Impact of Emotional Contagion on Work Performance of Employees

Abstract

People possess variety of emotions. In spite of the effectiveness and the productiveness, they capture others’ emotions and moods habitually. It spreads as if a virus among them. Employees serve as the life-blood of any organization that ensures the health at the workplace. Thus, every organization strives to enhance and nurture their work performance effectively and efficiently by carefully managing the factors that affect their performance. The previously mentioned habitual nature of catching others’ emotions at work can have an impact on employees’ performance. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the impact emotional contagion on individual work performance. The study is an explanatory, cross-sectional in nature. A standard questionnaire was administered among the participants of the sample, selected through convenience sampling technique, which encompasses 100 respondents who are in the age category of 18 years or above that who work organizations. The items in the questionnaire have been extracted from the standard measurement scales. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression have been used to test the hypotheses and draw conclusions. Results revealed that there is a significant relationship between the emotional contagion and individual work performance. Further, a significant impact is found from emotional contagion on work performance; as R-square is 15.7% Thus, building on the findings, it is recommended that the individuals should spend more time with the ones who boost their morale while practicing the effective ways they can use to manage the impact of others’ negative emotions and moods. Findings of the study would be beneficial for all the individuals, employees, managers, and for every organization that deploy humans at work to manage the emotions and moods productively in a way which they support their work performance.