Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T12:30:50.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Behavioral Genetics and Affect at Work

A Review and Directions for Future Research

from Part I - Theoretical and Methodological Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

By
Wen-Dong Li ,
Xin Zhang ,
Zhaoli Song  and
Yating Wang
Edited by
Liu-Qin Yang ,
Russell Cropanzano ,
Catherine S. Daus  and
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Liu-Qin Yang
Affiliation:
Portland State University
Russell Cropanzano
Affiliation:
University of Colorado
Catherine S. Daus
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Affiliation:
Universitat de València, Spain
Get access

Summary

Recent years have witnessed a surge of management research on biology and affect (see Chapter 2 on the organizational neuroscience of emotions). An important reason is perhaps that management researchers have gradually realized the prominence of biological factors, including brain functions, hormones, and genetic factors, in modulating our attitudes and behaviors (e.g. Arvey, Li, & Wang, 2016; Arvey, Wang, Song, Li, & Day, 2014; Ashkanasy, Becker, & Waldman, 2014; Becker, Cropanzano, & Sanfey, 2011; Li, Stanek, Zhang, Ones, & McGue, 2016; Senior, Lee, & Butler, 2011; Waldman, Balthazard, & Peterson, 2011; Ward, Volk, & Becker, 2015). In this chapter, we will concentrate on the role of behavioral genetics and how this approach contributes to workplace affect. First, we will discuss the importance of behavioral genetics in fostering a more nuanced understanding of workplace affect. Second, we will review previous research, including both twin studies and molecular genetics research, on the influences of genetic factors on affect in the workplace, and we will selectively survey research on affect in general. Third, building upon recent research on behavioral genetics (Arvey & Bouchard, 1994; Arvey et al., 2016; Ilies, Arvey, & Bouchard, 2006; Li, Ilies, & Wang, 2017; Zyphur, Zhang, Barsky, & Li, 2013), affective events theory (AET) (Weiss & Beal, 2005; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), and personality development (Wrzus & Roberts, 2017), we will discuss an integral theoretical framework of workplace affect including influences from both genetic factors and environmental factors. We also offer some possible directions for future research.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect , pp. 64 - 75
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arvey, R. D., & Bouchard, T. J. (1994). Genetics, twins, and organizational behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 16, 47–82.Google Scholar
Arvey, R. D., Bouchard, T. J., Segal, N. L., & Abraham, L. M. (1989). Job satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 187–192.Google Scholar
Arvey, R. D., Li, W. D., & Wang, N. (2016). Genetics and organizational behavior. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3, 167–190.Google Scholar
Arvey, R. D., McCall, B. P., Bouchard, T. J., & Taubman, P. (1994). Genetic influences on job satisfaction and work value. Personality and Individual Differences, 17, 21–33.Google Scholar
Arvey, R. D., Wang, N., Song, Z., Li, W., & Day, D. (2014). The biology of leadership. In Day, D (Ed.), Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations (pp. 75–92). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arvey, R. D., Zhang, Z., Avolio, B. J., & Krueger, R. F. (2007). Developmental and genetic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 693–706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ashkanasy, N. M., Becker, W. J., & Waldman, D. A. (2014). Neuroscience and organizational behavior: Avoiding both neuro-euphoria and neuro-phobia. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 909–919.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, L. A., Cesa, I. L., Gatz, M., & Mellins, C. (1992). Genetic and environmental influences on positive and negative affect: Support for a two-factor theory. Psychology and Aging, 7, 158–163.Google Scholar
Beal, D. J. (2015). ESM 2.0: State of the art and future potential of experience sampling methods in organizational research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology, 2, 383–407.Google Scholar
Becker, W. J., Cropanzano, R., & Sanfey, A. G. (2011). Organizational neuroscience: Taking organizational theory inside the neural black box. Journal of Management, 37, 933–961.Google Scholar
Bleidorn, W., Hopwood, C. J., & Lucas, R. E. (2018). Life events and personality trait change. Journal of Personality, 86, 83–96.Google Scholar
Bouchard, T. J. (2004). Genetic influence on human psychological traits. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 148–151.Google Scholar
Charles, S. T., & Almeida, D. M. (2007). Genetic and environmental effects on daily life stressors: More evidence for greater variation in later life. Psychology and Aging, 22, 331–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chi, W., Li, W. D., Wang, N., & Song, Z. (2016). Can genes play a role in explaining turnover? An examination of gene–environment interaction from human capital theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 1030–1044.Google Scholar
De Moor, M. H., Van Den Berg, S. M., Verweij, K. J., Krueger, R. F., Luciano, M., Vasquez, A. A., … & Amin, N. (2015). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for neuroticism, and the polygenic association with major depressive disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 72, 642–650.Google ScholarPubMed
Diener, E., & Larsen, R. J. (1984). Temporal stability and cross-situational consistency of affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 871–883.Google Scholar
Frese, M., Garst, H., & Fay, D. (2007). Making things happen: Reciprocal relationships between work characteristics and personal initiative in a four-wave longitudinal structural equation model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1084–1102.Google Scholar
Grant, A. M., & Ashford, S. J. (2008). The dynamics of proactivity at work. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 3–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilies, R., Arvey, R. D., & Bouchard, T. J. (2006). Darwinism, behavioral genetics, and organizational behavior: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 121–141.Google Scholar
Jacobs, N., Menne‐Lothmann, C., Derom, C., Thiery, E., Van Os, J., & Wichers, M. (2013). Deconstructing the familiality of variability in momentary negative and positive affect. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 127, 318–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., & Locke, E. A. (2000). Personality and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 237–249.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A., Ilies, R., & Zhang, Z. (2012). Genetic influences on core self-evaluations, job satisfaction, and work stress: A behavioral genetics mediated model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 117, 208–220.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2012). Job attitudes. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 341–367.Google Scholar
Kandler, C. (2012). Nature and nurture in personality development: The case of neuroticism and extraversion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 290–296.Google Scholar
Lesch, K. P., Bengel, D., Heils, A., Sabol, S. Z., Greenberg, B. D., Petri, S., … & Murphy, D. L. (1996). Association of anxiety-related traits with a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene regulatory region. Science, 274, 1527–1531.Google Scholar
Li, W. D. (2011). Proactive personality and work success: Disentangling genetic and environmental influences. Paper presented at the 2011 Annual Academy of Management Meeting, San Antonio, Texas.Google Scholar
Li, W. D., Fay, D., Frese, M., Harms, P. D., & Gao, X. (2014). Reciprocal relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics: A latent change score approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99, 948–965.Google Scholar
Li, W. D., Ilies, R., & Wang, W. (2017). Behavioral genetics and leadership research. In Schyns, B, Hall, R. J., & Neves, P (Eds.), Handbook of Methods in Leadership Research (pp. 127–145). Northampton, MA: Elgar.Google Scholar
Li, W. D., Stanek, K., Zhang, Z., Ones, D. S., & McGue, M. (2016). Are genetic and environmental influences on job satisfaction stable over time? A three-wave longitudinal twin study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 1598–1619.Google Scholar
Li, W. D., Wang, N., Arvey, R., Soong, R., Saw, S. M., & Song, Z. (2015). A mixed blessing? Dual mediating mechanisms in the relationship between dopamine transporter gene DAT1 and leadership role occupancy. Leadership Quarterly, 26, 671–686.Google Scholar
Li, W. D., Zhang, Z., Song, Z., & Arvey, R. (2016). It is also in our nature: Genetic influences on work characteristics and in explaining their relationships with well-being. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37, 868–888.Google Scholar
McGowan, P. O., Sasaki, A., D’Alessio, A. C., Dymov, S., Labonté, B., Szyf, M., … & Meaney, M. J. (2009). Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse. Nature Neuroscience, 12, 342–348.Google Scholar
Menne-Lothmann, C., Jacobs, N., Derom, C., Thiery, E., van Os, J., & Wichers, M. (2012). Genetic and environmental causes of individual differences in daily life positive affect and reward experience and its overlap with stress-sensitivity. Behavior Genetics, 42, 778–786.Google Scholar
Morgeson, F. P., Mitchell, T. R., & Liu, D. (2015). Event system theory: An event-oriented approach to the organizational sciences. Academy of Management Review, 40, 515–537.Google Scholar
Nagel, M., Jansen, P. R., Stringer, S., Watanabe, K., de Leeuw, C. A., Bryois, J., … Muñoz-Manchado, A. B. (2018). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for neuroticism in 449,484 individuals identifies novel genetic loci and pathways. Nature Genetics, 50, 920–927.Google Scholar
Neiss, M., & Almeida, D. M. (2004). Age differences in the heritability of mean and intraindividual variation of psychological distress. Gerontology, 50, 22–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nicolaou, N., Shane, S., Cherkas, L., Hunkin, J., & Spector, T. D. (2008). Is the tendency to engage in entrepreneurship genetic? Management Science, 54, 167–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okbay, A., Beauchamp, J. P., Fontana, M. A., Lee, J. J., Pers, T. H., Rietveld, C. A., … & Meddens, S. F. W. (2016). Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. Nature, 533, 539–542.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., & Simpson, M. A. (2013). The future of genomics for developmentalists. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt2), 1263–1278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riemann, R., Angleitner, A., Borkenau, P., & Eid, M. (1998). Genetic and environmental sources of consistency and variability in positive and negative mood. European Journal of Personality, 12, 345–364.Google Scholar
Roberts, B. W., & Mroczek, D. (2008). Personality trait change in adulthood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 31–35.Google Scholar
Savage, J. E., Jansen, P. R., Stringer, S., Watanabe, K., Bryois, J., de Leeuw, C. A., … & Coleman, J. R. (2018). Genome-wide association meta-analysis in 269,867 individuals identifies new genetic and functional links to intelligence. Nature Genetics, 50, 912–919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senior, C., Lee, N., & Butler, M. J. R. (2011). Organizational cognitive neuroscience. Organization Science, 22, 804–815.Google Scholar
Song, Z., Li, W., & Wang, N. (2015). Progress in molecular genetics and its potential implications in organizational behavior research. In Colarelli, S. M. & Arvey, R. D. (Eds.), The Biological Foundations of Organizational Behavior (pp. 23–46). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Song, Z., Li, W. D., & Arvey, R. D. (2011). Associations between dopamine and serotonin genes and job satisfaction: Preliminary evidence from the Add Health Study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 1223–1233.Google Scholar
Staw, B. M., & Ross, J. (1985). Stability in the midst of change: A dispositional approach to job attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 469–480.Google Scholar
Tellegen, A., Lykken, D. T., Bouchard, T. J., Wilcox, K. J., Segal, N. L., & Rich, S. (1988). Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1031–1039.Google Scholar
Turkheimer, E., Pettersson, E., & Horn, E. E. (2014). A phenotypic null hypothesis for the genetics of personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 515–540.Google Scholar
Waldman, D. A., Balthazard, P. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2011). Leadership and neuroscience: Can we revolutionize the way that inspirational leaders are identified and developed? Academy of Management Perspectives, 25, 60–74.Google Scholar
Ward, M. K., Volk, S., & Becker, W. J. (2015). An overview of organizational neuroscience. In Waldman, D. A. & Balthazard, P. A. (Eds.), Organizational Neuroscience (pp. 17–50). Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M., & Beal, D. J. (2005). Reflections on affective events theory. In Ashkanasy, N. M., Zerbe, W. J., & Härtel, C. E. J. (Eds.), The effect of affect in organizational settings (pp. 1–21). Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work. In Staw, B. M. & Cummings, L. L. (Eds.), Research in organization behavior (Volume 18, pp. 1–74). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M., & Kurek, K. E. (2003). Dispositional influences on affective experiences at work. In Barrick, M. R. & Ryan, A. M. (Eds.), Personality and work (pp. 121–149). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Wrzus, C., & Roberts, B. W. (2017). Processes of personality development in adulthood: The TESSERA framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21, 253–277.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z., Ilies, R., & Arvey, R. D. (2009). Beyond genetic explanations for leadership: The moderating role of the social environment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110, 118–128.Google Scholar
Zheng, Y., Plomin, R., & von Stumm, S. (2016). Heritability of intraindividual mean and variability of positive and negative affect: Genetic analysis of daily affect ratings over a month. Psychological Science, 27, 1611–1619.Google Scholar
Zyphur, M. J., Li, W.-D., Zhang, Z., Arvey, R. D., & Barsky, A. P. (2015). Income, personality, and subjective financial well-being: the role of gender in their genetic and environmental relationships. Frontiers In Psychology, 6, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zyphur, M. J., Zhang, Z., Barsky, A. P., & Li, W.-D. (2013). An ACE in the hole: Twin family models for applied behavioral genetics research. Leadership Quarterly, 24, 572–594.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×