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Mapping The Association Of Emotional Contagion To Leaders, Colleagues, And Clients: Implications For Leadership, Laura Petitta, Shahnaz Naughton

Organization Management Journal

This article investigates emotional contagion in workplaces by proposing an expanded approach that simultaneously considers contagion both absorbed by (i.e., contagion absorbed) and issued toward (i.e., contagion infected) others, namely, within-individual bidirectional contagion. Furthermore, it explores the differential association of contagion to leaders, colleagues, and clients, namely, a holistic mapping. Participants (N = 694) from six organizations were asked how frequently they both absorbed and transmitted four basic emotions from or to others, and whether the emotional experience occurred with regard to their leaders, colleagues, and clients. The findings reveal that positive and negative emotions considered for within-individual bidirectional contagion …