deployment; cognitive reappraisal; suppression) are associated with
perceived work stressors (job/organizational, interpersonal) and the experience of discrete
emotions. Diefendorff and his team found that all five ER strategies are utilized by employees.
Moreover, these authors found that particular discrete negative emotions and stressors tend to
link to specific regulation strategies. For example, anger and conflict with customers tend to be
most frequently associated with expressive suppression; annoyance and conflict with co-workers
tend to link to attention deployment (e.g., turning attention to something less bothersome).
Expanding upon the strategies Gross and his colleagues have examined to date, but still
consistent with the ER process model, organizational researchers have begun to examine the
influence of two additional ER strategies: (1) Authentic expression of a discrete emotion and
(2) mindfulness. For instance, when anger is habitually and authentically expressed in response
to workplace stressors, this strategy is associated with decreased job satisfaction (Glomb, 2002),
increased organizational incivility (Andersson & Pearson, 1999), interpersonal revenge (Bies &
Tripp, 1998), and/or violence (Fox & Spector, 1999).
More recently, Lindebaum, Jordan, and Morris (2016) found that anger expressions of
this type also reduced colleagues’ respect for that individual. Nonetheless, researchers (see
(Geddes & Callister, 2007; Perrone & Vickers, 2004; Tamir, Mitchell, & Gross, 2008) have also
found that the use of authentic expression as a strategy (in negotiations for example) can have
positive outcomes. This appears to be the case if authentic expression is used situationally to
achieve particular instrumental communication goals and the emotional intensity of expression
displayed is within the bounds of acceptable emotional display norms (see Jordan & Lindebaum,
2015).
Van Kleef and Côté (2007) found further that both status and the appropriateness of the
expressed anger play a role in whether anger expressions during negotiations achieve
instrumental goals. Relatedly, Stickney and Geddes (2014) found additional moderating factors
influencing the authentic expression or suppression in the workplace. These authors determined
certain conditions under which employees express their anger to the appropriate sources (e.g.,
relevant colleagues or management) as opposed to when employees suppress their anger (silent
anger), or only bring it up with others who have no relevance to the incident (muted anger). It
seems that anger is more likely to be expressed in an appropriate way when employees have high
commitment to the organization combined with high trait positive affect. Silent or muted anger
(which leaves no way of resolving the situation) is likely to occur when an employee has less
organizational commitment, higher trait negative affect, and/or higher emotional exhaustion.
Mindfulness, by contrast, involves creating a psychological distance from the emotion an
individual experiences, so that the actor can notice her or his emotional experiences in the
present moment without judging or condemning them (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Dane, 2011).
While some researchers (e.g., see Dane, 2011; Glomb, Duffy, Bono, & Yang, 2011)
conceptualize Gross’s (1998) framework as a specific type of attentional deployment strategy,
other researchers also claim that it involves cognitive change strategies such as positive cognitive
reappraisal (Hulsheger, Lang, Schewe, & Zijlstra, 2015; Li, Black, & Garland, 2016). Moreover,
the use of mindfulness as an emotion regulation strategy has been found to influence leadership
behaviors positively (Reb, Narayanan, & Chaturvedi, 2014), job performance (e.g., Dane &
Brummel, 2013), turnover intentions (e.g., Dane & Brummel, 2013), job satisfaction and
emotional exhaustion (e.g., Hulsheger, Alberts, Feinholdt, & Lang, 2013),
Other research has identified moderating influences on the link between mindfulness and
outcomes. Zhang, Ding, Li, and Wu (2013) for instance, found that trait mindfulness (described
as “presence”) interacted with task complexity to influence performance. For individuals
performing high task complexity jobs, mindfulness seems to be positively related to their task
and safety performance. For those with jobs that have low task complexity, on the other hand,
mindfulness appears to be a negative influence on task performance.

In summary of the role of emotions as a within-person phenomenon, we have argued
(using the example of fear at work) that an employee’s responses to environmental stimuli need
to be understood as an ever-changing dynamic process driven by basic neural processing, not all
of which is under the individual’s control. We also discussed in detail how people regulate their
emotions, referring in particular to Gross’s emotion regulation process model. In the following
section of this chapter, we move on to the higher levels in the model, which build on the
processes taking place at Level 1.
Level 2: Between-Persons
In moving to Level 2 in the Ashkanasy (2003) model, we see that the focus shifts to
individual differences at the between-persons level of analysis. In terms of HRM, Level 2 has
been a significant focus for professionals working in the field because it enables them to advance
individual skill levels that allow employees to perform at their optimum capacity. One such
specific construct that has recently gained much interest, especially in the context of
management consultancy, is emotional intelligence, which ultimately affects an individual’s
ability to regulate and to manage her or his emotion. Since its introduction by Salovey and
Mayer (1990), emotional intelligence has attracted considerable attention, especially following
its popularization by popular author and NY Times columnist Daniel Goleman (1995). Indeed,
Goleman’s (1998) next book popularized the construct further in the specific context of work and
organizations. Although Goleman made many exaggerated claims in his books that have since
been criticized (e.g., Landy, 2005), this did nothing to stem the popularity of emotional
intelligence among organizational consultants.
As of the present time, however, the most robust and broadly accepted definition of
emotional intelligence is the one provided by Mayer and Salovey (1997). These scholars
proposed that the construct consists of four basic abilities or “branches:” (1) ability to perceive
and to recognize emotions in both self and others; (2) ability to incorporate emotional
information in decision-making and cognition; (3) ability to understand the effects of emotion in
self and others, and finally (4) ability to use and to manage emotion in self and others (i.e., to
regulate emotions). Jordan, Ashton-James, and Ashkanasy (2006) argue that this is the “gold
standard” for emotional intelligence. More particularly in defense of the construct, Ashkanasy
and Daus (2005) argue that emotional intelligence is really no more than another human
individual difference, similar to IQ or physical prowess.
Much of the controversy surrounding emotional intelligence has arisen because of a
proliferation of different definitions and measurement instruments. In this regard, Ashkanasy and
Daus (2005) categorize emotional intelligence research and applications into three “Streams.” The
first of these entails measurement of emotional intelligence using an IQ-style “ability” instrument
known as the MSCEIT (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002). In recent years, researchers (Czarna,
Leifeld, Śmieja, Dufner, & Salovey, 2016; MacCann, Joseph, Newman, & Roberts, 2014) have
started to develop alternative ability measures of emotional intelligence, largely based around
responses to written situational vignettes.
The second stream of research uses measures of emotional intelligence that are based in
the Mayer-Salovey (1997) definition, but employ self- or peer-report measures (e.g., Jordan,
Ashkanasy, Härtel, & Hooper, 2002; Schutte et al., 1998; Wong & Law, 2002). While such
measures lack the objective status of the MSCEIT (and other ability measures), they offer more
efficacious administration, and have demonstrable predictive validity (e.g., see Jordan & Troth,
2004).
The third stream uses definitions of the construct that are more trait-like and are often
described as “mixed models.” Although these models have attracted the most stringent criticism
(e.g., see Ashkanasy & Daus, 2005), especially that they seem to overlap with measures of
personality, they are nonetheless the most popular in practice. Examples include the EQi (Bar-On,
1997) and “trait emotional intelligence” (Petrides & Furnham, 2001), and the Emotional
Competence Inventory (ECI: Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 2000). Despite their popularity,
Ashkanasy and Daus (2005) are especially critical of Stream 3 models of emotional intelligence,
largely because: (1) they are based on disparate and often naïve definitions of the emotional
intelligence construct and (2) they correlate highly with measures of personality. On the other
hand, recent research has shown that the Stream 3 measures often perform well in meta-analytic
tests. O’Boyle, Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, and Story (2011) and Schlaerth, Ensari, and
Christian (2013), for example, found that all three streams of emotional intelligence demonstrate
incremental validity over personality variables, and that the Stream 3 models tend to demonstrate
the best results for predicting work outcomes.
As we noted in the foregoing, and despite ongoing controversy, emotional intelligence in
its various forms has remained a popular construct in the management consultancy industry
(Boyatzis, Stubbs, & Taylor, 2002; McCleskey, 2014). Indeed, the consensus is that the
construct is both valid and important across a range of organizational outcomes, including
leadership and work performance. Work on development of new and more tractable measures of
emotional intelligence (e.g., Czarna et al., 2016; MacCann et al., 2014) is ongoing and
encouraging, so it is likely that the construct is not going to go away any time soon (cf.
Ashkanasy & Daus, 2005).

Level 3: Interpersonal Interactions
The next level in the Ashkanasy (2003) model deals with the interactions between
individual employees at work, which is a central issue when it comes to emotional regulation.
From the perspective of HRM in particular, this is a critical level insofar as we know that
individual employees do not work in isolation. In this regard, we point out that organizations
ultimately comprise working relationships between human actors, be that between colleagues,
between supervisors and subordinates, or between employees and customers. We also know that
the quality of these interactions is critical to determining important performance and service
outcomes, especially for those valued by the organization and therefore underpinned by HRM
strategy and function. These connections also determine the positive (or negative) culture of an
organization (as we discuss later) which then have important implications for employee
wellbeing and job satisfaction; a core focus of any HRM and organizational development unit
within a business.
Ashkanasy (2003) depicts Level 3 as encompassing these interpersonal interactions and
associated emotion-related processes (Ashkanasy, 2003; Ashkanasy & Humphrey, 2011b). In
essence, this part of the model is focused on the perception and communication of emotion in
interpersonal exchanges (or dyads), consistent with De Dreu, West, Fischer, and MacCurtain’s
(2001) notion of emotion as primarily a relational phenomenon. Indeed, Waldron (2000) points
out that the interactional level lies at the core of emotions in organizations, especially insofar as
they serve to bridge between Levels 1 and 2 (at the micro level) and Levels 4 and 5 (at more
macro levels).
Within the Ashkanasy (2003) model, constructs that are considered important at Level 3
include interpersonal-level emotional regulation (Ashkanasy & Humphrey, 2011b), which also
encompasses emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983). Moving beyond traditional employee-
customer interfaces, emotional labor is also linked to leader influence research (e.g., see
Humphrey, 2012; Humphrey, Ashforth, & Diefendorff, 2015). Consequently, in addressing
Level 3 of the five-level model, we unpack these interpersonal-level constructs and discuss some
of the practical implications for HRM practitioners and managers, focusing in particular on
interpersonal emotional regulation.
Interpersonal Emotional Regulation
As we alluded to in our coverage of Levels 1 and 2 of the five-level model, there is
increasing recognition of the important role ER plays at work (i.e., the experience and expression
of emotions determined by the activation of ER strategies, see Gross, 2015; Gross & John, 2003;
Lawrence et al., 2011). ER strategies are typically conceptualized at the intrapersonal level as
either antecedent-focused (prior to full development of an emotional experience) or response-
focused (after experience of a discrete emotion).
While considerable research has been conducted on ER at Levels 1 and 2, scholars today
(e.g. Côté, Van Kleef, & Sy, 2013; Kafetsios, Hantzara, Anagnostopoulos, & Niakas, 2014;
Little, Kluemper, Nelson, & Gooty, 2012; Niven, Holman, & Totterdell, 2012; Zaki & Williams,
2013) increasingly recognize the critical importance of ER as an interpersonal (i.e., Level 3)
phenomenon. In this regard, the evidence supports the idea that employees’ perceptions of
workplace events shape their emotional experiences and expressions as well as the emotional
experiences and expressions of others (Grandey, Diefendorff, & Rupp, 2013; Lawrence et al.,
2011). To give a practical example, consider an employee who might turn to her colleague or
supervisor for assistance in managing her own emotions, or might attempt to regulate a
colleague’s or a supervisor’s emotional experiences and displays.

Empirical evidence demonstrates that the regulation of emotions at the interpersonal level
(i.e., using strategies to regulate the emotional experiences and expressions of others or using
others to regulate own emotions) is linked to several markers of high performance. These
include, for example, higher customer service quality and satisfaction and better negotiation
outcomes (see Côté et al., 2013); positive client affect and higher perceptions of trust and
friendship (Niven et al., 2012); and more positive perceptions of friendship with colleagues (see
Niven et al., 2012).
As we outlined in our earlier discussion of Level 1, Gross’s (1988) emotion regulation
process model forms the basis for much of this line of research. To understand what occurs at the
interpersonal level, however, we turn to another theory, emotional labor. Initially coined by
Hochschild (1983), the idea of emotional labor has been further developed in the context of
HRM by Grandey (2000). A number of reviews have focused on conceptual and empirical
research related to emotional labor theory (Grandey et al., 2013; Gross 2013b, 2015; Mesmer-
Magnus, DeChurch, & Wax, 2012; Webb et al., 2012) including the commonalities and
differences between the intrapersonal ER theories (see Lawrence et al., 2011; Mikolajczak et al.,
2009). In the following sections therefore, we briefly outline emotional labor theory and
highlight current and suggested applications to HRM practice.
Emotional Labor
Hochschild (1983) defines emotional labor as a process by which employees regulate
their emotions within interpersonal encounters in order to adhere to organizational emotional
display rules (see also Grandey, 2000; Grandey et al., 2013). Hochschild further argues that,
when the organization requires employees to display specific emotions, they enact one of two
interpersonal ER strategies: surface acting (suppressing the expression of emotions and faking
unfelt emotions) or deep acting (consciously modifying felt emotions to match expressed
emotions). In effect therefore, surface acting involves enacting two ER strategies - expression
suppression and faking emotion – whereas deep acting is more conceptually vague. As several
researchers (see Côté, 2005; Grandey & Gabriel, 2015; Lawrence et al., 2011) suggest, deep
acting is in effect a variant of Gross’s (1998) cognitive reappraisal strategy, and may possibly
even include attentional deployment strategies.
Emotional labor theorists (e.g., see Diefendorff, Croyle, & Gosserand, 2005; Grandey et
al., 2013) have recently begun to acknowledge “expression of naturally felt emotion” as an
additional ER strategy that sits under the emotional labor banner. The authentic expression of
emotions is not like surface and deep acting as no conscious “acting” is required to perform it,
although the emotions expressed still need to align with organizational display rules (Martinez-
Inigo, Totterdell, Alcover, & Holman, 2007). This concept is also referred to as “automatic
regulation” by some emotional labor researchers (Beal & Trougakos, 2013; Hulsheger et al.,
2015). This however should not be confused with Gross’s notion of “automatic unconscious
emotion regulation”, insofar as the later concept encompasses strategies from all ER categories,
including expressive suppression (Barrett, Ochsner, & Gross, 2007). The particular argument
that researchers such as Hulsheger et al. (2015) use is that natural expressions of experienced
emotion proxy for all of Gross’s (1998) antecedent ER strategies when automatically and
unconsciously enacted.
Although initially only applied to employees’ interpersonal encounters with customers,
emotional labor scholars have recently begun to extend the concept to cover exchanges between
colleagues and supervisors (Côté et al., 2013; Grandey et al., 2013). The key to this notion is that
individuals need to regulate their own emotions intrapersonally within an interpersonal context.
Further, most emotional labor models only consider one instrumental emotional goal, aligning
employees’ emotional expressions with organizational emotional display rules (Grandey et al.,
2013). Finally, Diefendorff, Erickson, Grandey, and Dahling (2011) argue that more individuals
need to enact more ER behaviors when display rules are prominent in organizations (as
compared to workplace situations where individuals are free to display their feelings as they
choose).
Findings relating to surface and deep acting are similar to those related to Gross’s (2013a,
2015) ideas about expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal in intrapersonal emotional
regulation. The results relating to the natural expression of emotion are too few to compare them
to research examining authentic expression. In this regard, Mesmer-Magnus et al. (2012) found
in a meta-analysis (canvassing both survey and experimental data) that surface acting increases
burnout, work withdrawal, and turnover intentions; and decreases job satisfaction and health.
They found, on the other hand, that deep acting decreases work withdrawal and turnover
intentions and increases task performance and overall work performance.
Very little empirical work seems to look at the influence of the expression of naturally
felt emotions on organizational outcomes, however. An exception is the work of Hulsheger et al.
(2015) who found that both deep acting and the natural expression of emotion link to the number
of tips received from waiters and taxi-drivers. Finally, Martinez-Inigo et al. (2007) found that
automatic regulation negatively relates to emotional exhaustion.
In view of these findings, researchers such as Côté (2005) and Lawrence and her
associates (2011) are increasingly coming to view emotional labor as in fact a subset of
interpersonal ER. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, emotional labor was originally viewed as
a process involving Level 1 ER strategies evoked when employees are encouraged to regulate
their own emotions albeit within interpersonal encounters in order to adhere to organizationally-
mandated emotional display rules (see also Grandey, 2000; Grandey et al., 2013).
We argue, however, that emotional labor in fact occurs at multiple levels and thus can be
framed at Level 3 of the Ashkanasy (2003) model as a form of interpersonal ER (e.g., Ashkanasy
& Humphrey, 2011b; Côté, 2005; Côté et al., 2013). For example, Côté and his colleagues
examined emotional labor within a dyadic context in which individual senders (e.g., employee)
control their emotions in order to have an impact on a receiver (e.g., client or customer). In
essence, the sender’s regulation of her or his own emotional expression (using individual-level
deep or surface acting strategies) produces changes in the other person’s emotions via contagion
(e.g., mimicry, entrainment), that then have consequences for the sender (in Côté’s 2005 model:
work strain).
Gracia and Ashkanasy (2014) also provide a conceptualization of emotional labor that is
multi-level – whereby interpersonal emotional labor is viewed as acting in both directions
between the employee and customer in a reciprocal process. Similarly, Grandey, Kern, and Frone
(2007), in considering how employees use emotional labor when encountering verbal abuse from
customers, advocate that an employee’s subsequent emotional expression is in fact influenced by
the target’s emotional expressions. The employee initially focuses on the self and regulates her
or his own emotional expressions (i.e., via surface or deep acting in accordance with
organizational display rules) in order to influence the angry customer (i.e., the target). The
customer’s potential change in emotional expressions in turn partially shapes the subsequent
emotional expressions to regulate the targets’ emotions further.
Taken together, the extant research appears to show that effective use of emotional labor
strategies relates to increased customer service and performance (e.g., Mesmer-Magnus et al,
2012). In terms of health and wellbeing, deep acting seems to have more positive effects on
employees than surface acting strategies; the latter leading to the greater likelihood of strain and
emotional exhaustion overtime (Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002; Grandey, 2003).
In summary, it is clear that processes at Level 3 of the Ashkanasy (2003) model serve in
effect as a critical link between the micro and macro levels of the model. In particular, the
realization that emotional regulation encompasses regulation of both own and others’ emotions is
only now coming to be understood as a pivotal factor in shaping the nature and effectiveness of
interpersonal relationships at work. Clearly, however, these is still much more to be studied
before we have a more complete understanding of these processes.
Level 4: Teams and Workgroups
The penultimate level in the Ashkanasy (2003) model encompasses teams and
workgroups. In particular, the rising use of team structures over the last few decades has
directed much more research to focus on teams. From an HRM perspective, this is important
insofar as we know that there is increasing emphasis on teams as a factor underpinning
productivity in the workplace. Moreover, HR managers are the ones usually responsible for
recruitment and for development strategies that enhance teamwork. Salient emotion-related
constructs at this level include the effect of emotional contagion (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson,
1993) and group affective tone (George, 1990). For example, Kelly and Barsade (2001), show
that emotional contagion is central to the dissemination of moods in work teams, and also that
this has consequences for group mood and performance. Ashkanasy (2003) cites Graen and Uhl-
Bien (1995) to lend support to the idea that leaders play a key role in determining emotional
states at the group level. More recently, Sy, Côté, and Saavedra (2005) demonstrated that
emotional contagion facilitates this process.

The role of effective leadership through Leader-Member Exchange (LMX; Graen & Uhl-
Bien, 1995) is another salient construct related to emotion at Level 4. The main argument in
terms of LMX is that effective leaders regulate relationships with their followers (often working
in a team) as a means of enhancing their relationships with them (Jordan & Troth, 2011; Tse,
Lam, Lawrence, & Huang, 2013, Tse & Troth, 2013; Tse, Troth, & Ashkanasy, 2015) – and this
has subsequent consequences for performance and wellbeing. In the following discussion, we
therefore focus on this topic as an example of the consequences of emotions at the team level.
Leader-Member Exchange as a Team-Level Phenomenon
Leadership researchers (e.g., Ashkanasy, 2003; Jordan & Troth, 2011; Tse & Ashkanasy,
2008; Tse, Dasborough, & Ashkanasy, 2005; Tse et al., 2013; Tse & Troth, 2013) increasingly
have come to recognize the role of emotion in leader-member exchanges (LMX) in the
workplace and particularly in teams. LMX theory occupies a distinct space in the leadership
literature with its focus on the quality of the dyadic relationship between a leader and follower
(Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Tse et al., 2013). Briefly, the theory is based in the notion that leaders
use different leadership styles to develop differential interpersonal relationships with
subordinates. This means leaders form low-quality transactional relationships with some
employees, but high-quality socio-emotional relationships with others (Dansereau, Graen, &
Haga, 1975). LMX theory also holds that leaders have difficulty forming high-quality
relationships with every member of a team because of their limited resources, time, and abilities
(Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Maksom & Winter, 2009). A corollary of this is that leaders tend to
develop high-quality relationships with a few employees who in turn act as “trusted assistants.”
The remaining subordinates tend to experience lower-quality relationships with their leader.
The quality of the relationship between a leader and her or his subordinates has important
implications for both parties involved and for the overall experience of the team. A high-quality
LMX relationship tends to be characterized by mutual respect, trust, and influence that go
beyond the formal employment contract (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995; Tse & Troth, 2013). Both
parties in the high-quality exchange relationship report higher job satisfaction and work
performance (e.g., Gerstner & Day, 1997). Gerstner and Day contend further that leaders focus
on developing, supporting, and satisfying employees in high-quality relationships by delegating
more interesting tasks, providing access to important resources, and giving them increased
autonomy and responsibilities.
In contrast, low-quality relationships tend to develop based on the terms and conditions
derived from the formal employment contact. Compared to peers in high quality LMX
relationships, subordinates in this type of relationship often receive less supervisory attention and
have poorer access to organizational resources, and fewer empowerment opportunities. This
potentially leads to job dissatisfaction and lower organizational commitment (Gerstner & Day,
1997). Thus, the differential quality of LMX relationships results in different employee work
attitudes and behaviors, which in turn help to maintain relationships with the leader (Gerstner &
Day, 1997; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).
One of the specific research foci in LMX is how emotions influence LMX quality (see
Adams, 2005; Ashkanasy, 2003; Hughes & Avey, 2009; Lee, 2005). Emotions here are thought
to play an important role in LMX processes owing to the increased proximity and increased
frequency of interactions between subordinates and supervisors in workgroups. In this regard,
underpinned by Affective Events Theory (AET: Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), Tse and Troth
(2013) argue that the quality of LMX relationships are perceived by subordinates as sources of
affective events which create uplifts that produce positive emotional responses or hassles that
lead to negative emotional reactions among subordinates in workgroups.
Scholars propose that the affective experience arising from the quality of LMX
relationships may influence how subordinates perceive and react to their supervisor, and
determine their willingness to engage in social and economic exchanges (Dasborough, 2006; Tse
et al., 2005). For instance, in a series of employee interviews, Tse and Troth (2013) found that
subordinates experience more positive emotional reactions (e.g., pleasure, joy, excitement) if
their supervisor recognizes their potential, spends time listening to their needs and trusts their
ability for performing tasks. Conversely, subordinates experience more negative emotional
responses (e.g., anger, frustration, resentment) if their supervisor is seen to be disrespecting their
value and ability, disregarding their interests, or showing favoritism towards other subordinates.
These findings tell us that different quality LMX relationships influence a subordinate’s
experience of a wide range of emotions in diverse ways.
Leadership as Emotional Labor
Recently, researchers have begun to pay attention to the nexus of leadership and
emotional labor (“leading with emotional labor” is a term used by Humphrey, 2008). In
particular, Humphrey and his colleagues (see Ashkanasy & Humphrey, 2011b; Humphrey, 2008;
Humphrey, Pollack, & Hawver, 2008) have examined how leaders use emotional labor tactics,
not only to manage their own moods, but also to improve the moods of their followers.
Humphrey (2012) argues that leaders can influence their subordinates’ feelings through a process
of emotional contagion and goes on to discuss how leaders can use emotional labor as a form of
ER to take conscious control of their own emotions so that they can express appropriate
emotions to their followers. Through emotional contagion, the followers feel the leaders’
experienced emotions, display congruent emotional expressions and, in turn, pass on the
emotions to other group members or clients. Ashkanasy and Humphrey (2011b) also discuss
how, via emotional contagion, effective leaders create an emotional resonance that emotionally
synchronizes leaders and followers.
Humphrey and his colleagues (2008) also propose that leaders who engage in deep acting
will be more emotionally contagious than leaders who use surface acting or who do not perform
emotional labor. Furthermore, these scholars suggest that leaders who perform emotional labor
are seen as better communicators, and deep acting is more effective than surface acting at
increasing perceptions of communication skill. Finally, Humphrey and his associates argue that
leaders who perform emotional labor will be more likely to be perceived as transformational
leaders, and deep acting will be more effective than surface acting at increasing perceptions of
transformational leadership.
Level 5: The Organization as a Whole
At the top level in the Ashkanasy (2003) model is the role emotions play as an
organization-wide phenomenon. This includes both strategic decision-making and issues related
to organizational culture and climate.
Referring to emotions and strategic decision-making, Ashton-James and Ashkanasy
(2008) demonstrate that principles of AET (Weiss & Caopanzano, 1996) can be applied at this
level. In this case, rather than needing to deal with affective events that are generated within the
organization, strategic decision-makers deal with events that derive from the external
environment, including organizational environment, including organizational change events;
economic, legal, and political events; and inter-organizational negotiation. Similar to AET, such
events generate emotional reactions leading to mood states that in turn result in wither impulsive
affect-driven decisions or considered decisions, which both ultimately affect strategic decision-
making and organizational outcomes. The authors conclude that understanding and managing
emotions in organizations is a critical ingredient for successful strategic decision-making.
Taking this idea a step further, Voola, Carlson, and West (2004) argue from the resource-based
view of organizational strategy (Barney, 2001) that emotional intelligence contributes to an
organization’s competitive advantage.
Turning now to consider emotions from a culture/climate perspective, we note that the
principal HRM perspective becomes one of identifying how organizations can engender what
Ashkanasy and Daus (2002) refer to as a “healthy emotional climate” (see also Ashkanasy &
Härtel, 2014; Ashkanasy, Härtel, & Daus, 2002). Such “healthy” organizations tend to be
characterized across the board by positive emotions, high commitment, and high job satisfaction
– leading to high performance and positive outcomes. This can be seen in the organization’s
affective culture and climate, which is manifested though organizational members’
understandings about norms and expectations that exist in the organization. These norms and
expectations, in turn, are reflected in the affective climate (positive or negative), the norms for
emotional expression and in the organization’s emotional history. For example, an organization
that has just survived a Chapter 11 restructure is likely to have an emotional history that is very
different to an organization riding the crest of an economic boom.
The central concept in this respect is the idea of “emotional climate”, which de Rivera
(1992) defined as “an objective group phenomenon that can be palpably sensed — as when one
enters a party or a city and feels an attitude of gaiety or depression, openness or fear” (p. 197).
Note that here we are referring specifically to the notion of “climate,” not culture. The latter is
most accurately defined in terms of organizational members’ espoused beliefs and values, and
especially by their deep-seated assumptions about the organization and its stakeholders (Schein,
2004). Emotional climate, on the other hand, refers to the collective mood of organizational
members, including attitudes towards the organization as a whole, their peers and their leaders.
As such, affective climate is a subset of organizational climate (Ashkanasy, 2007).
Organizational climate tends to be more volatile than culture, however, and so has greater
potential to be a group-wide (Level 4) rather than an organization-wide phenomenon. In
illustration of this, we note that Ashkanasy and Nicholson (2003), who studied “climate of fear”
in two Australian restaurant chains, found that, while organizational culture varied across the two
organizations (and not between sites within each organization), climate of fear varied between
sites, but not across the organizations. Yurtsever and de Rivera (2010) studied a similar
construct, which they referred to as “emotional climate” and found that it varies markedly
depending on how much employees trust each other.
Ashkanasy and Ashton-James (2005) note further that “Level 5 is qualitatively different
from the other levels of the (Ashkanasy, 2003) model” (p. 221). This is because emotions at this
level represent an accumulation of emotions at all the lower levels. Thus, affective events, which
are experienced in different ways by employees at Level 1 result in emotional attitudes and
behavior that are moderated by individual differences (e.g., emotional intelligence) at Level 2.
This, however, also influences inter- and intrapersonal emotional regulation at Level 3, affecting
leader-member relations (Level 4). Ultimately, Ashkanasy (2003) argues that this process also
influences the affective climate right across the organization.
In support of this idea, Dasborough, Ashkanasy, Tee, and Tse (2009) posited that “a
leader’s behavior towards subordinates (Level 4) is reflected in team-member relationships
(Level 3) that in turn reflect on the leader’s performance via emotional contagion processes,
leading to an organizational management response to the leader (Level 5)” (Ashkanasy &
Humphrey, 2011a, p. 219). In another study, Pirola-Merlo, Härtel, Mann, and Hirst (2002) found
that transformational leaders tended to use emotion regulation to help followers deal with their
negative emotions when confronted with difficult situations. Pescolido (2002) likewise found
that leaders help their followers to deal with organizational change by assisting them to regulate
their emotions. In another study, Kim, Choi, and Lee (2016) found that a positive affective
climate was directly reflected in-group creativity (cf. Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987).
Finally, Jiang and Probst (2016) found that what they referred to as “affective job insecurity
climate” had an impact on the organization’s safety performance.
Putting it all Together: Implications of Emotions and Emotional Regulation for HRM
Up until this point, we have addressed the role of emotions in organizations largely from
an OB perspective, keeping to the framework set out in Ashkanasy’s (2003) five-level model, but
referring where appropriate to implication for HRM. We began with discussion of within- and
between-persons micro-level processes at Levels 1 and 2, then continued on to discuss
interpersonal, team, and organizational-level processes at Levels 3 to 5. Notably, however, and
as we noted in the earlier section, organization-wide outcomes ultimately extend across all
levels, connecting individual behavior with organizational outcomes.
Consistent with the subject matter of the series, Research in Personnel and Human
Resources Management, we shift our focus now to issues that are specifically relevant in HRM.
In this regard, we note that an appropriate framework for examining HRM practices is the four-
part typology proposed by Dyer and Holder (1988), which includes recruitment and selection,
training and development, performance management and compensation and rewards. Counter to
considering HRM as a set of practices, however, Wright and Boswell (2002) posit that HRM can
be reconceptualized from a focus on functional and strategic issues to a focus on individual and
organizational issues to advance the field. Their argument stems from evidence that individual
factors influence employee behavior (see Ajzen & Fishbein, 1970; Paauwe, 2009), while
organizational issues such as broader policy decisions and the direction of the company also
impact on employees’ experiences at work (Huselid, 1995).
O’Brien and Linehan (2014) go a step further to draw attention to the balancing act that
HRM professionals engage in while undertaking their jobs. In the following sections, we
examine the impact that emotions at Ashkanasy’s (2003) five levels have on a range of HRM
activities including recruitment and selection, performance management and training and
development and compensation and rewards (Dyer & Holder, 1988). Specifically, we argue that,
rather than changing the focus of our examination to individual and organizational in line with
Wright and Boswell (2002), we can achieve a better understanding of the role of emotion in
HRM by blending the two perspectives and extending this examination using Ashkanasy’s
(2003) framework. Figure 2 provides an overview of the five levels, adapted from Ashkanasy
(2003), focusing on the key issues for HRM that we identify.
Insert Figure 2 about here
Finally, we point out that the interaction of HRM and emotions is necessarily reciprocal.
In this regard, Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) argue that HRM policies and procedures constitute
components in the organizational environment and therefore are sources of “affective events.”
On the other hand, Ashkanasy (2003) points out that emotions at the lower levels of the five-
level model contribute successively to processes and states that impact higher levels in the
model. In support of this idea, Dasborough and her colleagues (2009) argue that employees’
emotional reactions to their leader (at Level 1) contribute via contagion to group (Level 4) and
ultimately organizational (Level 5) emotional states that, in turn, reflect back to the shop floor
(Level 1). Similarly, emotional regulation processes operating as individual (Level 1) and inter-
personal (Level 3) processes are likely both to reflect and to determine the organization’s climate
and emotional display rules (at Level 5).
Practical HRM Implications at Levels 1 and 2
To discuss the practical implications of the model at Levels 1 and 2 (and how they relate
to higher levels and vice versa), we refer to the work of Wright and Boswell (2002). These
authors argue specifically that individual differences predict behaviors and responses by
employees (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1970) as well as how individuals respond to others at work
(Caldwell, Herold, & Fedor, 2004) and, ultimately, how this impacts organizational performance.
In the following discussion, we consequently examine the impact that individual differences
have on a range of HRM activities including recruitment and selection, performance
management and training and development and compensation and rewards (Dyer & Holder,
1988) – that implicitly addresses issues from the more macro components (Levels 1 and 2) of the
Ashkanasy (2003) model. We discuss in particular the role of interpersonal ER in selection and
socialization, and training and development.
Recruitment, Selection, and Socialization
Consistent with Robertson and Smith (2001), we note that recruitment and selection
depend on emotional judgments. In this regard, Ambady, Hallahan, and Rosenthal (1995) posit
that any process by which individuals judge each other will inevitably evoke emotions.
Moreover, emotions emerge for those recruits as well as those who are doing the recruitment and
selection at Level 1 and 2. Indeed, often people undertaking recruitment processes in their
organizations report that they make their final decisions on what they term “gut reactions” (see
Miles & Sadler-Smith, 2014). This may seem arbitrary in a discipline that ostensibly encourages
appointment and promotion on meritocracy (Castilla & Bernard, 2010), and as we noted earlier,
there is extensive research that demonstrates that humans cannot make any decisions without
emotion (Damasio, 1994; Hanoch, 2002). As a result, emotion is an essential element in
recruitment decisions. While this does not mean that all recruitment decisions are going to be
based in emotional decision-making processes, the evidence is nonetheless clear that emotion
plays a significant role in this process (Morris & Feldman, 1997).
Moreover, there is evidence that recruitment candidates report a range of emotions during
the process (at Level 1) that range from enthusiasm (Turban, Lee, Veiga, Haggard, & Wu, 2013),
to anxiety (Feiler & Powell, 2013) and nervousness (Ayres, Keereetaweep, Chen, & Edwards,
1998). Candidates also experience emotion and are required to display emotion (Level 3) as a
part of the interview process. For instance, job interviewees report a range of emotions from the
interview panel can influence their decisions to accept a job offer, including the enthusiasm of
the interview panel (Liden & Parsons, 1986) and empathy (Lyon, Trotter, Holt, Powell, & Roe,
2013). Clearly, emotions are important, both for candidates and for recruiters.
Examining specific emotions that are relevant to recruitment and selection, Ayres et al.
(1998) discuss the impact of nervousness on employment interviews. They note in particular
that potential employees who suffer from communication apprehension (i.e., nervousness about
the interview) spend less time in thinking about or preparing for an interview, which in turn
affects their overall performance at interview.
Of course, candidates can also experience a range of both positive and negative discrete
(specific) emotions during the process. Positive emotions might include enthusiasm about the
opportunity, hope about the outcome, pride in discussing their achievements, and excitement
about discussing the future. Negative emotions might include fear about the interview process,
sadness if the process does not end favorably, and anger if the process did not appear to be fair.
Similarly, interviewers can experience positive and negative emotions from surprise to hope to
frustration to boredom to anger and disappointment.
There has also been a significant research focus on emotion-related variables that are
thought to have a direct impact on recruitment decisions. For instance, Fox and Spector (2000)
argue that emotional intelligence is an essential element in employment interview outcomes
(Level 2). These researchers found in particular that interviewees’ emotional intelligence and
trait affect contribute independently to the success of these interviews. Significantly, Fox and
Spector also found that the interviewer’s affective response mediates this relationship. In further
support of this result, Kluemper, McLarty, Bishop, and Sen (2015), who examined a broad range
of factors that influence interviews including mental ability and extraversion, found that
interviewees’ emotional intelligence was strongly associated with successful interview outcomes
(Level 2).
Gender also seems to play a role in employment interviews. In this regard, Feiler and
Powell (2013) examined the impact of gender on interview anxiety and found that males who are
nervous in interview situations rate lower in interviews than females with a similar level of
anxiety (Level 3). Interestingly, the interviewers who participated in this research were unable to
assess accurately the level of anxiety experienced by the interviewees (as rated by those
interviewees). This suggests that the gender effect in emotional expression represents a
subjective experience that may affect interview outcomes.

Looking specifically at the skills that employees are able to use during interviews, Imada
and Hakel (1977) found nonverbal communication is also critical in interviews. As Ekman
(1999) points out, nonverbal communication in essence reflects an actor’s emotional state
(Level 1). Moreover, there is evidence that emotions can play a more direct role in the interview
process. Certainly, when we think of those that perform well in a selection process, we think of
factors such as confidence, emotional stability, agreeableness (Cole, Field, Giles, and Harris,
2004) as general attributes (Level 2) but also specifically in terms of how the candidate performs
at interview (Level 1) – all of which have an emotional component.
All these studies indicate that emotion plays a key role in recruitment and selection for
recruits and recruiters alike. In support of this view, Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson, and
Campion (2014) concluded that emotional contagion (Level 4) may hold promise for
understanding some of the influences of emotion on the interview process.
Moreover, while our focus has been specifically on the interview process in terms of
emotion, we also acknowledge that emotion and ER may be in play in other aspects of the
recruitment and selection process. For instance, emotion may play a role in assessing written
applications or resumes, and emotion certainly can emerge in references provided for employees.
All of these areas would seem to provide significant potential for future research.
Emotional regulation in selection and socialization
Turning now to look at emotional regulation in relation to selection and socialization, we
note that, to date, the literature has paid little attention to the potential use of habitual emotion
regulation strategies during selection processes (Level 1 and 3). Organizations, however, utilize
“onboarding” induction sessions to socialize their staff to organizational norms, including those
relating to appropriate emotional displays in the workplace (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993;
Morris & Feldman, 1997; Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987).
Socialization processes also tend to be specific to each industry and each organization.
There might be specific display rules required by some organizations (e.g., particularly in
customer service areas where employees are encouraged to smile) and these rules are posted in
high visibility areas (Level 3). Other organizations may socialize their staff to adopt functional
emotion regulation and expression through value statements and professional standards
developed by the organization and/or associated professional codes of conduct, or simply expect
newcomers to model the professional behaviors exhibited by co-workers. Some organizations
utilize all the above socialization processes. Diefendorff, Richard, and Croyle (2006) note in
particular that display rules statements influence the behavior of workers for a range of
expressions from smiling to restraining anger episodes. In terms of socialization processes,
Martin, Knopoff, and Beckman (1998) examined values at the Body Shop® and found a direct
link between the espoused values of the organization and emotion regulation behaviors of
workers.
Most researchers argue moreover that the newcomer socialization phase typically lasts
for up to a year (Morrison, 1993, 2002) although, for newly employed graduates in jobs with
high task complexity (e.g., engineers), this phase can last for up to three years (Morrison &
Vancouver, 2000). It is during this socialization phase that newcomers appear to seek
information and feedback. They do so in order to become proficient at their jobs and to integrate
into the organization’s culture (Morrison, 1993). Importantly, this includes normative
information about expected role behaviors, and social feedback about how to behave during
workplace social interactions (Morrison, 1993, 2000). These newcomers can source this
information and feedback through one or more of three channels: (1) observation and monitoring
of their supervisor and peers, (2) direct inquiry from supervisors and peers, or (3) from company
literature (including operational manuals, codes of conduct, strategy documents, internal
communications, performance guidelines, organizational websites and newsletters; see Ashford,
Blatt, & VandeWalle, 2003; Morrison, 1993, 2000).
Emotional labor researchers propose further that it is during this socialization process that
employees learn organization-specific emotional display rules, including the emotion regulation
strategy norms used to achieve them (Greguras & Diefendorff, 2009; Grandey et al., 2013;
Matsumoto, Yoo, Petrova, & Hirayama, 2005). In this regard, Clarke (2007) found that
newcomer healthcare workers tend to use workplace learning methods during their socialization
phase; they do so to learn to use effective emotion regulation strategies for that particular work
context. These methods include on-the-job learning and the opportunity to reflect on and to share
experiences with supportive others in the work setting – and are seen by newcomers as a way of
developing their professional role abilities.
In sum, it is clear that HR practitioners should focus on intrapersonal emotion regulation
strategy and emotional display use in the areas of selection and socialization (Level 3). Given
that certain cognitive reappraisal (e.g., positive cognitive reappraisal) and attentional deployment
(e.g., mindfulness) strategies typically have positive impacts on employee behaviors, interactions
and performance (see Grandey et al., 2013; Lawrence et al., 2011; Mesmer-Magnus et al., 2012;
Webb et al., 2012), it follows that selection criteria should start focusing on whether potential
recruits use these emotion regulation strategies habitually. So-called “onboarding programs”
should also include information about emotional verbal and non-verbal display expectations that
organizations require as part of employees’ job roles.

Finally, HR practitioners would do well to provide front-line managers with checklists
and/or training. This should serve to remind them to provide information and ongoing feedback
to newcomers (during socialization) about the emotional displays that are expected (and
forbidden) in their particular work context. These lists should also provide useful intrapersonal
emotion regulation strategies that they may utilize to deal with work stressors. Alternatively (and
as suggested by Clark, 2007), mentoring programs could be utilized where mentors discuss
emotional normative behavioral expectations and use coaching techniques to develop
newcomers’ intrapersonal emotion regulation repertoires (Level 4).
Performance Management
Ashkanasy et al. (2002) point out that management generates emotion for both the
employee being performance-managed and the supervisor. In this regard, giving feedback
involves passing judgment on another’s performance and behaviors and, since human judgment
is inherently influenced by emotion (Damasio, 1994; Hanoch, 2002), that means our emotions
influence the feedback we give to others (Level 1 and 3). Similarly, receiving feedback can be
an emotional experience. In this respect, London and Smither (2002) developed a model that
identifies emotions as a central element of the performance appraisal process. These authors note
in particular that employees inevitably experience an initial emotional response to feedback (cf.
“primary appraisal,” Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and then must manage their emotions
(“secondary appraisal”) to deal successfully with the feedback and then to respond to it
mindfully (Level 3). On this basis, there seems to be clear evidence of the importance of
emotions in the performance management practices at the individual level.
Indeed, research has consistently linked emotions to employee performance, especially at
the individual level. Kluemper, DeGroot, and Choi (2013) argue that the ability to manage
emotions results in higher work performance (Level 2 and 3). Similarly, Gooty et al. (2014)
found that emotion-focused coping (a range of strategies designed to deal with discrete
emotions) to be linked to better performance for those individuals with high emotional
intelligence (Level 2 and Level 3). Other studies (e.g., see Lam & Kirby, 2002; Rode et al.,
2007; Wong & Law, 2002) demonstrate the link between high emotional intelligence and
individual performance (Level 2).
Culbertson, Henning, and Payne (2013) argue further that employees fall into two
categories with respect to performance management. These authors identify those that avoid
performance management or set low goals in the process who seek to avoid the negative feelings
that emerge (or can emerge) from this process. On the other hand, Culbertson et al. (2013) note
that there are employees who seek to engage in the process to prove their worth and experience
the positive feelings from achievement. Similarly for managers, poor performance management
practices can often be a result of managers wanting to avoid the uncomfortable emotions that can
emerge during the performance management process (Brown, Kulik, & Lim, 2016).
Staw, Sutton, and Pelled (1994) note in addition that positive emotions expressed by
employees can result in a halo effect, whereby positive emotions result in generalization of the
employee’s positive traits to other desirable traits and behaviors in the workplace. Staw and his
colleagues (1994) argue that employees who express emotions that are more positive have higher
evaluations of their work performance, and on this basis have the potential to earn higher
salaries. Similarly, looking at managers, Staw et al. (1994) argue that positive emotions
expressed by supervisors may result in them gaining more influence over subordinates and other
employees.
A further issue concerns what happens when employees receive feedback in performance
appraisal interviews. As Newcombe and Ashkanasy (2002) found, feedback results in varying
experiences of emotion for employees at Level 1 (see also Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). In this
regard, Atwater and Brett (2005) found that leaders who expressed positive emotions during a
performance feedback interview where change was required were rated higher in subsequent
performance appraisals than those who expressed negative emotions when asked to change
(Level 3 and 4). Smither, London, and Reilly (2005) reached a similar conclusion in their
development of a model for managing the feedback process. In their model, employees need to
regulate their initial emotional reaction to feedback if they are going to be able to change their
behavior appropriately.
We acknowledge, however, that the link between emotions and performance appraisal
requires further investigation. For instance, researchers recommend regular progressive
assessment of performance rather than an annual form-filling exercise (Kuvaas, 2011). What we
do not know is what specific emotions are generated within each process. For instance, is
provision of regular feedback likely to ameliorate negative emotions? What are the implications
in terms of any change required by this feedback? Do emotional reactions moderate in response
to feedback over time? Each of these issues should be of interest to both researchers and
practitioners.
Training and Development
Like all activities in HRM, training can be emotional. Some types of training like
interpersonal skills training and communication skills training directly addresses emotional
aspects of work. In particular, both trainees and trainers are frequently challenged to reassess
their own skills and abilities; and can even be asked to reflect on their contribution and values
(cf., Luthans, 2002). For many, this can be a confronting and emotional experience (Level 1).
Certainly, the idea of training about emotions is not new. Lief and Fox (1963) for
example examined the process of training medical students to detach emotionally from their
work. Sutton (1991) studied bill collectors trained to detach emotionally from those debtors.
More recently, Sonnentag and Binnewies (2013) identified the emotional stresses caused by
employees trying to gain work/life balance. Acknowledging these findings, Jordan (2005)
argues that emotional intelligence is an important factor that can enhance organizational learning
and may provide an avenue for improving the experience and performance of employees
(Level 2).
One major trend in HR training and development is the emergence of explicit emotion
training for employees (Level 3). Since Hochschild (1979) first identified emotional labor as a
factor in service industries, this has come to be recognized as a factor that can be trained both on
the job and in courses (e.g., see Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). While this type of training has
become popular in the fast food industry (Leidner, 1993), Little, Kluemper, Nelson, and Ward
(2013) comment that such training appears to be spreading to other service industry sectors.
More recently, the idea that leaders can be trained to “lead with emotional labor” has arisen
(Jordan & Lindebaum, 2015). Kafetsios, Athanasiadou, and Dimou (2014) note similarly that
leaders can be trained in emotion regulation skills as a means to enhance their leadership
acumen. In the following section, we deal in more detail with the role of intrapersonal ER in
training and development.

Emotional regulation in training and development
There is a good deal of existing research in clinical, social and organizational psychology
that can inform evidence-based training or coaching approaches aiming to improve employees’
intrapersonal emotion regulation behaviors. Current techniques identified within disciplines may
be modified to improve emotion regulation for employees via training programs, mentoring
programs or a more individualized and client-focused employee assistance program (EAPs, e.g.,
anger management courses or formal counseling or coaching sessions; Lawrence et al., 2011;
Novaco, 1977).
In particular, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak, and Gross (2015) found that interventions
involving training both clinical and non-clinical helped participants to use attention deployment,
cognitive change, and response modulation strategies to improve their positive emotions in the
short term. Training involving situation selection during an event and attentional deployment
before, during, and after an event, seems to be the most effective means to improve positive
emotions in the long term. In this regard, meta-analysis findings by DiGiuseppe and Tafrate
(2003) revealed that one-on-one, rather than group anger management courses are more
successful in regulating further anger episodes, particularly if the client is committed to
behavioral change. Finally, we note a study by Deffenbacher, Oetting, and DiGiuseppe (2002)
where the authors outline anger management interventions that involve relaxation, identification
of cognitive patterns, and behavioral skill enhancement. These authors argue that combining all
three of the above approaches is the most effective way to address unregulated anger.
Moving to an applied workplace intervention study, we see that Hulsheger et al. (2015)
conducted an intervention on a group of hairdressers. This study involved brief self-training and
daily instructions in how to use cognitive change and attentional deployment regulation
strategies (reflective of emotional labor’s deep acting strategy). The authors found that
hairdressers in the experimental condition received more tips (a proxy of job performance) than
the controls. This finding is in keeping with Grandey (2000), who argues that training programs
can enhance emotion regulation skills, particularly in relation to emotional labor. Callaghan and
Thompson (2002) note further that extensive formal training is used in call centers to enable
operators to deal intrapersonally with feelings of anger (and especially not to respond in kind).
The authors argue that organizations should screen out individuals with dysfunctional emotional
control abilities during selection processes so that employee training programs can be more
effective.
With regard to cognitive reappraisal interventions, Urry and Gross (2010) argue that
individuals who struggle with anxiety might benefit especially from a focused intervention such
as cognitive bias modification therapy (which can be used across a broad range of individuals
and focuses on typical events). This is in contrast to participation in a general intervention such
as cognitive behavioral therapy (which is usually associated with treating clinical anxiety and
depression disorder; see Butler, Chapman, Forman, & Beck, 2006, for a review).
Whereas change can result in a range of emotions including fear and anger
(Antonacopoulou & Gabriel, 2001), cognitive bias modification training could assist employees
to perceive the ambiguity around organizational change programs as positive challenge rather
than negative stressor, and as a consequence respond with enthusiasm or excitement (Mathews &
Mackintosh, 2000). We also argue that HR practitioners might find benefit in applying cognitive
behavior therapy ideas about helping individuals to understand, to manage, and to change their
cognitions and behaviors. Butler et al. (2006) suggest that such training programs should focus
directly on improving functional emotion regulation behaviors.

With regard to attentional deployment interventions: clinical, social and organizational
psychologists have all done interesting work in the area of mindfulness training interventions.
While clinical psychology researchers have increasingly seen mindfulness interventions as a
promising form of treatment for many disorders (Baer, 2003), social psychology researchers
appear to have recognized its value in shaping general well-being (Brown & Ryan, 2003), and
organizational researchers see it as the new workplace panacea (e.g., Dane, 2011; Farias &
Wikholm, 2015; Weick & Sutcliffe, 2006).
Turning now to mindfulness training in particular, we find that clinical psychologists
believe this can be valuable in terms of disengaging individuals from automatic thoughts, habits,
and unhealthy behavior patterns (including those relating to emotion regulation), and fostering
informed and self-endorsed behavioral regulation that promotes well-being (Brown & Ryan,
2003; Goldin, Ramel, & Gross, 2009). Mindfulness clinical interventions include mindfulness-
based stress reduction (MBSR: Kabat-Zinn, 2003), acceptance and commitment therapy (Hayes,
2004), and dialectical behavior therapy (Linehan, 1993). The major emphasis of these three
approaches is on learning to experience negative emotions skillfully. In this context, training in
emotion regulation skills involves elevating emotional distress through exposure to the primary
emotion in a non-judgmental environment, and building specific sets of skills.
Mindfulness training interventions in the social and organizational psychology research
domains have also involved training in meditation and mind-body practices. These consist of
decentering (i.e., “reperceiving”), amplification of positive emotions via positive attentional
deployment and savoring pleasant events in the present moment, and de-amplification of
negative emotions using meditative relaxation and stopping negative reactions (Li et al., 2016;
Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freedman, 2006). Individuals are then expected to enact such
processes during everyday life to ensure that they are always attentive to the present moment
(Dane, 2011). In particular, the results of a meta-analysis by Sedlmeier et al. (2012) indicate that
mindfulness meditation training results in strong significant effects (r = .40 - .32) in terms of
reducing stress and state anxiety, and improving attention, mindfulness, and to a lesser extent
improvements in wellbeing (r = .25). The use of mindfulness training interventions in the
workplace reveals that mindfulness training, in comparison to control groups, positively
influences increased mindfulness strategy use (Wolever et al., 2012), reduced use of surface
acting (Hulsheger et al., 2013), reduced workplace stress and sleep difficulty (Wolever et al.,
2012), increased job satisfaction, and reduced emotional exhaustion (Hulsheger et al., 2013).
While these results are encouraging, it is important to note that there have also been
reports of a “dark side” to some mindfulness meditation techniques (Farias & Wikholm, 2015;
Forster, 2016; Shapiro, 1992). For some employees, mindfulness meditation gives rise to
memories of historical traumatic events, loss of identity, confusion, paranoia, panic and
depression (Forster, 2016). Shapiro also found that 63% of a sample of long-term meditators
experienced at least one negative outcome from meditation retreats and 7% experienced
significant adverse outcomes including emotional pain, panic, depression and anxiety. Many of
those who report adverse consequences do not have a history of mental disorders before
commencing meditation practices sponsored by organizations (Farias & Wikholm, 2015; Forster,
2016). Although potentially a small population of participants, these findings point to the need
for qualified personnel to develop training programs, actually conduct the meditation sessions
and be available to provide on-going guidance for day-to-day meditation practice (Farias &
Wikholm, 2015).
In sum, there is evidence that training programs aimed at improving the use of positive
emotion regulation cognitive reappraisal (e.g., positive cognitive reappraisal) and attention
deployment (e.g., mindfulness) strategies can result in improved use and have other positive
organizational flow-on effects, including performance. Therefore, it should be a strategic
advantage to organizations if they began to focus on improving workers’ emotion regulation
skills (Rupp & Spencer, 2006). HR practitioners wishing to provide emotion regulation-focused
training to their employees should utilize this existing research to produce evidence-based
training, mentoring and EAP activities and programs. Those practitioners wishing to utilize
meditation in their organizations should seek professional advice in developing their programs in
order to mitigate the “dark side” of mindfulness meditation (Farias & Wikholm, 2015). We
conclude this discussion by noting that the evidence suggests that appropriately trained personnel
should be utilized to guide people through the mindfulness meditation sessions and to provide
potential ongoing guidance.
Another area that has become a particular focus in organizations is emotional intelligence
training (Level 2). That said, Jordan, Murray, and Lawrence (2009) comment that many training
programs lack rigor and that their developers appear to have promoted them principally as
commercial products. Furnham (2009) comments in this regard that many emotional intelligence
training programs seem to focus on stress reduction and/or social skills training and/or therapy.
Clarke (2006) echoes this sentiment in suggesting that, to establish the unique contribution they
make to improvements in employee performance, managers need to assess the effectiveness of
all commercial emotional intelligence training programs.
Clearly, there remains scope for substantial research on the actual impact of emotions
training and both workplace and personal behaviors. In particular, the popularity of emotional
intelligence training requires specific attention to determine the incremental validity of this type
of training over traditional interpersonal skills and stress-reduction training programs.
Compensation and Benefits.
While compensation and benefits are often described as a purely functional aspect of
HRM (and are therefore often outsourced from many organizations), we posit that there are
nonetheless significant emotions involved in such activity (particularly at Level 1), especially
when perceptions of injustice arise. Indeed, the critical nature of organizational justice has been
shown to have a major impact on employees’ performance (Colquitt, LePine, Piccolo, Zapata, &
Rich, 2012), organizational citizenship behaviors (Moorman & Byrne, 2013), and job
(dis)satisfaction (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, & Ng, 2001). Managing compensation
decisions in this case often involves an understanding of emotions and emotional reactions to
such decisions, and highlights the importance of emotion management.
Aryee, Walumbwa, Mondejar, and Chu (2015) commented in particular on the central
relationship between justice perceptions of employees and their positive affect at work.
Similarly, Barsky and Kaplan (2007) found that affect plays a direct role in determining
employees’ perceptions of the justice climate in their organization. On this basis, it is clear that
compensation and rewards are a physical manifestation of justice policies in organizations, and
are of critical importance to HR Managers. We note, however, that this appears to be an area in
which there is a dearth of research. Certainly, we anticipate some interesting research questions
can emerge from looking at emotional responses to compensation and remuneration decisions.
Practical HRM Implications at Level 3
Arising from our earlier theoretical discussion of the role of emotion and emotion
regulation at Level 3 of the Ashkanasy (2003) model, we identify two topics that hold important
implications for HRM practice. These are (1) interpersonal regulation and (2) emotional labor.
Interpersonal emotion regulation
We contend that research on interpersonal ER has the potential to result in effective HR
practices. One potential area for focus pertains to the training and development of managers to be
aware of, and conversant, in a range of ER strategies to manage emotion-related events with staff
appropriately. For instance, Williams (2007) describes how managers can effectively use ER
strategies in interpersonal interactions with staff when presenting them with potentially threat
inducing or change information. The types of emotion-infused workplace scenarios that might be
better dealt with by managers skilled in interpersonal ER include communicating and managing
organizational redundancies and restructuring, as well as the more day-to-day activities of
managing employee performance. For example, a manager might be more likely to choose to
modify a threat-inducing situation by holding a meeting at a neutral venue instead of a
boardroom (i.e., use situation modification as an ER strategy). Alternatively, a manager might be
better equipped to reframe a pay cut cognitively as a way to mitigate potential job losses (i.e.,
using cognitive reappraisal as an appropriate strategy).
As a further option, a manager trained in a repertoire of interpersonal ER strategies might
more effectively choose to discuss the rejection of an employee’s pay rise request in a more
informal setting, for example, while walking with them to a restaurant, or use deep breathing to
modulate their response. In addition to a focus on the development of these skills in staff, it is
clear that other HR functions need to be in alignment. For instance, the recruitment, selection and
promotion of employees with greater interpersonal ER skills, rather than the traditional focus on
the technical skills and knowledge of a position, will also have benefits for organizations. The
important role of selecting and appointing managers or leaders with these interpersonal ER skills
is also worth consideration, as is the promotion to higher-level positions of employees already
with these skills, or the potential to develop or strengthen them further.
Emotional labor
In terms of the practical implications of emotional labor, it seems rather than seeing jobs
as wholly rational enterprises, internal HRM specialists and managers need to assess the
emotional impact of each employee’s job, and to design job assignments that take this into
account (Ashkanasy & Daus, 2002). Nowhere is this more apparent than when employees are
engaged in what Hochschild (1973) refers to as “emotion work” with clients or patients or
customers. Practical strategies might include mini breaks away from the customer-service
interface to reduce emotional load/exhaustion. Alternatively, job design that sees employees
involved in the whole business process (e.g., sales staff not only deal directly with the customer
but also order the salient product, are given back-of-house time to become knowledgeable about
the product line) which provides time for the employee to recover from emotional labor.
Moreover, and as we developed in our earlier discussion of Level 1, recruitment and selection is
also vital to ensure that staff are hired with more effective emotional skills, as well as training in
how to reframe events to promote greater use of deep acting.
It is also important for HRM to remember that “emotion work” can also occur internally
within the workplace between managers and their subordinates. As a starting point, from the
perspective of organizational leadership, it might be prudent to reflect on the implicit emotional
display rules that the business is expecting of their staff. For instance, are employees (and
leaders) given opportunities or allowed to express authentic emotion (albeit in an appropriate
form)? Or are felt emotion expressions (positive or negative) generally frowned upon? In terms
of recruitment and selection, Ashkanasy and Daus (2002) suggest that the selection of employees
and teams should depend to some extent on a positive emotional attitude. Managers should also
select employees based on their record for engendering a positive emotional attitude in their
work teams. Furthermore, managers should seek to train their employees to improve their
emotional intelligence skills and to engage in healthy emotional expression at work.
Leader-member exchange theory
According to Purcell and Hutchinson (2007), in terms of HRM, what is critical is the
extent to which employees see their managers (especially front-line managers) to be providing
effective HR practices. According to these authors, HR practices exist initially as policies that
are applied by supervisors and managers. The strength and quality of the LMX relationship,
these authors argue, is to deliver or to translate a HRM system into action with subordinates.
Purcell and Hutchinson also argue that a strong and integrated bundle of HRM practices coupled
with visible and high-quality LMX relationships is what ensures positive relationships between
HRM practices and organizational performance.
The emotion-related research on LMX also highlights the important role of positive
affective experiences in the LMX relationship, and the important part supervisors play in
determining this (from the subordinate’s perspective). Overall, findings suggest that practical
training can increase the quality of the LMX relationship. For example, development of
interpersonal communication skills, and training leaders in how to give personal recognition and
mutual support would appear to promote the quality of the LMX relationships (Tse &
Ashkanasy, 2008).
Leadership as emotional labor
According to Humphrey et al. (2008), the emotional labor literature on leadership has
important practical implications. Most importantly, Humphrey and his colleagues suggest that
managers need to pay attention to the moods and emotions of their followers. These scholars
argue that this advice is in contrast to the advice published regularly in popular media – and
sometimes in academic outlets – that variables such as job satisfaction (tightly bound to emotion
processes at Level 3) might have nothing to do with performance and productivity. Humphrey et
al. also suggest strongly that the popular advice to act in a business-like manner and to refrain
from displaying emotions needs to be changed. Although managers and other leaders may not
have to express emotions 24-hours-a-day, expressing the appropriate emotions seems to be a key
function that both task and relationship leaders need to perform. Thus, rather than telling
managers and other leaders not to express their emotions, leaders need better training in how to
express their emotions effectively. This may help leaders use either deep acting or genuine
emotional expressions and avoid the harmful psychological effects that accompany surface
acting. Mastering the basic skills behind genuine emotional expression and deep acting may
make the workplace more productive and enjoyable for both leaders and followers.
There is also mounting evidence that leaders need to use considerable judgment about
which emotions to display, especially during times of crisis or when confronting other negative
workplace events. At such times, leaders need publicly to display emotions demonstrative of
confidence and hopefulness even if they personally have the same concerns as their subordinates.
Although performing surface acting may make leaders more effective, it may also add to leaders’
feelings of emotional exhaustion.
Finally, in addressing Level 5, we refer to Ashkanasy and Daus (2002), who presented
eight practical recommendations for creating a “healthy organizational climate,” five of which
they referred to as “preventative” and three as “restorative.” Based on the foregoing discussion
we conclude that these strategies are as relevant today as they were in 2002. The eight strategies
are:
(1) Assess the “emotional impact” of jobs (preventative). The point here, and as we
stress throughout this chapter, is that managers need to recognize that all work is inherently
emotional. As we outlined earlier, for many years, organizational managers appeared to hold the
belief that employees need to be totally rational and emotionless when they come to work. In
fact, and as we hope we have made clear, the opposite is true. In this regard, Ouweneel, Le
Blanc, and Schaufeli (2012) advise employees “don’t leave your heart at home” (p. 537). In
particular, all jobs have an emotional component, although some have more than others (e.g.,
service workers, compassionate professions).
(2) Create a positive and friendly emotional climate through modelling (preventative).
Managers and leaders who model positive emotions at work maximize the likelihood that their
subordinates will reflect similar attitudes, either via contagion (cf. Sy et al., 2005) or social-
cognitive role modelling (Wood & Bandura, 1989). Leaders should also attempt wherever
possible to be authentic when interacting with their subordinates, including knowing when it is
appropriate to display negative emotions (cf. Newcombe & Ashkanasy, 2002).

(3) Encourage a positive emotional climate through rewards and compensation systems
(preventative). Employee compensation systems continue to be undervalued in HRM practice
and research (Gupta & Shaw, 2014). In terms of what we are arguing in this chapter, moreover,
and as Ashkanasy and Daus (2002) stress, organizational policies need to be tailored specifically
to reward positive behavior. Importantly, and consistent with AET (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996),
employees also need to see that there is a match between organizational policies and how they
are expected to behave day-to-day, especially in the form of positive organizational support
(Kurtessis et al., 2015).
(4) Select employees and teams based, in part, on a positive emotional attitude
(preventative). Organizations are ultimately a collective of individual employees, recruited and
selected to enact the organization’s mission and aims. If organizations are to develop a positive
affective climate, then clearly they need to attract employees who are able to demonstrate the
personal qualities and skills needed to achieve this outcome. Moreover, and as we discussed
earlier in this chapter, recruitment, selection, and socialization of new employees are functions
that are inherently emotion-infused and involve issues of emotional regulation in both self and
others.
(5) Train employees in emotional intelligence skills and healthy emotional expression
(prevention). In addition to selecting employees, and again as we stress throughout this chapter,
organizations need to institute training programs across the organization that specifically address
emotional skills, including training in emotional intelligence (Schutte, Malouff, & Thorsteinsson,
2013), empathy (Lam, Kolomitro, & Alamparambil, 2011), and emotional labor (deep acting)
training (Grandey et al., 2013). Moreover, as we noted with selection, recruitment, and
socialization, training programs inherently involve emotions and emotional regulations.

(6) Culture change (organization-level restoration). While organizational culture change
is notoriously difficult to effect (see Schneider, Brief, & Guzzo, 1996), ultimately managers of
organizations characterized by a negative culture must strive to achieve this level of change.
Schein (2004) emphasizes that this requires challenging deep-seated assumptions; moreover, if
the organization fails to shift these assumptions, then culture change is doomed to failure.
Schneider and his colleagues argue that such change is nonetheless possible, even if it requires
top-level personnel changes and/or rethinking reward policies.
(7) Environmental and job change through job re-design (job-level restoration).
Engendering positive organizational culture and climate sometimes comes down ultimately to
the nature of the work done by individual employees. This especially applies to providing
individual employees with the freedom to use their own initiative with their work. In the end,
employers need to think seriously about employee empowerment (Menon, 2001).
(8) Individual change through targeting training, punishment, re-assignment, or firing
(individual-level restoration). Finally, and continuing the theme of addressing organizational-
level issues from the bottom up, managers need to address the need for individual employees to
participate in the culture/climate. This requires HRM policies that clearly set out positive
expectations for employees including the rewards that can be reaped for exhibiting such behavior
(and conversely, punishments for behaviors that run counter to such expectations).
Conclusions
In this chapter, we presented a multi-level perspective on emotions and emotional
regulation, with special reference to HRM applications. In the first part of the chapter, we
defined emotion and introduced Ashkanasy’s (2003) five-level model of emotions in the
workplace. The five levels addressed in the model are: (1) within-person temporal variations,
(2) between persons (individual differences), (3) interpersonal processes; (4) groups and teams,
and (5) the organization as a whole. At Level 1, we focused in particular on the emotion of fear,
which is a basic emotion associated with an organism’s quest for survival, citing the work of
LeDoux (1995a, 1995b, 1996, 1998, 2000), which we argue is ubiquitous in organizational
settings. We also discussed in detail how individuals can use emotional regulation to deal with
their responses (Gross, 1998, 2013a, 2013b, 2015). At Level 2 in the model, we focused on
emotional intelligence (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Salovey and Mayer, 1990) that, although still
controversial, remains a popular construct in management consulting and has now garnered
considerable empirical support as a valid and useful concept. Level 3 represents the
interpersonal level of analysis in the five-level model, including the effect of emotional labor and
emotional regulation, especially interpersonal emotional regulations (where the actor seeks to
regulate emotion in others). From an HRM perspective, the key concept in this regard is reflected
in emotional labor theory (Hochschild, 1983), which we argue is closely related to emotional
regulation at Level 1. Level 4 deals with groups and teams. We focused in particular on
leadership and LMX, which we argue is intrinsically associated with emotions and emotional
regulation. Finally, we argued that Level 5, which is the top level in the model, encompasses
processes at all of the lower levels, with the ultimate aim to engender a “healthy emotional
climate.”
In the second part of the chapter, we addressed the practical outcomes for HRM of our
earlier analysis (based in the five-level model). At Levels 1 and 2, we addressed in particular
five main aspects of HRM: (1) recruitment, selection, and socialization; (2) performance
management; (3) training and development; and (4) compensation and rewards, focusing on the
role of emotional regulations, especially with regard to selection and socialization, and training
and development. With regard to recruitment, selection, and socialization, we presented
evidence to show that these processes are inherently emotions for both sides, for example
candidates and recruiters in selection. It is in selection and socialization, however, that emotions,
emotional contagion, and emotional regulation play the most critical roles, ultimately affecting
the success or failure of a recruitment decision. When it comes to performance management,
again the evidence is strong that emotions play a critical role, including creation of halo effects
and responses to performance feedback. In relation to training and development, again we
argued that emotions play a central role, including both training in use of emotions and
emotional labor as well as the emotional effects of training in trainees. We also discussed in
detail the issue of emotional regulation in training and development, concluding that the
evidence points to such training, especially mindfulness and emotional intelligence training, as
leading to positive employee performance outcomes, although it is also important to ensure
adoption of appropriate techniques in such training. Finally, we noted that compensation and
benefits, while often regarded as purely functional, are also infused with emotion, especially
when it comes to perceptions of procedural and distributive justice.
At Levels 3 and 4 in the model, we turned our attention to the practical implications of
interpersonal emotional regulation, emotional labor, LMX quality, and “leading with emotional
labor,” concluding in each instance that HR managers need to pay close attention to each of these
facets, including provision of appropriate training in each instance. All of this comes together at
Level 5 of the model, which covers the organization as a whole entity. In this regard, we cited
Ashkanasy and Daus (2002), who set out five “preventative” and three “restorative” strategies
that need to be enacted if an organization is to achieve a “healthy organizational climate.”

In conclusion, we set out in this chapter to provide a comprehensive overview of the role
emotion and emotional regulation play in organizations, with a focus in particular on HRM. The
central point we make in this chapter is that, while there remains scope for further research in
this field, we know now that emotions are an unavoidable component of working life and should
never be underestimated. A further point is that emotions in organizations constitutes an
intrinsically multi-level phenomenon, extending from what employees do, think, and feel
throughout every moment of their working days, up to the notion of an overarching emotional
climate that affects the organization as a whole. While we acknowledge that there are gaps in
our knowledge of this field, we now know enough about the topic for HR managers to begin to
plan and to act on the basis that emotions and emotional regulation are core components of
organizational well-being and effectiveness.
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Figure 1. Fear Circuits in the Brain. Note: Neural circuits involved in fear (from LeDoux,
1995b). Four pathways are identified. Abbreviations: LEM (lemniscual nuclei), EX
(extralemniscal areas), LH (lateral hypothalamus), RVL (rostral ventral lateral medulla), BNST
(bed nucleus of the stria terminalis), PVN (paraventricular hypothalmus). Source: With
permission, from the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 46 © 1995 by Annual Reviews.
www.annualreviews.org
Sensory cortex Sensory cortex Perirhinal cortex

(Primary) (Association)
2 3
Sensory Thalamus Hippocampal
4 Formation
LEM EX 1
AMYGDALA
Sensory stimulus
Central Gray LH BNST
RVL PVN
Emotional behavior Autonomic Hypothalamic-

Nervous Pituitary axis
system
Figure 2. Five levels of emotion and relevance to HRM (Adapted from Ashkanasy, 2003)
5. Organization-wide
Organizational emotional climate and culture
(Restorative and preventative strategies)
4. Groups and Teams

Emotional contagion
Leader-member exchange (LMX)
3. Interpersonal Interactions
Interpersonal emotional regulation
Emotional labor
2. Between Persons
Emotional intelligence
1. Within-Person
Fear and survival
Intrapersonal emotional regulation

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Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM: A Multi-Level Perspective

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RUNNING HEAD: Emotions and HRM

Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM:

Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM:

HRM. We do so by considering five levels of analysis: (1) within-person temporal variations,

and (5) the organization as a whole. We focus especially on processes of emotional regulation in

an OB perspective by introducing the five-level model, and explaining in particular how

four major domains of concern to HR managers: (1) recruitment, selection, and socialization;

(2) performance management; (3) training and development; and (4) compensation and benefits.

Keywords: emotions, emotional regulation, five-level model

Emotions and Emotional Regulation in HRM:

move.” As such, emotions represent an organization’s basic biological responses to

about the neurophysiology of emotion).

dependent variables such as job satisfaction and work-life balance.

deciding between alternatives.

flight attendants, debt collectors) need to assume organizationally-mandated emotional

in more detail later in this chapter).

“dysfunctional antithesis of reality” (p. 120).

(“affect-driven behavior”) and development of attitudes (such as job satisfaction and/or

commitment), which then lead to more considered “judgment-driven behaviors”. Known as

idea to encompass a strategic perspective.

emotional regulation in organizations is manifest in the Listserv Emonet, an international online

(The International Conference on Emotions and Worklife, http://www.emotionsnet.org).

Associated with these activities, is an annual book series (Research on Emotion in

Organizations, http://emeraldinsight.com/series/reom). For recent reviews of the field, see

While the important role of emotions is now well-acknowledged in the OB literature, it

by a combination of employees’ abilities, motivation and opportunity to perform – seem to imply

The Five Level Model

As foreshadowed, we refer to the five-level model of emotions in organizations proposed

to “within-person” temporal variability in affect and behavior. At Level 2, attention turns to

“between-person” variability, which refers to more stable individual dispositions, including

property. Finally, Level 5 is an overarching level in the model encompassing organization-wide

phenomena, including affective culture and climate.

Emotion at the Within-Persons Level (Level 1)

As Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) emphasize in AET, an employee’s experience at work

there is a burgeoning stream of research that encourages the examination of within-person

HRM perspective, understanding within-person variation in emotion at work is important for

managing the day-to-day behaviors of individual employees. Emotions experienced on a within-

emotional regulation as a means to manage emotions in worklife.

Fear: The Survival Emotion

Moreover, while fear is a critical emotion in organizational settings, it is not necessarily a

(2004) referred to the role fear plays as “disconfirmation,” resulting in a re-evaluation of

members out of a culturally ingrained mode of functioning to a more conscious or mindful

(Bélanger, Lafreniere, Vallerand, & Kruglanski, 2013).

To understand how fear works from a neuropsychological perspective, we turn to the

them. Consequently, organisms find it exceedingly difficult to unlearn autonomic reactions to

stimuli and therefore find it difficult to overcome fear reactions.

Insert Figure 1 about here

externally visible visceral outcomes.”

(2) problem-focused coping. In emotion-focused coping, the individual seeks to ameliorate the

emotion-focused and problem-focused coping depending on the level of coping resources.

The Emotion Regulation (ER) Process Model

According to Gross (1998), individuals regulate their emotions using antecedent-focused

modification, (3) attentional deployment, and (4) cognitive change. The fifth is a response-

enactment of a strategy can occur consciously, unconsciously, in isolation, or as part of

Brotheridge, & Gross, 2009).

expressive suppression leads to the maintenance or increased experience of negative emotions,

show that habitual or experimentally-induced cognitive reappraisal tends to be associated with a

positive impact on experienced emotions, as well as no or decreased physiological, cognitive,

and social functioning deficits.