Emotional contagion at work and organizational culture

Our symposium begins with a paper by Petitta that takes a very broad perspective, looking at eight dimensions of organizational culture that she believed would influence emotional contagion from both the receiver (i.e., individuals “catch” emotions from others) and the sender (i.e., individuals try to “infect” others with specific emotions) perspectives. Utilizing a sample of Italian hospital employees, Petitta demonstrates that aspects of the culture predict not only the emotions exchanged, but also the emotions received. For example, organizational cultures that were oriented towards exchange (i.e., openness between employees) positively predicted the level of sadness absorbed by others in addition to predicting joy, sadness, and fear issued towards others. Thus, culture can greatly influences the emotional exchange process.