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Sigal Barsade

University of Pennsylvania, Management, Faculty Member

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Sigal Goland Barsade is the Joseph Frank Bernstein Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on emotions in organizations, including topics such as models of group emotion, emotional contagion, emotional culture, emotional intelligence, affect and performance, loneliness, affective diversity, as well as general issues of organizational culture, diversity and unconscious bias. She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Management and the Association for Psychological Science, as well as the Society for Organizational Behavior. Her research has been published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Psychological Science and the Strategic Management Journal. She received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations from UC Berkeley.

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Papers by Sigal Barsade

Which matters more? Group fear versus hope in entrepreneurial escalation of commitment Funding information Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management; Robert Katz Fund for Emotion Research in Organizations at the

Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-... more Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-in entrepreneurial team decision-making. We are interested in which emotion will be more strongly related to whether entrepreneurial teams escalate their commitment to a currently failing venture versus terminating that venture. Using a longitudinal start-up simulation and based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that group "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating that venture. We predict and find that team engagement mediates these relationships. We find partial support for a predicted moderation effect of group friendship strength. Theoretical implications are discussed. Managerial Summary: Emotions are a critical but often unacknowledged part of entrepreneurial decision-making. We tested whether group fear or group hope will most strongly influence teams' decisions to escalate their commitment , versus terminating a currently failing venture. Using a longitudinal entrepreneurial simulation, based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating

Emotional contagion in organizational life

by Sigal Barsade and Constantinos Coutifaris

Leveraging the wealth of research insights generated over the past 25 years, we develop a model o... more Leveraging the wealth of research insights generated over the past 25 years, we develop a model of emotional contagion in organizational life. We begin by defining emotional contagion, reviewing ways to assess this phenomenon, and discussing individual differences that influence susceptibility to emotional contagion. We then explore the key role of emotional contagion in organizational life across a wide range of domains, including (1) team processes and outcomes, (2) leadership, (3) employee work attitudes, (4) decision-making, and (5) customer attitudes. Across each of these domains, we present a body of organizational behavior research that finds evidence of the influence of emotional contagion on a variety of attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral/performance outcomes as well as identify the key boundary conditions of the emotional contagion phenomenon. To support future scholarship in this domain, we identify several new frontiers of emotional contagion research, including the need to better understand the "tipping point" of positive versus negative emotional contagion, the phenomenon of counter-contagion, and the influence of computer mediated communication and technology within organizations and society on emotional contagion. In closing, we summarize our model of emotional contagion in organizations, which we hope can serve as a catalyst for future research on this important phenomenon and its myriad effects on organizational life.

NO EMPLOYEE AN ISLAND: WORKPLACE LONELINESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

by Sigal Barsade and H. Ozcelik

This research investigates the link between workplace loneliness and job performance. Integrating... more This research investigates the link between workplace loneliness and job performance. Integrating the regulatory loop model of loneliness and the affect theory of social exchange, we develop a model of workplace loneliness. We focus on the central role of affiliation in explaining the loneliness-performance relationship, predicting that despite lonelier employees’ desire to connect with others, being lonelier is associated with lower job performance because of a lack of affiliation at work. Through a time-lagged field study of 672 employees and their 114 supervisors in two organizations, we find support that greater workplace loneliness is related to lower job performance; the mediators of this relationship are lonelier employees’ lower approachability and lesser affective commitment to their organizations. We also examine the moderating roles of the emotional cultures of companionate love and anger as well as of the loneliness of other coworkers in the work group. Features of this affective affiliative context moderate some of the relationships between loneliness and the mediating variables; we also find support for the full moderated mediation model. This study highlights the importance of recognizing the pernicious power of workplace loneliness over both lonely employees and their organizations. We offer implications for future research and practice.

Informal Peer Interaction and Practice Type as Predictors of Physician Performance on Maintenance of Certification Examinations

by Amit Gal and Sigal Barsade

JAMA surgery, Jan 28, 2014

IMPORTANCE Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports continued clinical c... more IMPORTANCE Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports continued clinical competence by passing a maintenance of certification examination (MOCEX). Performance depends on professional learning and development, which may be enhanced by informal routine interactions with colleagues. Some physicians, such as those in solo practice, may have less opportunity for peer interaction, thus negatively influencing their examination performance. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship among level of peer interaction, group and solo practice, and MOCEX performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Longitudinal cohort study of 568 surgeons taking the 2008 MOCEX. Survey responses reporting the level of physicians' peer interactions and their practice type were related to MOCEX scores, controlling for initial qualifying examination scores, practice type, and personal characteristics. EXPOSURES Solo practice and amount of peer interaction. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Scores...

Group Demography and Innovation: Does Diversity Help?

What’s Love got to do with it?: The Influence of a Culture of Companionate Love in the Long-term Care Setting

Administrative Science Quarterly

In this longitudinal study, we build a theory of a culture of companionate love— feelings of affe... more In this longitudinal study, we build a theory of a culture of companionate love— feelings of affection, compassion, caring, and tenderness for others—at work, examining the culture’s influence on outcomes for employees and the clients they serve in a long-term care setting. Using measures derived from outside observers, employees, family members, and cultural artifacts, we find that an emotional culture of companionate love at work positively relates to employees’ satisfaction and teamwork and negatively relates to their absenteeism and emotional exhaustion. Employees’ trait positive affectivity (trait PA)—one’s tendency to have a pleasant emotional engagement with one’s environment— moderates the influence of the culture of companionate love, amplifying its positive influence for employees higher in trait PA. We also find a positive association between a culture of companionate love and clients’ outcomes, specifically, better patient mood, quality of life, satisfaction, and fewer t...

Barsade O'Neill online supp Appendices A B C

The employee, patient, and family satisfaction scales used in this study were those being used in... more The employee, patient, and family satisfaction scales used in this study were those being used internally by the long-term care facility we studied. At the time of the data collection, the organization used these scales to benchmark against a consortia of other not-for-profit long-term care facilities that were part of the Alliance Continuing Care Network of Long Term Care Facilities, a consortia that no longer exists. We used the complete scales except for one item in each of the employee and resident scales that we dropped because of poor reliability.

Leading by Doing

To Your Heart's Content: An Affective Diversity Model In Top Management Teams

for their comments and help throughout the paper. Partial support for this article came from the ... more

Culture Change in the Nursing Home: The Relationship Between Culture Change Values and Staff Affect

Emotional contagion in groups

What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Longitudinal Study of the Culture of Companionate Love and Employee and Client Outcomes in a Long-term Care Setting

Work Loneliness and Employee Performance

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2011

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion In Groups

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Leading by Doing

Next Generation Business Handbook, 2004

Mood and Emotions in Small Groups and Work Teams

by J. Kelly and Sigal Barsade

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2001

Affective influences abound in groups. In this article we propose an organizing model for underst... more Affective influences abound in groups. In this article we propose an organizing model for understanding these affective influences and their effects on group life. We begin with individuallevel affective characteristics that members bring to their groups: moods, emotions, sentiments, and emotional intelligence. These affective characteristics then combine to form a group's affective composition. We discuss explicit and implicit processes through which this affective combination occurs by examining the research on emotional contagion, entrainment, modeling, and the manipulation of affect. We also explore how elements of the affective context, such as organizationwide emotion norms and the group's particular emotional history, may serve to constrain or amplify group members' emotions. The outcome, group emotion, results from the combination of the group's affective composition and the affective context in which the group is behaving.

The affective revolution in organizational behavior: The emergence of a paradigm

… behavior: The state of the …, 2003

... Rafaeli and Sutton&amp;amp;#x27;s emotional labor research in organizations (Rafaeli &amp... more ... Rafaeli and Sutton&amp;amp;#x27;s emotional labor research in organizations (Rafaeli &amp;amp;amp; Sutton, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991; Sutton &amp;amp;amp; Rafaeli, 1988) continued in this tradition and was an important spark in the affective revolution, putting the concept of emotional labor squarely on the affect-in ...

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior

Administrative Science Quarterly, 2002

Do We Know Emotional Intelligence When We See it? The Social Perception of Emotional Abilities

by Sigal Barsade and Hillary Anger Elfenbein

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

We examine the social perception of emotional intelligence (EI) through the use of observer ratings.

THE IMPACT OF RELATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY ON TEAMWORK: WHEN DIFFERENCES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Academy of Management Proceedings, 1999

Which matters more? Group fear versus hope in entrepreneurial escalation of commitment Funding information Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management; Robert Katz Fund for Emotion Research in Organizations at the

Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-... more Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-in entrepreneurial team decision-making. We are interested in which emotion will be more strongly related to whether entrepreneurial teams escalate their commitment to a currently failing venture versus terminating that venture. Using a longitudinal start-up simulation and based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that group "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating that venture. We predict and find that team engagement mediates these relationships. We find partial support for a predicted moderation effect of group friendship strength. Theoretical implications are discussed. Managerial Summary: Emotions are a critical but often unacknowledged part of entrepreneurial decision-making. We tested whether group fear or group hope will most strongly influence teams' decisions to escalate their commitment , versus terminating a currently failing venture. Using a longitudinal entrepreneurial simulation, based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating

Emotional contagion in organizational life

by Sigal Barsade and Constantinos Coutifaris

Leveraging the wealth of research insights generated over the past 25 years, we develop a model o... more Leveraging the wealth of research insights generated over the past 25 years, we develop a model of emotional contagion in organizational life. We begin by defining emotional contagion, reviewing ways to assess this phenomenon, and discussing individual differences that influence susceptibility to emotional contagion. We then explore the key role of emotional contagion in organizational life across a wide range of domains, including (1) team processes and outcomes, (2) leadership, (3) employee work attitudes, (4) decision-making, and (5) customer attitudes. Across each of these domains, we present a body of organizational behavior research that finds evidence of the influence of emotional contagion on a variety of attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral/performance outcomes as well as identify the key boundary conditions of the emotional contagion phenomenon. To support future scholarship in this domain, we identify several new frontiers of emotional contagion research, including the need to better understand the "tipping point" of positive versus negative emotional contagion, the phenomenon of counter-contagion, and the influence of computer mediated communication and technology within organizations and society on emotional contagion. In closing, we summarize our model of emotional contagion in organizations, which we hope can serve as a catalyst for future research on this important phenomenon and its myriad effects on organizational life.

NO EMPLOYEE AN ISLAND: WORKPLACE LONELINESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

by Sigal Barsade and H. Ozcelik

This research investigates the link between workplace loneliness and job performance. Integrating... more This research investigates the link between workplace loneliness and job performance. Integrating the regulatory loop model of loneliness and the affect theory of social exchange, we develop a model of workplace loneliness. We focus on the central role of affiliation in explaining the loneliness-performance relationship, predicting that despite lonelier employees’ desire to connect with others, being lonelier is associated with lower job performance because of a lack of affiliation at work. Through a time-lagged field study of 672 employees and their 114 supervisors in two organizations, we find support that greater workplace loneliness is related to lower job performance; the mediators of this relationship are lonelier employees’ lower approachability and lesser affective commitment to their organizations. We also examine the moderating roles of the emotional cultures of companionate love and anger as well as of the loneliness of other coworkers in the work group. Features of this affective affiliative context moderate some of the relationships between loneliness and the mediating variables; we also find support for the full moderated mediation model. This study highlights the importance of recognizing the pernicious power of workplace loneliness over both lonely employees and their organizations. We offer implications for future research and practice.

Informal Peer Interaction and Practice Type as Predictors of Physician Performance on Maintenance of Certification Examinations

by Amit Gal and Sigal Barsade

JAMA surgery, Jan 28, 2014

IMPORTANCE Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports continued clinical c... more IMPORTANCE Physicians can demonstrate mastery of the knowledge that supports continued clinical competence by passing a maintenance of certification examination (MOCEX). Performance depends on professional learning and development, which may be enhanced by informal routine interactions with colleagues. Some physicians, such as those in solo practice, may have less opportunity for peer interaction, thus negatively influencing their examination performance. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship among level of peer interaction, group and solo practice, and MOCEX performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Longitudinal cohort study of 568 surgeons taking the 2008 MOCEX. Survey responses reporting the level of physicians' peer interactions and their practice type were related to MOCEX scores, controlling for initial qualifying examination scores, practice type, and personal characteristics. EXPOSURES Solo practice and amount of peer interaction. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Scores...

Group Demography and Innovation: Does Diversity Help?

What’s Love got to do with it?: The Influence of a Culture of Companionate Love in the Long-term Care Setting

Administrative Science Quarterly

In this longitudinal study, we build a theory of a culture of companionate love— feelings of affe... more In this longitudinal study, we build a theory of a culture of companionate love— feelings of affection, compassion, caring, and tenderness for others—at work, examining the culture’s influence on outcomes for employees and the clients they serve in a long-term care setting. Using measures derived from outside observers, employees, family members, and cultural artifacts, we find that an emotional culture of companionate love at work positively relates to employees’ satisfaction and teamwork and negatively relates to their absenteeism and emotional exhaustion. Employees’ trait positive affectivity (trait PA)—one’s tendency to have a pleasant emotional engagement with one’s environment— moderates the influence of the culture of companionate love, amplifying its positive influence for employees higher in trait PA. We also find a positive association between a culture of companionate love and clients’ outcomes, specifically, better patient mood, quality of life, satisfaction, and fewer t...

Barsade O'Neill online supp Appendices A B C

The employee, patient, and family satisfaction scales used in this study were those being used in... more The employee, patient, and family satisfaction scales used in this study were those being used internally by the long-term care facility we studied. At the time of the data collection, the organization used these scales to benchmark against a consortia of other not-for-profit long-term care facilities that were part of the Alliance Continuing Care Network of Long Term Care Facilities, a consortia that no longer exists. We used the complete scales except for one item in each of the employee and resident scales that we dropped because of poor reliability.

Leading by Doing

To Your Heart's Content: An Affective Diversity Model In Top Management Teams

for their comments and help throughout the paper. Partial support for this article came from the ... more

Culture Change in the Nursing Home: The Relationship Between Culture Change Values and Staff Affect

Emotional contagion in groups

What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Longitudinal Study of the Culture of Companionate Love and Employee and Client Outcomes in a Long-term Care Setting

Work Loneliness and Employee Performance

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2011

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion In Groups

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Leading by Doing

Next Generation Business Handbook, 2004

Mood and Emotions in Small Groups and Work Teams

by J. Kelly and Sigal Barsade

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2001

Affective influences abound in groups. In this article we propose an organizing model for underst... more Affective influences abound in groups. In this article we propose an organizing model for understanding these affective influences and their effects on group life. We begin with individuallevel affective characteristics that members bring to their groups: moods, emotions, sentiments, and emotional intelligence. These affective characteristics then combine to form a group's affective composition. We discuss explicit and implicit processes through which this affective combination occurs by examining the research on emotional contagion, entrainment, modeling, and the manipulation of affect. We also explore how elements of the affective context, such as organizationwide emotion norms and the group's particular emotional history, may serve to constrain or amplify group members' emotions. The outcome, group emotion, results from the combination of the group's affective composition and the affective context in which the group is behaving.

The affective revolution in organizational behavior: The emergence of a paradigm

… behavior: The state of the …, 2003

... Rafaeli and Sutton&amp;amp;#x27;s emotional labor research in organizations (Rafaeli &amp... more ... Rafaeli and Sutton&amp;amp;#x27;s emotional labor research in organizations (Rafaeli &amp;amp;amp; Sutton, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991; Sutton &amp;amp;amp; Rafaeli, 1988) continued in this tradition and was an important spark in the affective revolution, putting the concept of emotional labor squarely on the affect-in ...

The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior

Administrative Science Quarterly, 2002

Do We Know Emotional Intelligence When We See it? The Social Perception of Emotional Abilities

by Sigal Barsade and Hillary Anger Elfenbein

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

We examine the social perception of emotional intelligence (EI) through the use of observer ratings.

THE IMPACT OF RELATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY ON TEAMWORK: WHEN DIFFERENCES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Academy of Management Proceedings, 1999