In 2017, the Onassis Cultural Center in New York hosted an exhibition called “A World of Emotions” (Levere, 2017). This exhibition was publicized as “Bringing to vivid life the emotions of the people of ancient Greece, and prompting questions about how we express, control, and manipulate feelings in our own society” (Onassis USA, 2017). The historical epoch covered was from 700 BC to AD 200, very roughly from a time near the end of the classical period to the middle of the Hellenistic period. One commentary on this exhibition suggested: “These objects provide a timely opportunity to think about the role of feelings in our personal, social and political lives and help advance the relatively new field of the history of emotions” (Levere, 2017).

Over the past few decades, researchers have made notable strides in understanding the processes underlying workplace affect. In particular, rigorous measures and new theoretical models for the study of workplace affect have been developed, validated, and updated with data gathered from employee samples across different industries, countries, and cultures (e.g. Bledow, Schmitt, Frese, & Kühnel, 2011; McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; Watson, 2000; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996; Yang, Simon, Wang, & Zheng, 2016). As shown in the array of chapters in this volume, exciting progress has been made on many fronts. Yet there are many separate streams of research that have been developed in a relatively independent fashion. This chapter will propose some directions for future research that could integrate different areas of research on emotional experiences at work. We propose and discuss the following ideas: integration of research on general and discrete emotions; research taking a broader view of emotional management; new research methods and new perspectives; and the implications of social changes for research on workplace affect and for the application of such research.

In this chapter, we hope to elucidate the definition of emotional intelligence (EI) and to provide support for homing in on one specific approach to its study: the ability approach, as developed by Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2016; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 1997; 2002; Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Salovey & Mayer, 1990), which most researchers adhere to (at least in a definitional sense). We will go on to review how research using this ability approach has related emotional intelligence to workplace predictors and outcomes; we will then point out gaps in current understanding and suggest promising future research directions.