Pet Peeves and Sensemaking at Work

While individuals intuitively understand what pet peeves are, academic research lacks a full explanation of their nature and consequences. We begin addressing this issue by adopting a sensemaking perspective in an inductive interview-based study providing a foundation for future research in two significant ways. First, we establish a more precise definition of pet peeves as a self-centered annoyance containing personalized cognitive and affective components. The cognitive component is grounded in individuals’ values and expectations and defines the “what” of a pet peeve. The affective component defines the latent aversion attached to prospective violations of those values and expectations. Second, we develop a theoretical model of the pet peeves sensemaking process that incorporates the four sensemaking types described by Sandberg and Tsoukas. As a whole, this work represents an important first step toward establishing pet peeves as formal academic concept.