Abstract
Purpose:
This developmental study advances the theoretical construct of Emotionally Inelastic Teams (EIT) to explain limitations on leadership effectiveness in work teams whose collective capacity for additional emotional absorption has become exhausted from prolonged organizational stressors. The existing leadership literature emphasizes the importance of resilience, flexibility, and psychological safety, but these approaches assume the presence of sufficient team-level emotional elasticity to positively respond to increased demands. This study overcomes this theoretical limitation by advancing the construct of collective emotional absorption capacity as a finite construct that can become exhausted over time.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
The study advances a conceptual framework grounded in the most recent literature on leadership, organizational psychology, and the intensification of digital work, integrating theoretical perspectives from burnout theory, leadership-as-practice, and resilience leadership theory to inform qualitative research on leadership in emotionally saturated work settings.
Findings:
The analysis of the current study demonstrates that traditional leadership approaches to enhance engagement or flexibility may be contraindicated if teams are incapable of assimilating additional emotional or cognitive demands. Under such circumstances, the effects of leadership change from mobilization to buffering, pacing, and containing strategies, which are intended to sustain performance under escalating pressures.
Originality/value:
The current study extends leadership theory beyond the presumption of constant adaptability through the concept of Emotionally Inelastic Teams and offers a basis to assess leadership efficacy in situations of constant workload intensification and digital acceleration.