Emotion and Proactivity at Work: Prospects and Dialogues

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Individuals’ behaviours at work are known to be shaped by cold, or cognitive-motivational, processes as well as hot, or affect-motivational, processes. To date, employee proactivity research has mainly focused on the ‘cold’ side. But emotion has been proposed to ‘energize’ employees’ proactivity, especially in interdependent and uncertain work environments.

In this pioneering work, expert scholars offer new thinking on the process by examining how emotion can drive employees’ proactivity in the workplace and how, in turn, that proactivity can shape one’s emotional experiences.

Kelly Z. Peng is Associate Professor in the Department of Business Administration at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. An organizational psychologist, her work focuses on emotions in the workplace.

Chia-Huei Wu is Professor in Organizational Psychology at the University of Leeds in the UK. His research in organisational behaviour focuses on proactive behaviour, personality development, work design and employees' subjective well-being.