Receivers' Perspectives on Workplace Anger
Kathryn E Moura, University, My, Peter J Jordan
2021
For years, researchers have predominantly focused on the angry person, their triggers, reactions, and the consequences of these episodes in the workplace. More recently, research has begun to emphasize receivers' workplace anger experiences within the specific contexts of conflict, conflict and negotiation, bullying, and abusive supervision (Carlson, Ferguson, Hunter, & Whitten, 2012; Geddes & Stickney, 2012; Samnani, 2013). Results reveal numerous individual and organizational outcomes
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... y related to job satisfaction, health wellbeing and turnover intention outcomes. In this thesis, I argue that gaining a better understanding of the receivers' internal (i.e., cognitive and affective) processes when faced with workplace anger is essential. More specifically, I propose that understanding the receivers' attributions made and emotion regulation (ER) strategies chosen when others express anger will shed light on how they interpret intense sender anger and respond to these incidents. To date, research has not developed a broad model outlining receivers' interpersonal and intrapersonal processes during workplace anger interactions. To better explore this phenomenon and to make a theoretical contribution to the field, I have developed the 'relational anger model' (RAM). This model is based on two foundational theories: attribution theory (Heider, 1958) and the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998). Attribution theory (Heider, 1958) encompasses an individual's interpretation of events and causation. It is used in this research to understand the attributions receivers make to explain workplace anger. The process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998) explicates the effects of sender anger on the receivers' affective experience and expression in the workplace. This research program aims to provide a better understanding of the receivers' (direct target or observer) attributions and emotion regulation strategies used in the face of workplace anger expressions. To address this aim, the relational [...]
doi:10.25904/1912/4174
fatcat:5gyb42h2wbfpvadws527rzo3zm