Shared Positive Emotions and Group Effectiveness: The Role of Broadening-and-Building Interactions

Abstract

This research explores how positive emotions shared among group members influence group effectiveness, and how broadening-and-building interactions mediate this relationship. Prior research has neither conceptually specified nor empirically tested the causal mechanisms that explain how and why group emotions influence group outcomes. I sought to fill this gap by introducing broadening-and-building interactions as a group level mechanism. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998), I proposed that group members that share an emotion of joy would exhibit more frequent broadening-and-building interactions (i.e., building on ideas, morale-building communication and active affirmation) than those that share neutral emotions. In turn, broadening-and-building interactions were expected to enhance group creativity, members' satisfaction with the group and member learning, but decrease the groups' decision quality.

To test the hypotheses, I conducted an experiment with 72 work groups with multi-method measures (survey, observation, objective performance rating). The results showed that broadening-and-building interactions were indeed the key mechanism that explained the relationship between a group emotion of joy and group effectiveness. Groups experiencing a shared emotion of joy showed more frequent broadening-and-building interactions than groups experiencing neutral emotions. Regression analyzes demonstrated that broadening-and-building interactions, in turn, increased group creativity and members' satisfaction with the group but decreased group decision-making performance. Mediation analyzes confirmed the overall proposed sequence of relations: a group emotion of joy - broadening-and-building interactions - group effectiveness. I discuss the theoretical contributions of this research to group, individual emotions, and group emotions literatures, as well as the future research directions.