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This research aims to examine the cognitive appraisals of frontline employees (FLEs) when dealing with aggressive customers and the impact on their well-being, as well as several moderator effects, in a collectivist, Eastern culture.

A critical incident technique reveals the cognitive appraisal of FLEs who had recently experienced customer aggression. Data were collected through qualitative, in-depth interviews with 35 FLEs in customer-facing roles in Thailand.

The FLEs perceived threats to self-esteem, physical well-being, goal completion at work, fairness or equity and sense of control when dealing with customer aggression. These cognitive appraisals affected their psychological well-being in the form of negative affectivity, anxiety, depression and stress. Importantly, factors that moderate (exacerbate or weaken) the impact of customer aggression on cognitive appraisal, and cognitive appraisal on psychological well-being were revealed, including “customer is always right” philosophy, social status, public versus private context and social support.

Organisations should pay more attention to FLEs’ psychological well-being and how they interpret and deal with customers’ misbehaviour and aggression. The research identifies factors that moderate the impact of customer aggression on psychological well-being.

This is the first empirical paper that has examined how FLEs cope with customer aggression in a collectivist, south-east Asian context where social norms calibrate FLEs’ responses to customer aggression. It is also the first research that adopts a contingency approach to understanding how FLEs cope with customer aggression – i.e. when faced with customer aggression, under what contingency conditions do FLEs cognitive appraisals have a stronger or weaker impact on their psychological well-being?

We review the literature on stress in organizational settings and, based on a model of job insecurity and emotional intelligence by Jordan, Ashkanasy and Härtel (2002), present a new model where affective responses associated with stress mediate the impact of workplace stressors on individual and organizational performance outcomes. Consistent with Jordan et al., emotional intelligence is a key moderating variable. In our model, however, the components of emotional intelligence are incorporated into the process of stress appraisal and coping. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of these theoretical developments for understanding emotional and behavioral responses to workplace.

The aim of this article is to investigate how managers see, interpret and make sense of their performance management system experiences and recommend the way forward for both policy and practice, in what makes effective appraisal systems.

The study applied the repertory grid to elicit the personal constructs of how managers make sense of their appraisal experiences. The cognitive mapping methodology allows the researcher to go deep into the respondents' “theories in use” to provide new insights on how they “think”. This, in turn, allows a better understanding of the language managers use to make sense of the experiences.

Core conceptual dimensions, cognitive maps and cluster diagrams were generated, providing implications for research, practice and new directions for future research.

Although the application of the grid technique was time‐consuming, the finer grain level of analysis provided a deeper appreciation of managers' “theories in use”. The study provides a cross‐sectional view of the current state of managerial cognitions. Findings open up new ways of thinking and new way of doing in appraisal research and practice.

The findings provided very meaningful insights on what managers look for in appraisal system effectiveness, along with the documentation of how they make connections between their own elicited personal constructs on system effectiveness.

The paper makes a modest contribution to both theory and practice from the perspective of managerial cognitions about the entire appraisal systems using a method originating from clinical psychology.

With the rapid growth of the Internet and the wide acceptance of e-commerce, online impulse buying is rising; however, the consumer motivation to buy impulsively within the digital setting calls for continuous exploration. Through the lens of cognitive appraisal theory, the authors aim to explore the relevance of web quality factors (cognitive processes) and hedonism (emotional response) for online impulse buying in the cross-cultural context of India and Croatia. The study also attempts to investigate the varying effects of sales promotion and payment options (cognitive processes) on the relationship between hedonism and online impulse buying.

The researchers in the present study have adapted the refined eTailQ scale along with factors like hedonism, sales promotion and payment options determining impulse buying—the measurement instrument comprised of a highly structured questionnaire covering consumers' attitudes and opinions regarding the explored concepts. A total of 526 responses were generated in the data collection process, wherein 264 were from India and 262 were from Croatia.

The results reveal that not all web quality determinants affect impulse buying similarly. Web informativeness significantly, but negatively, impacts impulse buying only regarding Croatian consumers, while customer service influences impulse buying in the Indian market. Web layout and privacy do not influence impulse buying. However, besides hedonism's direct impact on impulse buying in both countries, the results show that the influences of web layout and privacy on impulse buying are mediated via hedonism. Given the varying effects, this study shows that, unlike the payment options, only sales promotion represents a significant moderator that enhances the relationship between hedonism and impulse buying in both countries.

This study utilises cognitive appraisal theory to compare the effects in two countries through cognitive appraisals, emotional responses, and situational factors for explaining online impulse buying behaviour. The study also offers practical managerial implications.

This research aims to investigate how consumers’ authentic pride versus hubristic pride affects different construal levels of mind-sets and subsequent product evaluation by activating local versus global cognitive appraisal tendencies. Furthermore, this research also examines how lay theories impact the effects of pride on construal levels and how power moderates the effect of hubristic versus authentic pride on product preferences varying in construal levels.

Drawing on cognitive appraisal and construal level theories, this research conducts eight experimental studies to test the hypotheses with an ANOVA, bootstrap analysis and binary logistic regression analysis. The details of the experiments are presented in the paper.

The results show that people feeling authentic (hubristic) pride dominantly adopt a lower (higher) level of construal, and consequently put more weight on feasibility over desirability (desirability over feasibility) attributes. Authentic pride’s inclination to appeal behavior-specific appraisals triggers local appraisal tendencies and bestows lower construal levels, whereas hubristic pride’s inclination to connect the entire self triggers global appraisal tendencies and confers higher construal levels. Incremental (vs entity) theorists are likely to attribute the pride experience to their efforts (traits), and thus feel authentic (hubristic) pride. Furthermore, the product preferences of people experiencing authentic vs hubristic pride depend on their power state.

Notwithstanding the importance of this research, it is worthwhile to note some of its limitations to encourage future research. First, eight studies in the lab were conducted, but no real behavior study was conducted. Although there is a high correlation between the results of lab studies and those of real behavior studies, the authors encourage future researches to elicit the consumers’ pride in the actual consumption situation using a real behavior study. Furthermore, this research mainly focuses on pride, and does not examine other positive emotions, e.g. happiness. Therefore, the authors encourage future research to examine other positive emotions.

The findings suggest that it is appropriate to use construal levels to match consumers’ pride types. In fact, marketers can induce hubristic pride or authentic pride in ads by simply using words or sentences (“feeling proud because of your hard work” or “feeling proud, you are so superior and remarkably unique”), and present either higher- or lower-level construal of desired behaviors to improve advertising effects.

The research contributes to literature by documenting how hubristic/authentic pride can affect distinct construal levels via activating global/local appraisal tendencies. And this research thoroughly illustrates the mechanism by which hubristic/authentic pride activates global versus local appraisal tendencies. More importantly, this research finds how lay theories affect construal level given a pride experience and it also corroborates the moderating effects of power in the proposed relationship, which establish the boundary conditions of the effects of prides on construal levels.

Organizational behavior scholars have long recognized the importance of a variety of emotion-related phenomena in everyday work life. Indeed, after three decades, the span of research on emotions in the workplace encompasses a wide variety of affective variables such as emotional climate, emotional labor, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, empathy, and more recently, specific emotions. Emotions operate in complex ways across multiple levels of analysis (i.e., within-person, between-person, interpersonal, group, and organizational) to exert influence on work behavior and outcomes, but their linkages to human resource management (HRM) policies and practices have not always been explicit or well understood. This chapter offers a review and integration of the bourgeoning research on discrete positive and negative emotions, offering insights about why these emotions are relevant to HRM policies and practices. We review some of the dominant theories that have emerged out of functionalist perspectives on emotions, connecting these to a strategic HRM framework. We then define and describe four discrete positive and negative emotions (fear, pride, guilt, and interest) highlighting how they relate to five HRM practices: (1) selection, (2) training/learning, (3) performance management, (4) incentives/rewards, and (5) employee voice. Following this, we discuss the emotion perception and regulation implications of these and other discrete emotions for leaders and HRM managers. We conclude with some challenges associated with understanding discrete emotions in organizations as well as some opportunities and future directions for improving our appreciation and understanding of the role of discrete emotional experiences in HRM.

The purpose of this study is to explore a balanced understanding of the relationship between perceived occupational stigma and social workers’ proactive behaviors in China. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory, this study explored the mediating role of threat and challenge appraisals, as well as the moderating role of trait resilience.

Data were collected using a time-lagged research design. The hypotheses were examined using a sample of 338 social workers in China.

Perceived occupational stigma is appraised as both a challenge and a threat simultaneously. Challenge appraisal positively mediated perceived occupational stigma and proactive behavior, whereas threat appraisal negatively mediated this relationship. Trait resilience moderated the effect of threat appraisal, suggesting that perceived occupational stigma was appraised as a threat when trait resilience was lower (rather than higher), which then reduced social workers’ proactive behaviors.

This study enriches the literature on perceived occupational stigma by identifying the relationship and mechanism of perceived occupational stigma-proactive behaviors and a boundary condition from the theoretical perspective of cognitive appraisals. It demonstrates both the positive and negative aspects of perceived occupational stigma as appraised by social workers in relation to an important workplace outcome of proactive behaviors. In addition, it offers a fresh approach by exploring perceived occupational stigma from the perspective of social workers.

Primary teachers play a vital role in fostering pupils' successful futures. Therefore, gaining knowledge of primary teacher students' learning processes, including the achievement of information-seeking skills, is crucial. The aim of this paper is to understand better the interplay between cognitive appraisals and emotions in the constructivist process of learning and achieving information-seeking skills.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six Swedish primary teacher students. The analysis of qualitative data was deductive and theory-driven, guided by Kuhlthau's information search process model, Scherer's semantic space of emotions and Pekrun's control-value theory of achievement emotions.

Anger/frustration, enjoyment and boredom were identified as activity emotions and anxiety, hopelessness and hope as prospective outcome emotions. The retrospective outcome emotions found were pride, joy, gratitude, surprise and relief. The appraisals eliciting the achievement emotions were the control appraisals uncertainty/certainty (activity and prospective outcome) and oneself/other (retrospective), and value appraisals negative/positive intrinsic motivation (activity) and failure/success (prospective and retrospective). The interplay between appraisals and emotions was complex and dynamic. The processes were individually unique, non-linear and iterative, and the appraisals did not always elicit emotions.

The study has theoretical and methodological implications for information behaviour research in its application of appraisal theories and the Geneva affect label coder. In addition, it has practical implications for academic librarians teaching information-seeking skills.

Drawing on appraisal theories, this paper aims to attempt to demonstrate how augmented reality (AR) strengthens relationships in the cognitive-affective-conative mechanism to shape visitors' recommendation of awe-inspiring heritage experiences.

A mixed-method approach was undertaken. First, an exploratory pre-study (n = 98) analyzed the multidimensionality of awe appraisals, eliciting the most salient dimensions in tourism experiences for informing the main study. Subsequently, an on-site survey was used to examine the relationships in the cognitive-affective-conative sequence, based on 316 questionnaires collected at a highly acclaimed religious heritage equipped with a multisensory AR activity.

Two distinct appraisals underlined in the awe concept were elicited during the exploratory phase: altered emotions (aggregating positive self-transformative dimensions) and the need for accommodation. The survey results demonstrated that the influence of authenticity on recommendation is shaped by emotions. Altered emotions hold a central mediating role and are differentiated from other discrete emotions. AR and the need for accommodation are revealed as contingencies that regulate the mediated mechanism.

This paper provides the hospitality and tourism stakeholders with a better understanding of how immersive technologies can be used for boosting recommendations, by enhancing the emotional responses toward authenticity perceptions.

This study introduces a novel conceptual framework to broaden our understanding of how cognitive and affective mental processes are linked to visitors’ recommendations, and how AR amplifies the outcomes. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first research to distinguish and document the specific effects of two different types of awe appraisal.