The power of affect: A three‐wave panel study on reciprocal relationships between work events and affect at work

In this study, we investigate lagged reciprocal relationships between positive and negative interpersonal and task‐related work events and employees’ positive and negative affect at work. We conducted a three‐wave panel study with time lags of 3 months and collected data from 1,039 young employees (at Time 1). Path modelling showed that positive affect at work predicted an increase in positive interpersonal and task‐related work events, and negative affect at work predicted an increase in negative interpersonal and task‐related work events. Work events did not consistently predict increases in affect at work. Our results suggest that employees’ affect is not only a consequence of work events but may also shape the work events that employees experience over time. Practitioner points Employees’ affect predicts an increase in positive and negative work events over time. Positive affect is associated with an increase in positive events whereas negative affect is associated with an increase in negative events. Organizations should be aware of the important role employees’ affect may play for the work events they experience. Organizations should foster employees’ positive affect and help employees downregulate negative affect.