Still waters stay put: uncovering the effects of emotional variability using experience sampling methodology

ABSTRACT

Research has been extensively focusing on the overall mean levels of positive and negative emotions, while paying much less attention to how fluctuating they are across time. This research explores the impacts of employee emotional variability with emotional exhaustion as a potential mediator and psychological withdrawal and job satisfaction as outcomes. In a sample of 109 student employees working in two hotels, this study utilized experience sampling methodology to examine the effects of variability in both positive emotions and negative emotions across 9 weeks. The results of the longitudinal design suggested that higher variability in negative emotions predicted more emotional exhaustion, which in turn, was associated with less job satisfaction and more psychological withdrawal. The findings support the notion that too much variability in negative emotions is maladaptive. Findings can inform the practice on reducing employee exhaustion and promoting satisfaction and retention for employees.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional variability
• emotional exhaustion
• psychological withdrawal
• job satisfaction
• experience sampling methodology
• longitudinal design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors .

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (General Program) [grant number 2015M581294]; Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities in Tianjin Province, China [grant number TJGL13-009].