I'm Not Feeling It: The Role of Affective Diversity in Risk Management and Team Performance

Rebecca L. Mitchell, Nikhil Awasty, Rachel S. Hahn, Daniel J. Griffin, John R. Hollenbeck

Human Resource Management · 2025 · Volume 64 · Issue 2

Abstract

Team performance is contingent on nuanced approaches to risk management—demanding both risky and cautious strategic orientations. However, research surroundinghowteams navigate this balance is limited. We argue thatbothpositive and negative affective diversity can aid team performance, through affective diversity's impact on the team's risky and cautious behaviors. Furthermore, we argue that team trait regulatory focus strengthens these relationships. Using a controlled laboratory setting with 58 teams in a complex, uncertain team task that requires both risky and cautious strategies for successful performance, results indicate that positive affective diversity relates to team performance through promoting risky behavior, while negative affective diversity relates to team performance through promoting cautious behavior. Teams high in trait prevention-focus are more attuned to the information signals in teams with negative affective diversity, but we did not find that promotion focus impacted outcomes of positive affective diversity.

Keywords

team affect, team diversity, team performance, team regulatory focus

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