Abstract
Abstract
Purpose:
The digitally intensified organizational environments increasingly exert cognitive and affective pressures on team performance through continuous connectivity, information saturation, and digitally mediated performance monitoring systems. While the traditional leadership literature has focused on the importance of emotional intelligence and affective engagement as critical drivers of team cohesion and motivation, the increasingly complex work environments characterized by continuous digital demands may exert limitations on team affective engagement over time. In this paper, the concept of emotionally inelastic teams (EIT) is introduced to refer to team environments characterized by affective saturation, wherein team leadership may be impacted by limitations in team affective engagement.
Design/methodology/approach:
The research has been conducted using a qualitative conceptual research methodology based on an interpretivist research philosophy. Through a critical analysis of literature on emotionally saturated work environments, the research has employed an inductive research logic to develop a preliminary theoretical framework on team leadership within emotionally inelastic team environments.
Findings:
The research has developed a critical understanding of the limitations of team affective engagement within digitally intensified work environments characterized by continuous digital demands. Through such environments, team leadership may be impacted by limitations in team affective engagement, necessitating alternative leadership strategies to prioritize decision stability.
Originality/value:
Through the conceptualization of the construct of emotionally inelastic teams, the current paper contributes to the field of leadership by focusing on the affective outcomes of digital work environments at the team level. The proposed framework offers a basis for future empirical research that examines the effectiveness of leadership under conditions of affective saturation.
Keywords:
Emotional Labour; Digital Work Environments; Leadership Effectiveness; Cognitive Load; Team Dynamics; Organizational Behaviour