Edinburgh Napier University

  Intro & Rationale The thesis develops an understanding of emotion display at work that is stimulated by a cross-paradigm dialogue. Emotion and emotion display at work are subjects that have received increasing interest from psychology, HR and management scholars and from organisations. This is a topic that has been explored by different perspectives, each with differing emphases and there have been recent calls for greater integration of these ‘lenses’. The thesis argues that meaningful integration requires a form of cross-paradigm dialogue, framed as engagement with four emergent, interconnected, strands of thought that advocate the ‘contextually embedded’ nature of experience, a conception of a ‘dynamic, active individual’, ‘reflexivity’ on behalf of the researcher and awareness of the ‘transformative potential’ of knowledge creation activity.
Methodology & Findings A Mixed Methods methodology is adopted to explore emotion display in a UK university. Emotion display within this context is suggested as a complex process where the individual acts as active and dynamic interpreter of the multiple influences, personal, situational and organisational, on emotion display and negotiator of tensions between them. The display of anger, emotion display in interactions with students and senior managers and emotion display in managers are highlighted in particular as revealing some of the subtleties and ambiguities present in this dynamic process.
Impact The thesis suggesting that a cross-paradigm dialogue offer some useful extensions of current understanding of the display of emotion at work and can also usefully prompt a review of current practice. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are also discussed.