Affective Events Theory (AET)

A theory that shows that emotional reactions from employees affect how they act at work.

To spell it out, things that happen in the workplace can cause emotions to surface in employees. Subsequently, those emotions can influence what those employees do.

If the administration throws a pizza party and lets everyone out early on a Wednesday, most employees will be quite happy. On Thursday and Friday, those employees pitch in with a little extra effort, and do an excellent job. They experienced positive emotions, and it influenced their work behaviors.

Naturally, there’s a yin to this yang. At the company down the road, that same Wednesday is layoff day. 20% of the employees are given pink slips and told to take a hike. The remaining employees are upset. They’re angry that their drinking buddies are unemployed. They’re distracted. They’re worried that they’re next. Performance slips. Resumes come out. Everyone is distracted.

The negative emotions yielded negative behaviors at work. Maybe in one case, an employee keys the CEO’s brand-new Tesla. It’s a rough world out there.