Affective influences on within-person changes in work performance as mediated by attentional focus

ABSTRACT

A great deal of research has investigated the performance consequences of affective experiences at work, but the mediating mechanisms that explain these consequences remain understudied. In this study, we used experience sampling method to examine within-person relationships between changes in affective states and episodic performance, as mediated by attentional allocation and regulation. Our findings show that within-person changes in negative affective states have a concurrent association with episodic performance as mediated by reduced attentional allocation and regulation, while positive affective states are associated with better performance, as mediated by enhanced attentional allocation and regulation. Our results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the performance and attentional consequences of affective states at work.

KEYWORDS:

• Affect
• attention
• resource allocation
• performance
• experience sampling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Thank you to the reviewers and editor for suggesting these additional analyses.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by The US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences under [Contract W5J9CQ-12-C-0035]. The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy, or decision].