Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Discrete Emotions In Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis, Courtney E. Williams, Jane Shumski Thomas, Andrew A. Bennett, George C. Banks, Allison Toth, Alexandra M. Dunn, Andrew Mcbride, Janaki Gooti

Management Faculty Publications

[Summary] The relationship between emotions and job satisfaction is widely acknowledged via affective events theory (AET). Despite its widespread use, AET was not designed to address why specific emotions might differentially relate to job satisfaction. We utilize appraisal theory of emotion to refine AET and provide this nuanced theorizing. We meta‐analytically test our ideas with 235 samples across 99 883 individuals and 22 600 intra‐individual episodes. We test two approaches—specific emotion experiences (16 discrete emotions) versus general emotion experiences (positive or negative emotions)—and present empirical evidence of their similarities and differences with job satisfaction. Our findings suggest that specific emotions …