Negative core affect and employee silence: How differences in activation, cognitive rumination, and problem-solving...

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Affective Science
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Employees often remain silent about workplace issues due to negative emotions.
• Existing research links negative affect to employee silence, but the nuances require further exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a theoretical framework explaining employee silence based on core affect and cognitive appraisal.
• To investigate how affect activation levels and cognitive demands (rumination vs. problem-solving) influence employee silence.

Main Methods:

• A diary study was conducted with professionals across various organizations.
• Data collected focused on within-person experiences of core affect, cognitive rumination, problem-solving demands, and employee silence.

Main Results:

• Low-activated negative core affect significantly increased employee silence when cognitive rumination was high.
• High-activated negative core affect decreased employee silence when cognitive problem-solving demand was high.

Conclusions:

• Organizations should mitigate low-activated negative affect to reduce silence in highly ruminative employees.
• Managing high-activated negative affect effectively can decrease silence among employees facing high problem-solving demands.