Workgroup emotional exchanges and team performance in China

The research conceptualizes workgroup emotional climate (WEC) and workgroup emotional labor as contrasting types of emotional exchange within teams, with the former defined as team-member directed emotional exchanges and the latter as the outward directed emotional exchanges required to enact one's role. Data were obtained from a sample of 840 workgroup members from 148 workgroups in China. Results showed that positive WEC is a source of group efficacy with positive consequences for workgroup performance. The findings also lend support to the idea that people have limited emotional resources and thus, while a positive WEC improves group performance, this relationship is weakened as workgroup emotional labor increases. The study identifies two types of emotional exchanges characterizing a workgroup and enriches understanding of team emotional dynamics. Team leaders need to recognize the value of WEC and the workgroup emotional labor requirements and try to induce more positive WEC to facilitate team performance.