The Impact of Work-related Identity Discrepancy of Circle Members on Job Engagement:The Role of Negative Emotions

Abstract

Circles are a kind of informal organization widely existing in human society. The current research on circles focuses more on the benefits brought by circle identity to members, and less on the loss of circle membership in the workplace, as the insider’s work-related identity discrepancy due to the change of leadership. In the current research, based on affective event theory, we examined the extent to which negative emotions mediates the relationship between workrelated identity discrepancy and job engagement. With data collected from 578 employees in China, it showed that work-related identity discrepancy is associated with job engagement. Moreover, we found that negative emotions mediate the main effect. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.