Emotions and identity

The theme we have chosen for this volume, “Emotions and Identity,” addresses the role of emotions in defining who people are, and understand themselves to be, within organizations. Although definitions vary, organizational identity can be considered as a construct that “defines who one is in relation to [their work] role or position within a network of relationships” (Shaffer, Joplin, Bell, Lau, & Oguz, 2000, p. 442). Given that emotions influence perceptions and behaviors (and subsequently the very interactions that define the importance of identity), the chapters in this volume demonstrate the importance of emotion in forming and sustaining both individual and collective identities at work. Identities, like emotions, are constantly evolving and shifting in relation to the complex interplay between individuals and their environments. Internally, entities negotiate their identities in relation to the dual influence of emotions and cognition. Socially, entities renegotiate their identities in relation to others and shared understandings of social roles and norms. On a broader level, institutions also affect identity by prescribing sets of preferred behavior and internalizing the organization’s behavior through factors such as organizational culture. Ashkanasy (2003) notes further that emotions play an important role within all levels of organizations and can shape, interact with, and be affected by, the identities that emerge throughout organizations. Scholars have long understood attitudes to be evaluative cognitions about elements in an individual’s environment (Breckler, 1984). As such, attitudes are our assessment of the value (on some evaluative dimension) of the current state of those elements (of their degree of goodness, for example). Attitudes are how we feel about objects or people outside of ourselves. Frijda (1986) notes that emotion is in fact what happens when individuals evaluate themselves when they assess their own goodness or rightness. Thus, emotions of happiness or sadness or anger or calm or embarrassment and so on arise when we evaluate ourselves against our expectations. Arguably, the most important expectation we hold is that of our self-identity (Tyler, Kramer, & John, 2014); thus the importance to and centrality of identity in understanding the dynamics of emotions in organizations. Recognizing the multi-level implications of both emotions and identities, the authors of the chapters in this volume address emotions and identity on individual, group, occupational, and social role levels. Specifically, they investigate micro-level topics such as how individuals respond to injustice to identify as a collective, in addition to how broader occupational and gender identities influence emotions. In doing so, we organize this volume into four sections: Section 1: Identity, Anger, Diversity; Section 2: Public Sector Settings; Section 3: Gender, Emotions and Identity; and Section 4: Emotions and Identification with Work.