IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v40y2023i4d10.1007_s10490-022-09819-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sympathy or distress? The moderating role of negative emotion differentiation in helping behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Sophia Soyoung Jeong

    (Zayed University)

  • Yuanyuan Gong

    (Okayama University)

  • Alexandra Henderson

    (Zayed University)

Abstract

Past research has documented the many psychological and behavioral benefits of negative emotion differentiation, that is, the degree to which one can identify, distinguish, and describe specific negative feeling states. Drawing on Affective Events Theory, we argue that negative emotion differentiation affects how individuals react to a need-laden affective event (i.e., being in a situation where one is asked for some assistance). Specifically, we posit that individuals high in negative emotion differentiation will be more adept at interpreting their negative emotions as arising from others' needs (i.e., moral emotions) and regulating them through helping behavior. We tested this basic premise in two studies conducted in East Asia – a field study involving working adults in a general work setting and a quasi-experiment involving a student sample. In both studies, we examined the role of negative emotion differentiation in how individuals respond to negative emotions facing a need-laden affective event. The results supported our predictions, as high negative emotion differentiation weakened the negative relationship between general negative emotions and subsequent helping behavior (Study 1) and strengthened the positive relationship between negative moral emotions and helping behavior (Study 2). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophia Soyoung Jeong & Yuanyuan Gong & Alexandra Henderson, 2023. "Sympathy or distress? The moderating role of negative emotion differentiation in helping behavior," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1429-1458, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:40:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10490-022-09819-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-022-09819-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-022-09819-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-022-09819-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghulam Abid & Iqra Sajjad & Natasha Saman Elahi & Saira Farooqi & Asma Nisar, 2018. "The influence of prosocial motivation and civility on work engagement:The mediating role of thriving at work," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1493712-149, January.
    2. Silke Eisenbeiss & Daan Knippenberg & Clemens Fahrbach, 2015. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Analyzing the Relationship Between CEO Ethical Leadership and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 635-651, May.
    3. Pan, Yaotian & Rowney, Julie A. & Peterson, Mark F., 2012. "The Structure of Chinese Cultural Traditions: An Empirical Study of Business Employees in China," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 77-95, March.
    4. Aki Tomizawa & Li Zhao & Geneviève Bassellier & David Ahlstrom, 2020. "Economic growth, innovation, institutions, and the Great Enrichment," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 7-31, March.
    5. Pan, Yaotian & Rowney, Julie A. & Peterson, Mark F., 2012. "The Structure of Chinese Cultural Traditions: An Empirical Study of Business Employees in China," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(01), pages 77-96, March.
    6. Peixu He & Zhenglong Peng & Hongdan Zhao & Christophe Estay, 2019. "How and When Compulsory Citizenship Behavior Leads to Employee Silence: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Moral Disengagement and Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 259-274, March.
    7. Victor Stango & Jonathan Zinman, 2019. "We Are All Behavioral, More or Less: Measuring and Using Consumer-Level Behavioral Sufficient Statistics," Working Papers 19-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    8. repec:cup:judgdm:v:4:y:2009:i:7:p:543-553 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Yan Li & Neal Ashkanasy & David Ahlstrom, 2014. "The rationality of emotions: A hybrid process model of decision-making under uncertainty," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 293-308, March.
    10. Yaotian Pan & Julie A. Rowney & Mark F. Peterson, 2012. "The Structure of Chinese Cultural Traditions: An Empirical Study of Business Employees in China," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 8(1), pages 77-95, March.
    11. Yan Li & Neal M. Ashkanasy, 2019. "Risk adaptation and emotion differentiation: An experimental study of dynamic decision-making," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 219-243, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ming Kong & Jie Xin & Wenxiao Xu & Haonan Li & Dandan Xu, 2022. "The moral licensing effect between work effort and unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating influence of Confucian value," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 515-537, June.
    2. Dirk Holtbrügge, 2013. "Indigenous Management Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 1-11, February.
    3. Viengkham, Doris & Baumann, Chris & Winzar, Hume & Dahana, Wirawan Dony, 2022. "Toward understanding Convergence and Divergence: Inter-ocular testing of traditional philosophies, economic orientation, and religiosity/spirituality," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1335-1352.
    4. Xu, Cheng-Gang & Guo, Di & Jiang, Kun & Yang, Xiyi, 2017. "Clustering, Growth, and Inequality in China," CEPR Discussion Papers 12543, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Sangaralingam Ramesh, 2020. "Entrepreneurship in China and India," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(1), pages 321-355, March.
    6. Ying-Jiuan Wong & Chi-Feng Wang, 2018. "Is an overconfident CEO good for advertising investments?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(3), pages 439-455, August.
    7. Mark F Peterson & Tais S Barreto, 2018. "Interpreting societal culture value dimensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1190-1207, December.
    8. Ludvig Levasseur & Jintong Tang & Masoud Karami & Lowell Busenitz & K. Michele Kacmar, 2022. "Increasing alertness to new opportunities: the influence of positive affect and implications for innovation," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 27-49, March.
    9. Yijiao Ye & Hong Zhu & Yuanyi Chen & Ho Kwong Kwan & Yijing Lyu, 2021. "Family ostracism and proactive customer service performance: An explanation from conservation of resources theory," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 645-667, June.
    10. Ghulam Abid & Francoise Contreras & Saira Ahmed & Tehmina Qazi, 2019. "Contextual Factors and Organizational Commitment: Examining the Mediating Role of Thriving at Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Tu Thanh Hoai & Nguyen Phong Nguyen, 2022. "Internal Control Systems and Performance of Emerging Market Firms: The Moderating Roles of Leadership Consistency and Quality," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    12. Boddewyn, Jean J. & Peng, Mike W., 2021. "Reciprocity and informal institutions in international market entry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    13. Kelly Z. Peng, 2017. "Responding to emotions in China: Gender differences and the emotion-job outcome relationship," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 443-460, June.
    14. Yan Ling & Michelle Hammond & Li-Qun Wei, 2022. "Ethical leadership and ambidexterity in young firms: examining the CEO-TMT Interface," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 25-48, March.
    15. Hameeda A. AlMalki & Christopher M. Durugbo, 2023. "Systematic review of institutional innovation literature: towards a multi-level management model," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 731-785, June.
    16. Leandro Carvalho & Arna Olafsson & Dan Silverman, 2019. "Misfortune and Mistake: The Financial Conditions and Decision-making Ability of High-cost Loan Borrowers," NBER Working Papers 26328, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Zhongfeng Su, 2021. "The co-evolution of institutions and entrepreneurship," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1327-1350, December.
    18. Sandro Ambuehl & B. Douglas Bernheim & Axel Ockenfels, 2019. "Projective Paternalism," CESifo Working Paper Series 7762, CESifo.
    19. Tsang-Kai Hung & Chih-Hung Wang & Mu Tian & Ming Lin & Wen-Hsiu Liu, 2022. "How to Prevent Stress in the Workplace by Emotional Regulation? The Relationship Between Compulsory Citizen Behavior, Job Engagement, and Job Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    20. Pham, Hanh Song Thi & Tran, Hien Thi, 2020. "CSR disclosure and firm performance: The mediating role of corporate reputation and moderating role of CEO integrity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 127-136.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:40:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10490-022-09819-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.