Emotional Contagion in the Online Environment: Investigating the Dynamics and Implications of Emotional Encounters in Mixed-Motive Situations in the Electronic Context

This paper explores the effects of individual emotional encounters in mixed motive situations on each individual outcomes, dyadic outcomes, and attitudes in an electronic communication context. Results of the experiment show that positive emotions expressed online tended to lead to greater emotional contagion than did negative emotions, and can be beneficial for a future relationship, while negative emotions online tended to exert influence over individual gains. Specifically, our data indicates that those participants who negotiated with an emotionally negative other obtained lower individual outcomes than did their counterparts, while those negative counterparts had the biggest share of the pie among all conditions. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

[1]  R. I. Sutton,et al.  Organizational behavior: linking individuals and groups to organizational contexts. , 1993, Annual review of psychology.

[2]  W. Orlikowski,et al.  Genres of Organizational Communication: A Structurational Approach to Studying Communication and Media , 1992 .

[3]  P. Brickman,et al.  Causal chains: Attribution of responsibility as a function of immediate and prior causes. , 1975 .

[4]  Terri R. Kurtzberg,et al.  Schmooze or Lose: Social Friction and Lubrication in E-Mail Negotiations , 2000 .

[5]  Caroline A. Bartel,et al.  The Collective Construction of Work Group Moods , 2000 .

[6]  Kathleen M. Carley,et al.  Intra-organizational Complexity and Computation , 2001 .

[7]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  The interpersonal effects of emotions in negotiations: a motivated information processing approach. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  K. Jehn.  A Multimethod Examination of the Benefits and Detriments of Intragroup Conflict , 1995 .

[9]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[10]  Edward B. Royzman,et al.  Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion , 2001 .

[11]  Ned Kock,et al.  The Psychobiological Model: Towards a New Theory of Computer-Mediated Communication Based on Darwinian Evolution , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[12]  Steven C. Currall,et al.  Conflict Escalation: Dispute Exacerbating Elements of E-mail Communication , 2003 .

[13]  D. Levy,et al.  Contagion: a theoretical and empirical review and reconceptualization. , 1993, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[14]  D. Rousseau.  Organizational behavior in the new organizational era. , 1997, Annual review of psychology.

[15]  M. Markus.  Electronic Mail as the Medium of Managerial Choice , 1994 .

[16]  A. R. Spielberg,et al.  On call and online: sociohistorical, legal, and ethical implications of e-mail for the patient-physician relationship. , 1998, JAMA.

[17]  C. Cramton.  The Mutual Knowledge Problem and Its Consequences for Dispersed Collaboration , 2001 .

[18]  J. Russell.  Affective space is bipolar. , 1979 .

[19]  Sigal G. Barsade.  The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior , 2002 .

[20]  D. Watson,et al.  Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  A. Bandura.  Social cognitive theory of self-regulation☆ , 1991 .

[22]  Leigh Thompson,et al.  Negotiating via information technology: Theory and application , 2002 .

[23]  Thomas A. Finholt,et al.  Electronic Groups at Work. , 1990 .

[24]  B. Barry,et al.  The Medium and the Message: The Adaptive Use of Communication Media in Dyadic Influence , 2004 .

[25]  Katelyn Y. A. McKenna,et al.  Relationship formation on the Internet: What's the big attraction? , 2002 .

[26]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  The interpersonal effects of anger and happiness in negotiations. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[27]  C. Anderson,et al.  The positive and negative effects of anger on dispute resolution: evidence from electronically mediated disputes. , 2004, The Journal of applied psychology.

[28]  A. Brief,et al.  Organizational behavior: affect in the workplace. , 2002, Annual review of psychology.

[29]  J. Forgas.  Affect in Social Judgments and Decisions: A Multiprocess Model , 1992 .

[30]  Charles E. Naquin,et al.  Online bargaining and interpersonal trust. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[31]  Terri R. Kurtzberg,et al.  Long and Short Routes to Success in Electronically Mediated Negotiations: Group Affiliations and Good Vibrations. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[32]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model. , 1999, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[33]  D. Starch.  Unconscious imitation in handwriting. , 1911 .

[34]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  Out of Sight, Out of Sync: Understanding Conflict in Distributed Teams , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[35]  D. Watson,et al.  The long-term stability and predictive validity of trait measures of affect. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[36]  Kathleen L. McGinn,et al.  Improvisation and the Logic of Exchange in Socially Embedded Transactions , 2002 .

[37]  L. Tiedens,et al.  Get mad and get more than even : When and why anger expression is effective in negotiations , 2006 .

[38]  Kathleen L. McGinn,et al.  Dyadic processes of disclosure and reciprocity in bargaining with communication , 2003 .

[39]  Monica T. Whitty,et al.  New rules in the workplace: Applying object-relations theory to explain problem Internet and email behaviour in the workplace , 2006, Computers in Human Behavior.

[40]  Russell Spears,et al.  Computer-Mediated Communication, De-Individuation and Group Decision-Making , 1991, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[41]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999 .

[42]  D. Watson,et al.  Toward a consensual structure of mood. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[43]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , 1986 .

[44]  Tenbrunsel,et al.  The Negotiation Matching Process: Relationships and Partner Selection. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[45]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Group decision making and communication technology , 1992 .

[46]  J. F. Veiga,et al.  Wired world woes: www.help , 1997 .

[47]  J. Miedema,et al.  Toward understanding why fairness matters: the influence of mortality salience on reactions to procedural fairness. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[48]  Sigal G. Barsade,et al.  To Your Heart's Content: A Model of Affective Diversity in Top Management Teams , 2000 .