Positive group affective tone and employee work engagement: A multilevel investigation

Abstract

We investigated the impact of positive group affective tone on employee work engagement. Participants in the study were 74 research and development groups (324 employees and 74 group leaders) employed by high-technology companies in China. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed a positive cross-level relationship between positive group affective tone and employee work engagement; this relationship was partially mediated by employee core self-evaluation. In addition, there was a positive relationship between leader psychological capital and positive group affective tone at the group level. We further found that leader psychological capital was a moderator between employee core self-evaluation and their work engagement, such that the positive association was stronger when leader psychological capital was high than when it was low. Implications for organizational and individual change are described, and recommendations for future research directions are discussed.

Group Positive Affect and Beyond: An Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda

“…This conclusion has been determined by several studies that verified the effect of group positive affect on individual wellbeing. For instance, group positive affect acts as a job resource that reinforces the individual’s cognition about his/her self-worth and capabilities, as well as enhancing positive group relationship precursors of individual work engagement [ 81 ]. Moreover, group positive affect could buffer individual psychological distress as the opposite of wellbeing.…”

“…However, the authors also observed that those groups that experience positive affect also pursue common goals, have the skills to complete the tasks, and in turn, achieve good group performance. Finally, extending the concept of emotional contagion, Zhang, et al [ 81 ] proposed that leaders could share much more than their emotions. In fact, the authors pointed out that the leader’s psychological capital guides the development of group positive affect in their followers.…”

The impact of group efficacy beliefs and transformational leadership on followers’ self-efficacy: a multilevel-longitudinal study

“…Chi, Chung, and Tsai (2011) showed that these positive leader emotions influence the group's positive affect. Also, group positive affect is associated with job performance and, in turn, on individual selfefficacy (Seong & Cho, 2014;Zhang, et al, 2017).…”

Grupos Felices y Productivos: Una aproximación al estudio del afecto positivo en grupos desde la Psicología Positiva

“…Desde entonces, el estudio del constructo ha proliferado con el objetivo de este entender este fenómeno grupal (Menges, y Kilduff, 2015). Concretamente, la literatura científica determina que el afecto positivo grupal tiene efectos sobre diferentes variables de resultado como el rendimiento grupal (Lee, Stajkovic, y Sergent, 2016), la creatividad grupal (Shin, 2014), eficacia colectiva (Salanova, Llorens y Schaufeli, 2011) e incluso el bienestar individual (Zhang, Zhang, y Qiu, 2017).…”