Reversing a conspicuous absence: Mindful inclusion of emotion in structuration theory

Abstract

As the concept of emotion in organizations gains popularity in both research and practice, the danger of atheoretical application grows. Scholars of emotion in organizations have begun to refer to Giddens’ (1979) structuration theory as potentially relevant for the phenomenon of emotion. This article demonstrates how existing research on emotion can be framed in the context of emotion structuration that depicts how emotions both structure and are structured by social systems. Unlike Giddens’ structuration theory, which does not address the role of emotion in social systems and structures, emotion structuration explicitly focuses on emotion. Essentially, emotion structuration is an attempt to reframe Giddens’ work to describe the process of how emotions and social contexts interact and, as a result, modify each other.