Can emotional differences be a strength? Affective diversity and managerial decision performance

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to extend earlier findings suggesting that affective diversity is always negative for group performance, by examining its influence on managerial decision performance in a more controlled environment.

Design/methodology/approach

In an attempt to mitigate some of the many methodological challenges associated with studies in “real-word” contexts, the authors chose to adopt a quasi-experimental research design involving teams of master of business administration students engaged in managerial decision making. This research design is consistent with previous research conducted in the area of affect and individual or group-level outcomes.

Findings

The results indicate that both positive and negative affective diversity are positively associated with managerial decision performance, although only the relationship with negative affective diversity is significant. Overall, these findings support the idea that affective diversity may constitute a strength in the context of managerial decision making. These results contrast with the findings of previous studies.

Research limitations/implications

Further quantitative and qualitative investigation is recommended in order to clarify the contradictory results between the current study and previous research. Specifically, this investigation might concern the effect of contingency factors such as type of team (i.e. ad hoc vs long term), type of task and team-level self-regulation ability.

Originality/value

Since the seminal work of Barsade et al. (2000), no further studies have attempted to resolve some of the empirical questions emerging from preliminary research on affective diversity. The paper thus provides new insights into the effects of affective diversity.

Citation

Kouamé, S., Oliver, D. and Poisson-de-Haro, S. (2015), "Can emotional differences be a strength? Affective diversity and managerial decision performance", Management Decision, Vol. 53 No. 8, pp. 1662-1676. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2014-0540