Although interest regarding the role of dispositional affect in job behaviors has surged in recent years, the true magnitude of affectivity's influence remains unknown. To address this issue, the authors conducted a qualitative and quantitative review of the relationships between positive and negative affectivity (PA and NA, respectively) and various performance dimensions. A series of meta-analyses based on 57 primary studies indicated that PA and NA predicted task performance in the hypothesized directions and that the relationships were strongest for subjectively rated versus objectively rated performance. In addition, PA was related to organizational citizenship behaviors but not withdrawal behaviors, and NA was related to organizational citizenship behaviors, withdrawal behaviors, counterproductive work behaviors, and occupational injury. Mediational analyses revealed that affect operated through different mechanisms in influencing the various performance dimensions. Regression analyses documented that PA and NA uniquely predicted task performance but that extraversion and neuroticism did not, when the four were considered simultaneously. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigated whether the relationships between positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) and job satisfaction (JS) differ as a function of the satisfaction measure being primarily affective or cognitive in nature. Subject matter experts classified JS measures as being primarily affective or cognitive. A series of meta-analyses involving between 17 and 63 primary studies revealed that PA, but not NA, correlated more strongly with affective JS measures. Analyses comparing specific measures suggest that the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire is most cognitive in nature and that the Faces scale is most affective. The results indicate that affect predicts, but is not synonymous with, affective assessments of satisfaction. Discussion focuses on the discrepant mechanisms through which PA and NA may impact satisfaction.